Chronicles

As I have previously confessed I am a big fan of fantasy.  I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but juvenille fiction fantasy often has a certain look to it.  I confess I often wandered down rows of books at the library searching for something that looked good.  When you see a whole bunch that look the same that's when you know you've found a series (believe it or not I actually worked in my college library during undergrad, all of the librarians would be aghast if they realized wandering and looking is still my searching method of choice).  And it is by wandering and looking that I found Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain.

Chronicles implies a whole bunch-more than one book-an epic tale told in multiple volumes.  And that's exactly what The Chronicles of Pyrdain are, an epic tale.  The problem is that only the final installment The HIgh King won the newberry medal.  At first I was conflicted-how can you only read the end?  But then when I actually saw the book I breathed a big sigh of relief.  "It's ok," I told myself, "I've read this before." 

But now I have another problem.  As you know I don't like to give away endings.  But this entire book is an ending-and a great one at that. So what can I tell you.  All of the really great parts have 4 books of backstory which I can't possibly hope to summarize here.  Which I guess means you're just going to have to read the entire series.  Five books seems like a lot but it's well worth it.  What are you waiting for?? Get reading!!

Living a life worthy of an epic tale...that's kids stuff