"Books on Arthur or Alfred the Great" Topic

Can anyone recommend fiction based on either the above kings. I need something that is based around Somerset levels and is suitable for 9-11 year olds.

Cheers.

Henry Treece for Arthur and Alfred Duggan for Alfred might do you.

Try Rosemary Sutcliffe 'Sword at Sunset'(Best Arthurian Book Ever) and 'The Eagle of the Ninth', 'The Lantern Bearers', 'The Silver Branch' Trilogy

An oldie but goodie – 'Sword at Sunset' by Rosemary Sutcliff for Arthur. Rather thoughtful and stately compared to modern writing, but a very decent historical novel.

The only Alfred novels I know of are Bernard Cornwell's, but he is tediously anti-Christian and Alfred is the strawman for much of that animus. link Good reads nevertheless, but more than a bit cynically modern. He also has a series on Arthur, same biases however. link Don't get me wrong; these are fun reads but the anti-Christian jabs get tedious, and the books are more suitable for adults due to writing style and violence, which he does very well.

One that might also be of interest to you, again by Sutcliff, is 'The Shield Ring'. It is the tale of Saxon and Danish holdouts against the Normans after the Battle of Hastings. It is predicated on the Domesday Book's utter silence regarding an area of England, which Sutcliff interprets as out of Norman control.

Sutcliff's works are long out of print, but easy to find on the used market. They have been favorites of mine for almost five decades.

+1 for Sword at sunset

Well if I were being cynical any book with the name "Arthur" in it's title is going to be a work of fiction.

Sutcliff is great for that age range! In fact, She's great for older folks too! So I'll second (or third!) Sword at Sunset.

Gillian Bradshaw's Arthurian trilogy. Hawk of May, Kingdom of Summer, and In Winter's Shadow. Also in that age range.

Be sure to read Chesterton's BALLAD OF THE WHITE HORSE.

He bent them back with spear and spade,
With desperate d yke and wall,
With foemen leaning on his shield
And howling on him when he reeled
And no help came at all.

He broke them with a broken sword
A little towards the sea,
And for one hour of panting peace,
Ringed with a roar that would not cease,
With golden crown and girded fleece
Made laws under a tree.

I read the Bradshaw books in middle school, I think, so they should be fine. The second and especially the third are pretty dark, of course.

For the Somerset Levels I'd think swimming lessons more appropriate after this last winter.

Second the Rosemary Sutcliffe books, still a good read for adults IMHO though may be a bit much for a 9 yr old.

Funny about seeing BC as 'tediously' anti-christian, I thought it quite a realistic nuance even though phrased in terms more modern than would have been used then. But then I'm not a christian. I find the Narnia books tedious because of the opposite …

Arthur seen from the Saxon enemy: Duggan's "Conscience of the King". Though the protagonist is mighty amoral.

Perhaps too so for 9 – 11 year olds.

I think that T H White's "The Once and Future King" would be ideal for a 9-11 yo.
It is funny, it is heroic, it is tragic, and it is great literature.

And it has the added benefit of having Disney's "The Sword in the Stone" and Camelot adapted from it.

If he's a good reader I agree with the Once and Future King. It is classic King Arthur. I would also recommend The Story of King Arthur and his Knights by Howard Pyle. The illustrations are incredible and when I was in this age range it was one of my favorite books.

I never thought Bernard Cornwell was anti-christian either. Tediously or otherwise……

I never thought Bernard Cornwell was anti-christian either.

Me neither. I think he was trying to tell it like he imagined it might be with religions in flux and all that.

"Here Lies Arthur" by Philip Reeve, aimed squarely at 11 year olds. I haven't read it yet, but his "Hungry Cities" series is superb:

philip-reeve.com/arthur.html

If you read interviews of him he was apparently adopted and raised by evangelical parents and he doesn't have good things to say of it. He depicts two type of religious characters- either the bitter ascetic hypocritical yet fanatical priest or the pragmatic laid back ex-soldier who is tired of killing but doesn't mind a bit of rowdiness.

The priests of course are up to nothing good, and are the ultimate killjoys. I don't know how anti-Christian I'd call it versus anti-religion- it started off relatively mildly in the Arthurian books, but has gotten a little out of hand in the last couple of the Saxon ones (though admittedly I haven't read the last one yet), to the point where its like "I get it, these are bad guys, let's move on". Of course being a Christian means you can't say anything or you're just proving his point, so what are you going to do?

Rich

I wouldn't recommend Cornwall for the group, little too much violence with the odd reference to sex, could be hard to explain "I remember having St Hilda spread eagled on the grass" to your average 9 year old. I do recommend it as a read for you though, great books.
As with the others, I don't find it anti Christian, it's written from a Danish religion point of view. He doesn't understand all the crying and shame involved in the religion. The church is depicted as money/land hungry. well, cathedrals didn't build themselves and Henry 8th found a few bob inside the monasteries. There are characters he respects and he even puts a cross from St Hilda in the hilt of his sword.

Three old but good books which are available second hand:

For Alfred: C. Walter Hodges – 'The Namesake' and 'The Marsh King'.

For Arthur: Henry Treece – 'The Eagles Have Flown'. The first 'historical' Arthur book I ever read, which spurred a life-long interest.

All the above written specifically for children, and have boys as the central characters, though Arthur and Alfred figure prominently.