The Badger Knight
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
National Book Award winner Kathryn Erskine presents unique novel about a sickly boy's epic journey through England and Scotland at the height of Medieval times.Adrian is small for his age, even for a twelve year old. It doesn't help that he's an albino, which makes those he meets wonder if he's an angel or a devil. His father is a bowyer, and all Adrian wants to do is become apprenticed and go off to war as a long bowman. But that's not what his father wants for him. Since Adrian can write, his father wants him to be a scribe. That's just about the last thing Adrian wants. When the Scots invade England and Adrian's best friend Hugh runs off to find his father and fight in battles, Adrian soon follows, intent on finding Hugh and joining him in glorious warfare against the pagans invading England from the north. When Adrian finds Hugh, who is caring for a wounded Scotsman, he's horrified that Hugh would aid an enemy. But soon, as Adrian gets to know the Donald, he begins to question what he's been taught about the enemy and the nature of war. In this epic journey an afflicted boy finds and inner strength he never knew belonged to him.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this picaresque-style historical novel, 13-year-old Adrian small, asthmatic, and an albino dreams of becoming a soldier and fighting the "pagan Scots" that threaten 1346 England. Perceived as weak and touched by the devil, the self-dubbed "Badger" is a skilled archer and has the rare ability to read and write. When his amiable friend Hugh joins the English army, Adrian runs away to follow him. Adrian's meandering journey has its dry moments: his adventures at a priory, friendship with a knight, and encounter with a Roman latrine can read like a checklist meant to supplement a middle-school history class. But National Book Award winner Erskine (The Absolute Value of Mike) gives her unlikely warrior a lively voice, and the narrative cleverly upends Adrian's assumptions and prejudices, especially when it comes to foreigners and his long suffering cousin Bessie, whose kindness and determination he belittles as badly as others do him. The medieval-era mud and dung, as well as a scene of graphic battle violence, should captivate readers seeking total immersion in a distant, yet vibrantly imagined era. Ages 8 12.
