Excellent book for use during any medieval or knight study. Fourth grade boys in particular would love this book, however, any student in elementary would enjoy the book. The illustrations are very good. Younger students may need the book read to them. Goes along with King Arthur studies and tales.

I am a hardcore Trina Schart Hyman fan, so this book is just another in my collection of her art work. The pictures are stunning. My kids spend hours looking at the pictures. The Red night, blue night, black night theme does get a little old though. The story is about a strange man who comes to King Arthur to ask three favors. After a year, the stranger sets off to free a princess trapped in a tower. He has to face many knights along the way and proves his worthyness in doing so.

The illustrations are wonderful, and if you like sweet, honest Sir Gareth, as I do, you will enjoy this story, even though it's a kids' book. :)

This is the only book to date that I have had to stop reading
to wipe away tears of laughter. A proper, laugh out loud riot
that takes the Arthurian legends, and adds a new perspective
to the myth and magic .. lusty maidens, beggars, a overbearing
oaf as the Lord of the Manor, a priest who 'shrives' the sins of
the Lady and her Daughter by trials of the flesh ...it's not what
Errol Flynn portrayed at all. Imagine the 3 Musketeers films
(the ones with Olly Reed & Michael York), and the humour is in
a similar vein to these cinematic classics. If you like your
olden day heroes untarnished, clean and honourable, then don't
read this book. I'll never think about the Knights of the Round
Table in the same way again. Very funny, very well written with
some memorable phrases that I have used to good effect in the
years since reading it. Not recommended reading for funerals
or other such solemn occasions. Messrs Pratchett and Adams have
written some excellent books (I've read the lot) but they pale
when compared to this 'laugh until your face hurts' masterpiece.

I finally received, from an endearing, if not downright useful cousin, a copy (hardbound , first edition in fact) of Rude Tales and Glorious -- the elusive print of an equally elusive author named Nicholas Seare (aka Trevanian aka UT Professor Rod Whitaker -- he of the numerous PhD's and other alphabetically-induced suffixes).

At the risk of waxing quotidian, my only regret is not having read this piece of literature sooner. This is an irreverent, audaciously humorous send-up of Arthurian history -- albeit Arthuriana's numerous manifestations and interpretations (and those are just the "ations," as Trevanian would say.)

Chaucer finds a more than worthy if not altogether brilliant extension of his idea in Seare's work.

The novel, in classic Trevanian-esque jest and joust (similarly used in Incident at Twenty Mile) purports to have had a solid foundation in history -- Rude Tales and Glorious claiming to be a contemporary translation of the author's ancestor's work.

Set in a Welsh knight's castle on a wintry evening, two beggar's claiming to be Launcelot and the Lady Elaine(of 600 years past) regale the dinner party with tales of the "real" Arthurian history in exchange for the orts and leavings of the feast -- "generously" given by a tale-thirsty lord.

Completing the cast at dinner are the typical suspects of this genre; the bungling knight and his warped-sense of valor (along the liberal democratic tradition), a hypocritical lothario of a priest ( also along the same liberal democratic tradition), lusty maidens (thus given to same previously-mentioned political affinity), and the servile servants (as they should be..being of the conservative republican staff). All complemented with similarly-inclined characters in the tale (of Arthur) within a tale.

All this is told in melliflous euphony evidenced in the English gentry's pedant in vocabulary and Twain's subtle comedy. Existent too, are Seare's/Trevanian's distaste for his perpetual foe -- the merchant, coupled with light-hearted jabs (though painful enough) at the Academic Illuminati of which Seare/Trevanian/Whitaker was, for a considerable portion of his life, a part of.

The entire body of work is prefaced with the autumnal sentimentality that Seare/Trevanian allows to epiphanize quite rarely though elegantly (inspired, no doubt, by the aesthete on poetic melancholy, Kawabata Yasunari) in his other works.

The tale is charmingly irreverent, and the telling is valiant and inspired!

Hope everyone has the opportunity and the pleasure to read this fine work.

Boy, do I consider myself lucky to have found a copy of "Rude Tales and Glorious". Any book that has me laughing aloud as often as this deservs to be the foundation for a religion. Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett should be so funny (and they nearly are, but that's another review).

I read this out loud to my 4-year-old son, who loves anything involving King Arthur, and he was captivated. His only disappointment was that there is no book to follow with more tales of the young Shan and his adventures. I highly recommend this as well as other historical fiction by Bulla. I have also read "Pocahontas and the Strangers" to my son, and he loved that as well.

Once your child has moved beyond easy phonetic readers, you'll want to find interesting books with large print that aren't too difficult or overwhelming for the new reader. Bulla's "The Sword in the Tree" fits this description perfectly.

Try reading the first chapter to your young reader to spark his interest. Then read the next chapter or two aloud together so he/she becomes familiar with the words and flow. Then sit back and listen as your child finishes reading this exciting book about greed, courage, and chivalry.

This book is an excellent source for "medieval" units. I have used it with weak 5th grade English as a Second language readers and they are very successful with it. It teaches grade level content at a lower reading level. They do not feel they are reading an easy book. It is a wonderful starter book for reluctant readers.

I first read this around 1967, when I was 10 years old. I remember it quite fondly. It felt very real, read very smoothly, and the pictures were amazing, if a little gory. I strongly recommend this book for young readers. I'm completely impartial, too. My mother and grandmother were the co-authors! :)

Superbly illustrated by Gustaff Tenggren, and collaboratively retold by Emma Gelders Stern and Barbara Lindsay, King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table is an informative and thoroughly entertaining retelling of the classic legends of King Arthur and Camelot for young adult readers. Filled with museum quality, stylized full-color artwork, King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table presents the whole course of King Arthur's life, and those of his allies and enemies, in skillfully narrated, straightforward prose immediately accessible to young people of intermediate reading skill and above. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is enthusiastically recommended for personal, school, and community library Mythology & Folklore collections.

This is one of the older tales of the Round Table and one of the most poetic. The story is well told, but THE ILLUSTRATIONS ARE TO DIE FOR! As a friend of mine said, "I devoured the book and am now picking my teeth with the spine." Rare is the illustrator who can make fantasy seem real, yet this book is proof that it can be done. Another lovely introduction to the tales of King Arthur.

This book is only rated with a nine because I suspect that it will be some time before I die, and there is a small chance that I may read something better in that time. I have always been a fan of Arthurian Literature, as well as the older writings such as Beowulf, because of the unashamed heroism and characters that are beyond reproach as true knights in shining armor. This is probably the best of that entire group that I have ever read. Yvain is the greatest knight in the land, equaled only by Gawain, and though he is surrounded by corruption, he remains an unstoppable force for good, fearing nothing. It is not possible to read this story without wanting to strap on some armor and go save the world as soon as you're finished.

Loved this book for its ease in readability and its absorbing power. The story moved fast, was exciting, griping, well thought out and convincing in its fantasy. The research efforts of the author were also apparent encouraging one to delve into the Welsh folklore and Arthurian traditions, as well as into natural remedies for healing the body.

Art Pearl and Tony Knight have written a valuable book for people interested in providing a public education which prepares all students to become true citizens, active participants in building a democratic sosciety.

They argue that to be successful, we must have a theory about education, not just an instructional method or curriculum standards. Their theory describes the following important elements in a democratic classroom:

the use of persuasion and negotiation rather than prescription and edict in developing policy and enforcing rules,

the focus on relevance in the classroom: working to ensure that the focus is on solving problems rather than teaching subjects and that students are engaged in learning by the way material is presented.

the fundamental belief that all students are competent and that all students have not just a right to equal opportunity but to equal encouragement. This, in my opinion, is one of the most powerful points in the book. Pearl and Knight write eloquently about the damage done by deficit thinking in our schools, and how we can only repair that damage by developing strategies and practice which meet all students where they are and allow them an opportunity to move forward and develop their individual competence.

They have a very challenging section on the role of democracy in school government and the classroom. It deserves real attention from school boards, administrators and teachers.

Finally, they point to the individual classroom as the arena of change. Efforts must be made to develop the democratic classroom based on the unique culture and geography of each shool. No two democratic classrooms will look exactly the same.

It's probably one of the best books I've read on teaching. Right up there with Deborah Meier's "The Power of Their Ideas".

A Dictionary Of King Arthur's Knights by author, editor, and Arthurian scholar Pamela Ryan is a compilation of names for people and places derived from both medieval and contemporary sources. There are 281 entries for King Arthur's knights, as well as 70 kings and feudal lords. All are arranged in alphabetical and dictionary-style format that makes looking up obscure names a snap. A Dictionary Of King Arthur's Knights is excellent and highly recommended addition to academic Arthurian Studies reference collections, and an ideal giftbook for any Arthurian enthusiast.

After many, many years of good intentions I finally read Tennyson's Idylls of the King. What a pleasure and delight. The poetry is impressive, and the depiction of the Round Table is epochal. I have also compared it to some of Mallory. While Mallory established the standard for the Arthurian legend (in English, at any rate), Tennyson's poetry is far more impressive. The stories themselves seem more impressive in Tennyson's sure hands. Unfortunately, I also made the mistake of watching "Camelot" on video recently; what a travesty. Guenevere is referred to as Ginny, Sir Lancelot is called Lance, and the over-all Hollywood approach is debasing and embarrassing. One could be turned off from Camelot forever as a result of this atrocious film. Let us give praise for Alfred Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King. It is magnificent!

The book just grabbed me from the very first paragraph. I knew that Sir Arthur is an excellent writer but I didn't know that he is that good with medieval adventures.
Everything he writes is very true historically and that makes the book even more enjoyable. His sense of humor and the story made me feel almost being there with Sir Nigel. The story itself is simple but full of surprises. If you are a kid or if you are one of those grown up kids like me you will love this book.

You're a Sherlock Holmes fan, right? Yes, of course you are. Everybody is. Look at the zillions of reprints of these stories. Every year there's another one. And who is the writer? Why, Arthur Conan Doyle, of course.

Or maybe you're a science-fiction or fantasy nut. The books you love best are those in which a very imaginative author conjures up a remarkable, detailed, complex world, puts human-type characters in it, and sets them in motion, reacting to the forces around them. You'd crawl through mud to find a book like this.

So why oh why oh why don't you give this neglected masterpiece, this Sir Nigel--and with Doyle as the author--the acclaim it so richly deserves? No, it's not fantasy or science-fiction, but it begins in England in 1348, and can you possibly imagine a time and place more foreign than that?

To briefly summarize, the story is about a young squire, Sir Nigel, and his quest to perform noble deeds so that he can win the hand of his love, who waits patiently for him to complete them. If you want nothing more than adventure, this book has it. He begins by rescuing a damsel from a scoundrel who would besmirch her honor; there is a small then a large sea battle against the Spanish; there is a journey to a cruel, pirate-infested island, and the revenge exacted on its leader; there are jousts, one on one and thirty on thirty; and in final there is a large, desperate battle between huge armies of French and English where much glory and blood is to be found. Large and small, adventures abound, and I haven't even mentioned half of them. And nothing here stretches credibility. Yes, Nigel is a hero, but he suffers setbacks also--some really embarrassing--and in fact misses most of a set-piece battle he was looking forward to when he almost gets his brains bashed in at the beginning of it.

Like all of Doyle's creations, this novel is rich in small details also. For example, forks hadn't been invented yet. It was considered good manners to hold your meat with your thumb and middle finger while cutting it; to do otherwise was bad form. When you're done with the meat, you toss the bone behind you for the dogs. Once a week, the whole mess was swept out and more hay is laid on the floor. He shows a great knowledge of weaponry as well, talking about the relative merits of the bow and the arbalest, the heavy stones heaved by mangonels, and of course the use of swords and shields and lance. These are just a couple of examples. Practically every page reveals insights as to the way of life in those times, not the least of which is the portrayal of the chivalraic code by which they all lived.

Lastly, it is beautifully written, almost lyrical. Nigel comes upon the fair Edith, "whose face had come so often betwixt him and his sleep." Is there a more economical or descriptive way to put this? And later, marching in war-torn Brittany: "As the darkness deepened there came in wild gusts the howling of wolves from the forest to remind them that they were in a land of war. So busy had men been for many years in hunting one another that the beasts of the chase had grown to a monstrous degree, until [even] the streets of the town were no longer safe . . ." Descriptive? Indeed, chilling.

This is exciting, informative, first-class fiction, and warrants a much larger audience than it has apprarently been getting over the years. Do your part!

I don't have much time to write this review, but if I did, it would be a long one full of words of praise. I read this book in its Spanish language version(only about 15 times). I found it really exciting and interesting. It is the classic story of the undersized fighter who at the end gets all the glory. The story is full of surprises and it will capture anyone's imagination (it got mine). Read it! -