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DK LEGO Readers Level 2
Castle Under Attack, Level 2, Grades 1-3
This Level 2 book is appropriate for children who are beginning to read alone. An exciting new series combines the fun and excitement of LEGO with appealing stories to build reading skills at all levels. Beginning readers will be delighted by books featuring the characters and settings from their favorite LEGO toys! Castle Under Attack is a fascinating view of everyday life in the Middle Ages as the LEGO crew defends a castle's harvest festival from the outlaw Cedric the Bold. The book is based on the upcoming LEGO CASTLE 2000 kit, projected to be the biggest-selling LEGO kit ever.
Paperback
First published May 1, 2000
1 person is currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Nicola Baxter
654 books13 followersNicola Baxter has written or compiled over a hundred children's titles. She has developed ideas for a wide variety of international publishers and lives in Norfolk, England, surrounded by cats and computers.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 12, 2013
My 5 yr old son loves Lego books and this was no exception. A great level 2 reading book, it was one he could read on his own while I did lessons with my twins. Any book that is interesting enough to capture the attention of my kids enough for them to want to read on their own is a big win in my book. Typical Lego pictures that were bright and colorful as well.
August 21, 2017
A good primer on castles and knights mixed in with the story of Lego characters being in a tournament and bad guys trying to take the princess. I liked the non fiction facts at the bottom. Longer so elementary
February 24, 2012
I have a secret persona. Every night I drive home from work, leaving the respectable world of the working woman behind and enter my little log cabin. I throw off the mantle of a hard-working writer, change out of my dresses, and become:
Gilbert the Bad
No, this isn’t a persona that I planned for nor one that I dreamed of becoming. It’s just one of those things that happen when you’re the mother of a toddler who likes to sword fight.
Not that I can shift the blame onto anyone’s shoulders but my own. I was the one who foolishly grabbed the LEGO Castle Under Attack book from the Christmas clearance shelf at our local drug store. I’m the one who read it to my son the first nine or ten times.
I just thought that when it came time to play pretend I’d get to be Queen Leonora or maybe even Princess Storm. I appreciate that my child isn’t tied down to strict gender stereotypes, but this is a little much.
He, of course, is King Leo.
Who are all these characters? They’re people from the LEGO book. I hesitate to call them characters because that might insinuate that there is even the slightest bit of characterization going on in it, and that’s not the case. Everyone talks the same and behaves in the expected stereotypical manner.
King Leo is buff, brave, and laughs a lot. Princess Storm is bummed out that she can’t be a knight but is clever enough to sneak away from the bad guys when they capture her. Cedric the Bull is the cowardly leader of the outlaws while Gilbert the Bad is his nearly indistinguishable sidekick. Sir Richard is strong and mighty and John of Mayne knows where to look for the princess when she goes off to mope.
The plot is pretty predictable as well. It begins with King Leo holding a tournament and feast for the people of his kingdom. Cedric the Bull and Gilbert the Bad sneak up behind the back of the castle with their outlaws and siege equipment to attack it. The King and his knights repel the attack by throwing bags of rotten food and manure on the outlaws (they’re not overly determined outlaws). As the knights celebrate, the king and queen notice that their daughter is missing. John of Mayne finds her just as the outlaws grab her and hold her for ransom.
I suppose I shouldn’t give away the ending, though I will say it’s as happy as one expects from this too-predictable book. There’s even a final scene with the villain sneering and promising revenge. If he’d been twirling a mustache and wearing a black cloak, it would have made great melodrama.
However, lest I sound too harsh about this book, I must say that it serves its purpose. Just as I wouldn’t demand a melodrama have well-developed characters who act in a credible manner, neither are my expectations really that high for a book that is merely attempting to put together a story based on building block toys. For what it is supposed to do, Nicola Baxter’s Castle Under Attack does the job quite well. The characters are easy to play pretend with and while there is a basic storyline, it opens up lots of opportunities for children to make up their own stories based on what is introduced in the 32-page illustrated book. It’s listed as a reading level two book (which is seven to nine-year-olds), but my three-year-old loves it and can even quote most of it from memory.
It’s also fairly impressive that a book with knights, outlaws, and kings manages to tell its story with a minimal amount of violence. No one is killed, maimed, or even injured. There are clever tricks and schemes, but no one gets hurt. This is something I especially appreciate when I have to be the bad guy and my three-year-old is coming at me with his plastic sword.
Another feature of the book that is worth mentioning are the sidebars that are sprinkled throughout the text. There are short (30 words or so) articles explaining what catapults are, describing the role tournaments played in medieval society, and even one talking about what women were and were not allowed to do. There is just enough information to hold the child’s interest and encourage him or her to find out more.
The illustrations are pretty classic LEGO. Everything in the illustrations are LEGOs or LEGO backgrounds. They do cheat a little and change the expressions on people’s faces, but for the most part everything is right out of their castles series. Admittedly, they did have to draw from a few of their other sets to get the children at the well and a few of the background pieces, but I’m willing to overlook that small bit of cheating.
Now you’ll have to excuse me. I have a three-year-old clamoring, “Woman, get your sword!” I’m off to do new dastardly deeds. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll even graduate to being Cedric the Bull instead of the inept evil sidekick!
Review originally published at Epinions.com http://www.epinions.com/content_11749...
Gilbert the Bad
No, this isn’t a persona that I planned for nor one that I dreamed of becoming. It’s just one of those things that happen when you’re the mother of a toddler who likes to sword fight.
Not that I can shift the blame onto anyone’s shoulders but my own. I was the one who foolishly grabbed the LEGO Castle Under Attack book from the Christmas clearance shelf at our local drug store. I’m the one who read it to my son the first nine or ten times.
I just thought that when it came time to play pretend I’d get to be Queen Leonora or maybe even Princess Storm. I appreciate that my child isn’t tied down to strict gender stereotypes, but this is a little much.
He, of course, is King Leo.
Who are all these characters? They’re people from the LEGO book. I hesitate to call them characters because that might insinuate that there is even the slightest bit of characterization going on in it, and that’s not the case. Everyone talks the same and behaves in the expected stereotypical manner.
King Leo is buff, brave, and laughs a lot. Princess Storm is bummed out that she can’t be a knight but is clever enough to sneak away from the bad guys when they capture her. Cedric the Bull is the cowardly leader of the outlaws while Gilbert the Bad is his nearly indistinguishable sidekick. Sir Richard is strong and mighty and John of Mayne knows where to look for the princess when she goes off to mope.
The plot is pretty predictable as well. It begins with King Leo holding a tournament and feast for the people of his kingdom. Cedric the Bull and Gilbert the Bad sneak up behind the back of the castle with their outlaws and siege equipment to attack it. The King and his knights repel the attack by throwing bags of rotten food and manure on the outlaws (they’re not overly determined outlaws). As the knights celebrate, the king and queen notice that their daughter is missing. John of Mayne finds her just as the outlaws grab her and hold her for ransom.
I suppose I shouldn’t give away the ending, though I will say it’s as happy as one expects from this too-predictable book. There’s even a final scene with the villain sneering and promising revenge. If he’d been twirling a mustache and wearing a black cloak, it would have made great melodrama.
However, lest I sound too harsh about this book, I must say that it serves its purpose. Just as I wouldn’t demand a melodrama have well-developed characters who act in a credible manner, neither are my expectations really that high for a book that is merely attempting to put together a story based on building block toys. For what it is supposed to do, Nicola Baxter’s Castle Under Attack does the job quite well. The characters are easy to play pretend with and while there is a basic storyline, it opens up lots of opportunities for children to make up their own stories based on what is introduced in the 32-page illustrated book. It’s listed as a reading level two book (which is seven to nine-year-olds), but my three-year-old loves it and can even quote most of it from memory.
It’s also fairly impressive that a book with knights, outlaws, and kings manages to tell its story with a minimal amount of violence. No one is killed, maimed, or even injured. There are clever tricks and schemes, but no one gets hurt. This is something I especially appreciate when I have to be the bad guy and my three-year-old is coming at me with his plastic sword.
Another feature of the book that is worth mentioning are the sidebars that are sprinkled throughout the text. There are short (30 words or so) articles explaining what catapults are, describing the role tournaments played in medieval society, and even one talking about what women were and were not allowed to do. There is just enough information to hold the child’s interest and encourage him or her to find out more.
The illustrations are pretty classic LEGO. Everything in the illustrations are LEGOs or LEGO backgrounds. They do cheat a little and change the expressions on people’s faces, but for the most part everything is right out of their castles series. Admittedly, they did have to draw from a few of their other sets to get the children at the well and a few of the background pieces, but I’m willing to overlook that small bit of cheating.
Now you’ll have to excuse me. I have a three-year-old clamoring, “Woman, get your sword!” I’m off to do new dastardly deeds. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll even graduate to being Cedric the Bull instead of the inept evil sidekick!
Review originally published at Epinions.com http://www.epinions.com/content_11749...
January 9, 2010
liked that it was legos otherwise, writing was poor, but I guess for an early reader it would be surprised. Was just surprised since we read a lot of step 2 easy readers and they don't seem to read like that.
September 13, 2016
The title is right because the book is about a castle that is under attack. I learned that a feast is a big dinner. If I had a feast, I would want chicken, pasta, soup, dessert, and a bunch of other stuff at my feast. Maybe tonight I'll get a feast.
March 3, 2008
An easy read. Not long or exciting, more for beginning readers.
Read
May 20, 2009JEAR3-Bax
January 11, 2013
there's a handful of historic facts thrown in with this one.
Read
September 24, 2012Great easy readers to motivate young Lego fans.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews