At The Crossing Places

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		At The Crossing Places
		At The Crossing Places

基本信息·出版社：Scholastic Paperbacks
·页码：416 页
·出版日期：2004年10月
·ISBN：0439265991
·条形码：9780439265997
·装帧：平装
·正文语种：英语
·丛书名：Arthur Trilogy, 2
·外文书名：十字路口

内容简介 Arthur de Caldicot has achieved his dream: He now serves as squire to Lord Stephen of Holt Castle. But this new world opens up fresh visions as well as old concerns. Arthur longs to escape the shadow of his unfeeling father and meet his birth mother. To marry the beautiful Winnie, but maintain his ties with his friend Gatty. And to become a Crusader, with all the questions of might and right involved. Just as he so brilliantly did in THE SEEING STONE, Kevin Crossley-Holland weaves Arthurian legend with everyday medieval life in the unforgettable story of one hero's coming of age.
编辑推荐 From Publishers Weekly
Holy wars and romantic intrigue adventure combine in Kevin Crossley-Holland's At the Crossing Places, book two in the Arthur Trilogy begun with The Seeing Stone. Here 13-year-old Arthur begins life as squire to Lord Stephen at Holt and aspires to be a Crusader in his own right, and perhaps win the hand of a fair maiden. Ages 13-up.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9-In this sequel to The Seeing Stone (Scholastic, 2001), Crossley-Holland continues the story of 14-year-old Arthur in 1200. In the first book, Merlin gave him an obsidian stone; in it, the boy scries the life of his namesake, King Arthur. Now, he has left his foster family to live with Lord Stephen as his squire in training. He's just been told that his blood-father is his foster father's vile brother, and that his mother remains a mystery. He's determined to find her, as he trains to accompany Lord Stephen when he joins the crusades. His seeing stone reveals the parallel lives of King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, the Knights of the Round Table, and other legendary characters that all mirror the mores and emotions of the protagonist's life. The book's length and the frequent shifts between both Arthurs' lives make for a challenging read despite the short 101 chapters that vividly depict 13th-century life with its chivalric codes, court etiquette of the highborn, and the hardscrabble lives of the lowborn. The action of the younger Arthur's life unfolds slowly, and it isn't until the end of the book that he finally begins his crusade by traveling to London where he learns that he's being sent to Venice, which sets the scene for the final book in the series. The character list at the beginning of the book is vital to keep track of all the characters and their relationships. Crossley-Holland's writing is lively, and King Arthur fans won't be disappointed.
Sharon Rawlins, Piscataway Public Library, NJ
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From AudioFile
Together Crossley-Holland and Maloney portray the Arthurian legend in a unique manner. The story is completely true to its medieval setting; however, it also offers today's young listeners a historical novel that can be fully enjoyed. The vocabulary is appropriate to its time, while Maloney's modern delivery adds to the overall pleasure. We follow young Arthur de Caldicott (King Arthur's namesake) as he prepares for the Fourth Crusade, learns his duties, and says farewell to those he loves. Intrigue is added as we observe his encounters with those who wish him ill. All of these components create an excellent listening experience for any medieval or Arthurian fan. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 5-8. This sequel to The Seeing Stone (2001), which begins in January 1300, involves crossing places in time, in space, and even within characters. Like many 13-year-olds, Arthur himself is in transition, moving from Caldicot Manor to Holt Castle, from page to squire, from boy to man. Now that he has learned his father's identity, he struggles to come to terms with that knowledge, and he resolves to discover who his mother is, as well. More mysterious still, his own identity has been jolted by the revelation of his parentage and confused by his strange affinity with Arthur-in-the-stone, who is like, yet unlike, himself. By the end of the novel, Arthur and Lord Stephen, to whom he is in service, have traveled to Champagne and sworn allegiance to Count Thibaud and his crusade to the Holy Land. Like many middle books of trilogies, this one revels in storytelling and character development without the need to introduce settings and characters, create a thundering climax, or tie up every loose strand of plot. Readers who devoured The Seeing Stone will happily fall under the spell of Arthur's first-person narrative again. Short, satisfying chapters telling of events in his life are again interspersed with vivid tales of what he sees in the stone given him by Merlin: traditional stories of King Arthur unfolding, fresh and dramatic, for him and for readers as well. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
Kevin Crossley-Holland will be appearing at the Edinburgh International BookFestival on 25th August 2002 Other dates for this year: 13th October - Ludlow Festival6th November - The Word Bookshop, Market Harborough Praise for At the Crossing Places: "Rich, evocative storytelling." Financial Times "This is storytelling of subtelty and nuance and, for the reflective reader, all the more satisfying for that." Books for Keeps "...a glorious panorama of medievallife, packed with incident and colour, brave deeds, passion , deception and even murder...and is surely destined to be become a classic." East Anglian Dai

This is the second novel in a trilogy for teenagers which follows the life of Arthur, squire to Lord Stephen de Holt. Set in 1200, it is a rich, lively and absorbing tale, written in short chapters, loosely in diary form, of the rites of passage from boyhood to adulthood. Arthur's main objective is to prepare to go on crusade with Lord Stephen, and to this end he has fencing lessons and goes about the business of learning to dress his Lord in armour and to wear armour himself. While they prepare, Arthur is also taken up with the longing to discover who his real mother is, with his growing affection for Winnie, daughter of a nearby knight, and a number of castle intrigues and rituals. The different threads of the story are illuminated with entrancing details of daily mediaeval life, beliefs, use of herbs, customs, made immediate and natural by the liveliness of the minor characters. Concurrent with Arthur's story runs the story of the times of the legendary King Arthur. Through his obsidian, a seeing stone, Arthur can see stories from the King Arthur legend played out, and the two Arthurs are further linked by the fact that Merlin, who appears in the stone, is also the character who gave Arthur his seeing stone. The stories of life under King Arthur's reign have a subtle and tangential relevance to Arthur's own life - and serve as examples of adult life which the teenager puzzles over, searching for right and wrong. As the book progresses Arthur comes to realize that to be a man he must listen chiefly to himself, and to become the centre of his own story, not the onlooker in someone else's. Gloriously imaginative and magical, this novel will grip readers in their teenage years. Ages 10+ (Kirkus UK) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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