The Nine Questions

by Edward Fenton

A fairy tale/allegory with magical atmosphere.

235 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Edward Fenton is the author of many books for young readers, including The Phantom of Walkway Hill, which won the Edgar Award for the best juvenile mystery of its year. His three translations of the Greek write Alki Zei have all received the Mildred L. Batchelder Award for outstanding books translated from a foreign language. In addition, his poems and stories have appeared in several magazines, among them The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Cricket, and The Horn Book.

Mr. Fenton was born in New York City, but is "Greek by adoption." he and his wife, Sophia Havarti, a well-known educator and child psychologist, live in Athens and in Galixidi, an old sea captain's village on the coast near Delphi.

Reviews

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my very favourite books as a child, and I spent many years as an adult searching for a copy before finally finding a scan of the original 1959 US edition a couple of years ago. It is a fairytale-like quest story about the journey of 13 year old orphan Willie Boy to the Weaver's Country, where he hopes to find his father and his destiny. He is accompanied on his travels by a dog, a dove, a mouse and a lizard. He has an interesting set of encounters with various villains and friendly characters, who I won't say too much about to avoid spoilers. It reads just as well today as it did 40 years ago. Dipping into it again feels like encountering an old friend.

[Jarrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seemingly out of print for decades, this is an extremely difficult book to acquire. I had been hunting for it for many years before finally finding a reasonably priced used copy online.
First published in 1959, there may never have been a second printing. This is an extraordinary lost gem of a children’s book that has a simple morality within the allegorical subtext. Good and evil, God and the Devil, religious belief or no, the story here is a timeless one. And one we are all familiar with. The philosophical themes of “The Nine Questions” aside however, this beautiful story brought to mind other, more well known children’s literature of the past century. The works of L. Frank Baum, C. S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle and even Lewis Carroll for example.

[Matt Gaither · Rating 4 out of 5]

My dad read this as a kid and recalled it being the first experience he had with a book that really captivated him, so I was intrigued. It's a good little adventure story that feels familiar but maintains its uniqueness. The ending was surprisingly anti-climactic, but that's really my only gripe. I'll likely read it to my kids one day and pass on the story of Opa with it.

[Celia Piper · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully atmospheric kids' fairy tale: adventure, friendship, courage, danger, a bad guy in disguise: and a wonderful ending