The Six Crowns: Trundle's Quest

by Allan Jones, Gary Chalk (Illustrator)

Overview

Trundle doesn't think he's an adventurer. He's a lamplighter. He likes everything safe and cozy, and that's the way things are in his peaceful part of the Sundered Lands.

Until Esmeralda barrels through his door.

Esmeralda, a princess with a knack for magic and for finding trouble, is convinced that Trundle is the only one who can help her find the six crowns. Lost and scattered long ago, the crowns could unite the Sundered Lands once again. But not if the pirates find them first.

Suddenly, Trundle is on the run. He becomes a stowaway, a drifter, a thief's accomplice, and a swordsman.Trundle may find that he is a true hero, after all . . . and that this is only the beginning of an epic journey.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062098399
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/05/2011
Series:	Six Crowns , #1
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
Lexile:	860L (what's this?)
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Allan Jones is the author of numerous fantasy books for both children and teens. He lives in London, England.

Gary Chalk is an illustrator and model maker. He lives in France.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3–5—Hedgehog Trundle Boldoak's quiet, routine life as town lamplighter on the cabbage-growing island of Shiverstones is drastically disrupted when Esmeralda Lightfoot, princess of the mysterious Roamany clan, bursts through the door. Esmeralda is convinced that Trundle is the only one who can follow the prophecy of the Badger Blocks to find the legendary Six Crowns of the Badgers of Power, which long ago were scattered throughout the Sundered Lands. With bloodthirsty animal pirates nipping at her heels, led by evil hog Captain Grizzletusk, Trundle begrudgingly joins Esmeralda on a windship for an epic journey to locate each crown. Jones has woven a tale with protagonists that readers will root for. Chalk's detailed illustrations look almost lifelike and add character to each animal, the airships, and the pirates. With a sprinkling of magic from Esmeralda, this story is a good stepping-stone to Brian Jacques's "Redwall" books (Philomel).—Michele Shaw, Quail Run Elementary School, San Ramon, CA

School Library Journal

In a bizarre but good-natured genre mashup, two hedgehogs run around outer space fighting pirates and seeking talismans. Trundle is a lamplighter (and homebody) on a seemingly pre-industrial asteroid known for cabbage farms. Feisty stranger Esmeralda accosts the baffled Trundle and insists they go on a quest. Before he can refuse, pirates attack and the two hedgehogs flee. Running from the pirates, who are grizzled "pigs and rats and weasels and foxes," Trundle and Esmeralda fall off the planet's edge onto a windship—interplanetary transportation in this archipelago of asteroids requires wind vessels—and end up on a planet where enslaved animals labor in mines. They get into and out of various scrapes with derring-do and vigor; Trundle finds his enthusiasm along the way. They seek six legendary crowns that belonged to wise badgers in the past. The ramshackle science is vintage steampunk (outer space has air to breathe and breeze to power windships built like watercrafts; planetary gravity comes and goes). Jones has a nice knack for stringing words together at a bustling pace: "A sharp spitting spluttering crackling sound came to his ears." Facile stereotypes about "Roamany" (Esmeralda's exotic, wild, not-quite-moral culture) are a shame, but they are also in keeping with the steampunk feel. Readers who revel in collections and patterns will enjoy finding the crystal crown here and will look forward to the next five books that promise the next five crowns.(Fantasy. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews