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A review by topdragon
The Silver Crown by Robert C. O'Brien
4.0
I have this thing about not having read every single book that is on my shelves at home so I couldn't very likely say no to this one. It was part of my kid's homeschooling program years ago as recommended by the curriculum we were following...so it must be good right?
While often disappointed in what others say young people must read to further their exposure to literature, this time I wasn't. I found this novel to be a fairly straight forward tale of adventure and fantasy with a young female protagonist, Ellen, who proves to be both courageous and quite resourceful. The book does start with a pretty scary series of events including the burning down of Ellen's house, (along with her family inside), and her narrow escapes from a mysterious man with some sort of unknown dastardly agenda. So I don't recommend this one for squeamish children.
Despite the dangerous circumstances, Ellen uses her brain to determine the best path and the final resolution is satisfactory. One key part of the ending was a cheat though as we find out at the end that Ellen got to see a key clue to which the rest of us weren’t privy. Despite that, I enjoyed the novel and am happy to have read it.
While often disappointed in what others say young people must read to further their exposure to literature, this time I wasn't. I found this novel to be a fairly straight forward tale of adventure and fantasy with a young female protagonist, Ellen, who proves to be both courageous and quite resourceful. The book does start with a pretty scary series of events including the burning down of Ellen's house, (along with her family inside), and her narrow escapes from a mysterious man with some sort of unknown dastardly agenda. So I don't recommend this one for squeamish children.
Despite the dangerous circumstances, Ellen uses her brain to determine the best path and the final resolution is satisfactory. One key part of the ending was a cheat though as we find out at the end that Ellen got to see a key clue to which the rest of us weren’t privy. Despite that, I enjoyed the novel and am happy to have read it.