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The King with Six Friends

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There are many nice things about being a king. But there is one very bad thing. It's hard to find a job if you're out of work. All that a king can do is rule, and if you have no kingdom then you are out of work. That's what happened to young King Zar.

He was a good king, but young and without much experience. A bold, strong king with many soliders had attacked his kingdom. Young Zar found himself with no country, with no palace or house or hut. Zar had twelve gold pieces, a suit of clothes and a sword. So he set out to find work.

The road was long and the world was wide. In Zar's search for a kingdom he met six unusual friends along the way. From the author of the Danny Dunn books, magically illustrated by Imero Gobbato.

Originally published in 1968.

42 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1968

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247 people want to read

About the author

Jay Williams

157 books41 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Jay Williams (May 31, 1914–July 12, 1978) was an American author born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Max and Lillian Jacobson. He cited the experience of growing up as the son of a vaudeville show producer as leading him to pursue his acting career as early as college. Between 1931 and 1934 he attended the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University where he took part in amateur theatrical productions.

Out of school and out of work during the end of the Depression, he worked as a comedian on the upstate New York Borscht Belt circuit. From 1936 until 1941, Jay Williams worked as a press agent for Dwight Deere Winman, Jed Harris and the Hollywood Theatre Alliance. And even though he played a feature role in the Cannes prize winning film, The Little Fugitive produced in 1953, he turned his attention to writing as a full time career after his discharge from the Army in 1945. He was the recipient of the Purple Heart. While serving in the Army he published his first book, The Stolen Oracle, in 1943.

Williams may be best-known for his young adult "Danny Dunn" science fiction/fantasy series which he co-authored with Raymond Abrashkin. Though Abrashkin died in 1960, he is listed as co-author of all 15 books of this series, which continued from 1956 until 1977. Jay Williams also wrote mysteries for young adults, such as The Stolen Oracle, The Counterfeit African, and The Roman Moon Mystery.

In all, he published at least 79 books including 11 picture books, 39 children's novels, 7 adult mysteries, 4 nonfiction books, 8 historical novels and a play.

Williams and his wife Barbara Girsdansky were married June 3, 1941. They had a son, Christopher ("Chris"), and a daughter, Victoria. Jay Williams died at age 64 from a heart attack while on a trip to London on July 12, 1978.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
Profile Image for Stacy.
1,003 reviews90 followers
April 14, 2018
King Zar had his kingdom and role as king stolen from him. He sets out on a quest to find a job, but who needs a king? On the way, he meets 6 friends that end up helping him on his quest. He comes to a kingdom ruled by a king with a beautiful daughter but has been unable to find a suitable match for her to marry. He must complete several tasks in order to prove himself worthy of the princess, since he already has 1 strike against him by being a king without a kingdom. It has a happy ending.
Profile Image for Matthew.
31 reviews13 followers
February 10, 2008
I find it difficult to accept that I am including a book I read when I was (perhaps) only five years old, but I still own this book, have read it numerous times since graduating high school, and continue to find it to be an absolutely fascinating book (albeit a children's book) in terms of the lessons it teaches.

The story revolves around a prince (who no longer has a country) who wishes to marry a princess who does have a country (so that he might gain a country thereby). Yes, that's right, the central conflict of the book concerns a cynical marriage to a beautiful woman with the express purpose of gaining her material wealth. Unusual for a children's book, to be sure.

The prince meets six friends, all of whom have a unique magical power, and each power is used to help the prince complete the challenges that the princess's father places in the prince's way to prove that he is capable of being a good enough king to marry the princess. In completing the various challenges, the prince casually orders his 'friends' around, and then neglects to thank them for their services when the perform them (without which he would surely have failed, or in at least one case, died).

When the prince completes the challenges (which basically amounts to him ordering his 'friends' to complete the challenges for him), he wins the princess's kingdom, vast sums of money, and a beautiful bride. At the wedding feast a serving-girl remarks to one of the new king's friends that it seems from her perspective that the friends, in fact, did all the work. The friend replies that while it might have looked that way, the prince did the most important job of all - he led them.

The moral of the story is a deep and complicated one, and it is one frankly worthy of nuanced discussion even today. How much value should be placed on someone who sees 'the big picture' but doesn't contribute any other skills? Could one of the friends perhaps have also been able to see the big picture and could have gotten the credit if he hadn't been so subordinated to the prince all the time? Just how laudful should we be to a manager/leader who takes all the credit and reward for the combined efforts of other people? Leadership is a valued characteristic in our society and this book (while ostensibly holding it up to be a very high value) exposes the idea to potential scathing attack at the same time. Worth a read if you can find a copy.
512 reviews22 followers
August 20, 2008
I loved this book so much as a child. At the time it was the beautiful illustrations that attracted me more than anything, but I've always loved the story too. I still own this book and read it regularly.

I read another review that talked about how little the king did to gain his kingdom. Instead, he just ordered his friends around so that they could complete the challenges set before him. I agree with much of what the review's author says, but think that he missed one main lesson that the book has for children.

The kind earned his six friends. They weren't just blindly following him. They were his friends, not his servants. As a kid, I learned that you have to be a friend to have a friend. I also learned that if you are there for people when they don't expect it, or have anyone to lean on, than you will have people there for you when you need someone too.

That may seem like Pollyanna thinking, but it's how I feel. I learned optimism from this book.

Profile Image for Meredith.
4 reviews
November 29, 2007
If you do not like this book, we will never be friends.
Profile Image for Luisa Knight.
3,230 reviews1,226 followers
May 28, 2022
LOVE the illustrations!!

A king without a country is a king without a job. So King Zar must set off to find work. Along the way he meets characters that he saves from their odd predicaments and they all become friends. When King Zar must pass three tests, his friends come to his rescue.

Note: parents, this book is longer than most picture books.

Ages: 4 - 10

Cleanliness: mentions wine and characters can somehow turn themselves into various things (fairytale magic).
Profile Image for Jackie "the Librarian".
995 reviews285 followers
August 31, 2008
A king without a country seeks his fortune, and along the way befriends some very interesting folks.
He hears a small voice crying out from an axe in a log, and when he frees it, the axe becomes a man named Edge. He removes a mouse from a terrified elephant's sight, and the elephant tranforms into a man with thick skin, large ears and little eyes, named Agus.

The king, named Zar, removes four birds nests, all filled with noisy baby birds, from a very weary tree which becomes a man named Furze. He frees a serpent that got itself into knots, named Eryx, and saves a fire from being put out by the rain, that becomes a man named Kindle. He rescues a beehive from the attentions of a bear, and even the bees become a man named Dumble!

All these magical men declare their loyalty to the king, and accompany him to the city. There lives a beautiful princess, awaiting a worthy suitor. To win her, the king must pass several challenges, which he does with the help of his friends' special abilities, of course.

The illustrations are wonderful and unforgettable, if a just a bit creepy at times. Wonderfully creepy! This is a great book for kids of all ages.
Profile Image for Mir.
4,977 reviews5,331 followers
April 12, 2011
Once I opened this I realized that I had indeed read it as a child; I remember the illustrations, especially Kindle the fire-spirit and Bumble, who even at 5 I thought was dumb. It wasn't a favorite then, and I'm afraid I'm not impressed now, either. It is okay, but I have come across many better retellings of the basic story. The characters didn't have that much personality. Also, modern tales where the True Love is based on one glance at the Amazingly Beautiful (and rich) Princess leave me cold. I would have expected something with more verve from Williams.
Profile Image for Elisabeth.
114 reviews2 followers
May 14, 2025
I read this before giving to my nephew. It’s about young King Zar who loses his kingdom, and now has to find another job. But it’s hard finding a job as a king. On his journey he rescues and saves some men. They of course join him on his journey and become a merry band.

Eventually they come to a country with a beautiful princess. Her father, the king, has set up challenges to gain her hand. King Zar wants to win the girl, but asks to have his courtiers with him as he completes the challenges… as every king has his best men with him.

Of course, the challenges are undoable by one man, but with the skills his friends have, they complete the challenges and King Zar can marry the Princess.

A small, but magical book.

Profile Image for Zai Zai.
813 reviews16 followers
October 28, 2022
The moral of the story is that being a leader doesn’t mean you have to do everything yourself. Inspiring others to do their best work and correctly delegating tasks are great attributes every leader should possess.

Thr King with Six Friends is a great parable and fairy tale hybrid. The story was easy to follow and the art is very charming. How everything was laid out could've been better though. Other than that, no further complaints. Oops, the princess here was treated like an object that will make me deduct a star.

Overall, I'm still glad to include this book in my collection.
Profile Image for Dave Russell.
74 reviews131 followers
May 23, 2008
MY mother read this book to me when I was a little goodreader, but I'd forgotten the title. Someone here reminded me of the title (thanks Jackie.) I don't remember very many details of the book, so I'm rating it based on the good memories from when I was four.
Profile Image for Robin Brave.
201 reviews
May 29, 2024
A classic story with the best artwork.

( artist was an unheralded master. (only a master of easel, Darth))
Author 1 book9 followers
December 1, 2017
Not a terrible message, just sexist.

Pretty wordy. It's kind of a weird story, while still being rather traditional. A king, named King Zar, was apparently a good king, but was attacked by another king and his country was overthrown. He apparently wasn't killed, so he leaves and wanders around because he can't do anything except be a king. Nobody wants to hire him to do work. As he wanders around, he just helps people because he's a really nice guy. He ends up saving, in order, a man who can turn into an axe, a man who can turn into an elephant, a man who can turn into a fire, a man who can turn into a serpent, a man who can turn into a tree, and a man who can turn into a swarm of bees. It's almost like the author picked a bunch of random nouns and said, "I wonder if I can write a coherent story where people turn into these." So bizarre.

They are all friends and everything is awesome, and they wander around and go to an inn, and the serving girl says that the local king has only one child, a daughter, and he can't find a husband for her. The reason for this is his intense pride: he has sworn that his daughter has to marry a king, and all the local kings are married. So King Zar is intrigued. "He paid the girl, and gave her a kiss of thanks." Great. This book is traditional in many ways, including one of which is its sexist nature. The king has no female friends. They are all male.

He goes to King Invictus, who says, "Hey, I knew your father, but you can't marry my daughter because she's super rich and you don't have a kingdom." Zar points out that he'll be rich, too, when he marries her. But Invictus says, "Let's just use the old-fashioned method. I'll set three tests for you. If you fail any of them, I'll cut your head off." Zar talks Invictus into letting his friends help, at the potential cost of their lives as well.

Zar says, reasonably, "First, let me see your daughter." The princess comes in, and everyone is stunned by her beauty. One guy faints. "As for the princess, she looked straight at Zar and her eyes lighted like stars." So maybe she's okay with this? She doesn't do anything in the story except get her hand in marriage won. Yay sex objects.

The first test is, Zar and his friends have to eat and drink a full feast and barrel of wine in an hour. This is given some weak justification. So Zar's friends turn into a fire and burn the food, and an elephant to drink the wine.

The next test is getting an egg from a chest on the top of a cliff. No mention is made of who the egg belongs to or why it was in the box on the cliff to begin with. The challenges include a gap which the serpent is made to straddle, holding on to the other side by his teeth (and then they leave the guy there because they know they'll be coming back, so why not) while the others walk across him. He can't climb the cliff, so his friend turns into a tree and he climbs the friend. Then the chest doesn't open, so the friend turns into an axe and uses himself to chop it open. At this point, knowing how these tropes work, it is a little unusual that he's actually used 5 out of the six friends, and you know he'll never use the same guy for two things. Usually it would be divided evenly, like there would be six tasks and he'd use exactly one for each, or since there are three tasks, you would expect him to use two friends per task. The only guy left is the swarm of bees guy. It'd be great if the axe guy was used twice and the bees guy was just overlooked, but of course that doesn't happen.

The last test is: "Defend yourself!" And a bunch of soldiers attack. Then the swarm of bees guy stings them all and the soldiers run away in terror, because apparently nobody trained them to deal with minor annoyances, or else they're all highly allergic.

And he wins the princess. "The princess was brought, and she and Zar kissed each other as the sound of all the bells in the city filled the air." Yep, let's just wheel her out and stand her over in this corner here.

At the end, the king's steward asks the elephant guy, "Wait, Zar didn't actually do anything." And the elephant guy says, "He did what only a good king can do. He led us." Sigh.

It doesn't have a bad message, it's just incredibly sexist. Despite the rather imaginative aspects of it, the rest of it is very trite. Kindness is good. Be kind to everyone you meet, even if they're a snake or a fire.

Message: Good leaders are important.

For more children's book reviews, see my website at http://www.drttmk.com
Profile Image for John.
334 reviews3 followers
April 16, 2022
The King and the six friends was a little bit further down the road than just your ordinary cat and the hat Dr. Seuss book. You had definitely advanced pass that level of reading into a little bit more empt death reading for children. Zar was a king that had lost his parents and his kingdom. On his journey to find a new kingdom he came across different animals and bugs that found themselves in dire straits. Each one he helped resolve the problem and they transformed into people. Each person joined Zar on his journey. As in all fairy tales and fables, he arrived in a kingdom looking for a princess. To obtain the princess the king of the kingdom that he entered had three task. Zar asked if he could use his friends as allies during his tasks and the king agreed. Each of the kings new friends had a special talent. Zar had to determine when and where and how to use a shallot to complete the tasks. There are a few morals to this story. One is to have an abundance of friends. Two is each person has their own unique talents that can help in situations. Three is some people are just natural born leaders. Overall the book was an interesting read and worth reading.
Profile Image for Ashley Lambert-Maberly.
1,811 reviews24 followers
March 14, 2019
This is a sweet book, and it's not hard to picture it becoming an adult's childhood favourite. The story itself is not particularly surprising or compelling (if you make friends with a man who can turn into a bear, I naturally expect that skill to come in handy later), but the illustrations give it a great deal of charm and rather make the book. The final lines are a very nice touch, and I was moved a bit, but unless you're trying to groom your child for CEO your mileage may vary.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
1 review
December 28, 2023
One of my all-time favorite books as a child. I own two copies because the first got worn out from re-reading. Unique and quirky take on the power of friendship (similar to the 1988 Terry Gilliam movie The Adventures of Baron Munchausen which stars some other Monty Python members). As a child, it taught me to look past the appearance of people and judge them on their character and abilities. While the story is suitable for children, this isn't a Pollyanna story. The plot and characters have a dark edge in some spots. The frequent color illustrations throughout really bring the story to life.
Profile Image for Nicole Fanning.
41 reviews
January 20, 2025
This book is a treasure! It eloquently captures the essence of leadership through an entertaining and memorable story. It is actually so nuanced for a children’s book. Even though the kids won’t know it, it teaches the value that a good, skilled leader can bring through knowing how to harness the skills of those around you by working together as a team all while valuing each other’s strengths and skills. Highly, highly recommend this book!
Profile Image for John Blanton.
1 review
June 26, 2017
This story is about a King with no Kingdom and how he came to win the hand of a beautiful Princess with the help of six friends. It is one of my favorites from my childhood, not only did it have a good story but the artwork was simply brilliant.
110 reviews
March 26, 2019
Imero Gobbato's timeless illustrations elevate an otherwise dated parable. Perhaps for the best I was not introduced to this particular work by Jay Williams as a child.
Profile Image for Priscilla.
133 reviews1 follower
July 6, 2020
Such a beautiful story, I found in the little free Library.
90 reviews1 follower
October 5, 2020
This was my favorite book growing up in the late 70's and 80's. I still have my childhood copy. I still read it every few years.
Profile Image for Darin.
45 reviews2 followers
March 24, 2021
My favorite book from my childhood! I believe it was the start of loving to read fantasy. Wonderful story and amazing art.
161 reviews3 followers
October 3, 2022
Principles of leadership, character building, and community, are learned though this humorous children's book filled with beauty and wisdom. A 30 min read.
Profile Image for Robert Boney.
10 reviews
October 12, 2022
This was one of the earliest books that I remember reading. Sadly, I didn't remember the title or author during the years that my kids would have enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Marion.
553 reviews2 followers
April 1, 2023
It is an old book I ran into for free. I have read similar books and liked them as well. The illustrations were special.
Profile Image for Laura.
185 reviews24 followers
September 23, 2023
One of my most beloved children’s books of which I was able to obtain a brand new never used copy
The illustrations and color choices are so beautiful inspiring me to become an artist .
Profile Image for Tirzah.
1,090 reviews18 followers
July 6, 2016
Funny story; my sister brings up this book we read as kids. It is about a king with red hair who meets people that change into different things. The people help the king fulfill his mission. None of us could remember the title or author, although we had the cover in our mind. Well after some time Googling, I stumbled across a Goodreads group whose purpose is to discover book titles people cannot remember and that is how I found The King with Six Friends. So thank you, GR!

Back to writing an actual review...this story is indeed about an overthrown king who wishes to wed a princess. In order to offer his hand, he must complete complicated tasks with the help of his talented friends. I like the story not only because it brings fond memories but also because it teaches teamwork and leadership. The illustrations are friendly as well. This is a good book for read-alouds, bedtime stories, or a good one to pick whilst library browsing!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews

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