Tumbleweed

by Dick King-Smith

Sir Tumbleweed is an unlikely knight—afraid of horses, jousting, and dragons. But with help from Arthur the Lion and Spearhead the Unicorn, he floors Sir Basil the Beastly in a jousting match. Will the champion jouster of all England find an obliging damsel in distress?

Genres: Dragons, Fantasy

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Dick King-Smith was born and raised in Gloucestershire, England, surrounded by pet animals. After twenty years as a farmer, he turned to teaching and then to writing children's books.

Dick writes mostly about animals: farmyard fantasy, as he likes to call it, often about pigs, his special favorites. He enjoys writing for children, meeting the children who read his books, and knowing that they get enjoyment from what he does.

Among his well-loved books is Babe, The Gallant Pig, which was recently made into a major motion picture, and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Dick lived with his wife in a small 17th-century cottage, about three miles from the house where he was born.

Reviews

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: Little funny children tale on the Arthurian cycle, with a scared knight helped by a witch and several animals, more or less mythical, so that he overcomes his fear and conquers the typical young lady in distress.

Read in Spanish under the title El caballero Tembleque

ESPAÑOL: Pequeño divertimento infantil sobre el ciclo del rey Arturo, con un caballero temeroso a quien ayudan una bruja y varios animales más o menos míticos a vencer su miedo y conquistar a la consabida señorita en dificultades.

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review of this book can be found in the English edition of this novel:
Mi crítica de este libro está en la edición en inglés de la novela:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Lucy Jolliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been rereading some books from my childhood to decide if I can bear to get rid of them, and Tumbleweed is the first one that's ended up back on the shelf. It's just wonderful!
A miserable joke of a knight, Sir Tumbleweed, stumbles upon a witch who decides to help him (no spoilers, but her reasons for doing so are revealed at the end of the story). A group of her animal friends work together to first build his confidence, and when he gets too big for his boots to bring him back down to earth. The story follows this little group as they have a few small adventures together, and end up becoming really close friends - the dragon that Tumbleweed has a tense confrontation with at one point included.
It's a really good story about not judging a book by it's cover, which applies to pretty much every single character in the entire story, and it's also a great story about respecting your friends. The obligatory damsel in distress in a knight story is there, but fits no stereotypes - she is in distress and needs Tumbleweed's help to get out of it, but she is not passive or helpless.
The values felt slightly dated by modern feminist standards, but given the time it was written its clear that it was written with good intentions in this direction. It's certainly a lot better than a lot of other stories about knights saving damsels in distress out there in children's literature!

[Guguk · Rating 4 out of 5]

aku (yang rewel): "Hmm, biarpun dari pengarang favorit, kalo ceritanya bukan binatang tapi manusia, pass dulu deh~"

aku (tepatnya, sisi diriku yang pelit dan perhitungan): "Tapi ini murah! Rugi kalo ga diambil..."

aku (yang mudah terombang-ambing godaan): "Iya, ya.., ambil ah!"

aku aslinya tiga orang (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)
_____________

Ternyata bagus juga! (☆ω☆)
Cerita tentang ksatria abad pertengahan yang penakut dan kikuk, yang pengin mengalahkan naga berapi dan menyelamatkan putri cantik yang kesusahan. Tapi kenyataannya sama kuda saja takut dia!

Ceritanya seru dan 'manis' („• ᴗ •„)

[twentyventi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A childhood favourite of my family — I had forgotten how many pieces of this we used to quote (“Cowardy cowardy custard, wouldn’t cut the mustard”). A charming, silly little adventure story. Read it a loud to my children and they thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Mikaela Dursma · Rating 5 out of 5]

The boys and I listened to this and loved it so much! The narrator (Nigel Lambert) was phenomenal and there were many many giggles.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

Another fun little novel from my childhood by Dick King-Smith. A bit of a departure from his normal ‘farmyard fantasy’ (Dick King-Smith is a prolific author of books featuring talking pigs, mice, and various other animals), Tumbleweed is a fantasy-comedy featuring a very clumsy, nervous, knight who meets a friendly witch, befriends a lion and a unicorn, and goes off in search of damsel to rescue from a dragon.

As a kid I loved stories of knights and castles, so when, aged about 8 or 9, I picked this up for weekly ‘read aloud’ sessions with one of my primary school’s teaching assistants, I absolutely adored it – despite it being a very short and easy read. So my four stars rather than three is completely driven by nostalgia. It’s probably one of those children’s books that’s best read when you either are a child or have children to read it to/with. But it is fun – and I did love Jones, the Welsh Dragon – I hadn’t picked up originally that he used actual Welsh speaking patterns so that got a little laugh out of me, I could definitely hear the accent when I read it this time. It also has some fun jokes and really cute cartoonish black and white illustrations that I don’t remember from reading as a child, but really loved this time around.

If you’re reading with kids and like to discuss themes and messages with them then it’s got a couple of those too; ‘what is courage?’/'can you be brave and afraid?’, as well as judging people on appearances, what makes a good friend, and the morality of taking credit for other people’s actions.

Not as totally awesome as I remember, but still a cute and funny story aimed pretty squarely at younger readers.

[Kieran Curtin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sir Tumbleweed is an unhappy, nervous knight in Medieval England. With the help of a mysterious cloaked being, a lion, a dragon and a unicorn, he overcomes his problems and achieves his wildest dreams. Specifically, his quest includes: winning a jousting tournament, defeating a dragon, and rescuing a damsel in distress. Along the way, he also learns some valuable lessons.

This book is very enjoyable. The author's humour and depiction of the hapless hero will delight children, while the messages about confidence, arrogance and humility will teach children valuable life lessons. Personally, as a history graduate the setting of the book in Medieval England was great, and enabled some wonderful jokes involving Old English.

I think this book would be great for age 8 and upwards, and could be used for a variety of reasons. It could be used as a tool for learning during History class, as well as a lesson on values and morals (for example, the importance of caring for the environment, the dangers of smoking and confidence, arrogance and humility). It also explores universal themes such as friendship, romance and family. Finally, it could be used as part of an English lesson on adjectives and alliteration.

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want an easy to read book and are up for a laugh, then this is the book you need. Have enjoyed it numerous times.

[Sammy]

A good children's book.

[Clait · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another childhood favorite. Sir Tumbleweed must be the worst knight ever. One of the funniest children's books I've ever read.

[Elena Delos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me reí mucho con la historia del caballero Tembleque!! que pena que sea algo difícil encontrar obras de este autor en español.

[Von · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breve, divertido y ameno.