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The Riddlemaster
Anouk, Ben and Cara dream of a fabulous treasure buried on the golden island across the harbor. A mysterious and grizzled old man offers them passage on his boat, but only if they can solve seven vexing riddles. If they succeed, a strange and magical prize awaits them.
Enchanting illustrations by Stephane Jorisch illuminate this story by one of Britain's best-loved children's authors.
Enchanting illustrations by Stephane Jorisch illuminate this story by one of Britain's best-loved children's authors.
32 pages, Hardcover
Published August 1, 2016
1 person is currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Crossley-Holland
207 books242 followersKevin Crossley-Holland is an English poet and prize-winning author for children. His books include Waterslain Angels, a detective story set in north Norfolk in 1955, and Moored Man: A Cycle of North Norfolk Poems; Gatty's Tale, a medieval pilgrimage novel; and the Arthur trilogy (The Seeing Stone, At the Crossing-Places and King of the Middle March), which combines historical fiction with the retelling of Arthurian legend.
The Seeing Stone won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award and the Smarties Prize Bronze Medal. The Arthur trilogy has won worldwide critical acclaim and has been translated into 21 languages.
Crossley-Holland has translated Beowulf from the Anglo-Saxon, and his retellings of traditional tales include The Penguin Book of Norse Myths and British Folk Tales (reissued as The Magic Lands). His collaborations with composers include two operas with Nicola Lefanu ("The Green Children" and "The Wildman") and one with Rupert Bawden, "The Sailor’s Tale"; song cycles with Sir Arthur Bliss and William Mathias; and a carol with Stephen Paulus for King’s College, Cambridge. His play, The Wuffings, (co-authored with Ivan Cutting) was produced by Eastern Angles in 1997.
He often lectures abroad on behalf of the British Council, regularly leads sessions for teachers and librarians, and visits primary and secondary schools. He offers poetry and prose workshops and talks on the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, King Arthur, heroines and heroes, and myth, legend and folk-tale.
After seven years teaching in Minnesota, where he held an Endowed Chair in the Humanities, Kevin Crossley-Holland returned to the north Norfolk coast in East Anglia, where he now lives.
He has a Minnesotan wife, Linda, two sons (Kieran and Dominic) and two daughters (Oenone and Eleanor). He is an Honorary Fellow of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, a patron of the Society of Storytelling and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
The Seeing Stone won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award and the Smarties Prize Bronze Medal. The Arthur trilogy has won worldwide critical acclaim and has been translated into 21 languages.
Crossley-Holland has translated Beowulf from the Anglo-Saxon, and his retellings of traditional tales include The Penguin Book of Norse Myths and British Folk Tales (reissued as The Magic Lands). His collaborations with composers include two operas with Nicola Lefanu ("The Green Children" and "The Wildman") and one with Rupert Bawden, "The Sailor’s Tale"; song cycles with Sir Arthur Bliss and William Mathias; and a carol with Stephen Paulus for King’s College, Cambridge. His play, The Wuffings, (co-authored with Ivan Cutting) was produced by Eastern Angles in 1997.
He often lectures abroad on behalf of the British Council, regularly leads sessions for teachers and librarians, and visits primary and secondary schools. He offers poetry and prose workshops and talks on the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, King Arthur, heroines and heroes, and myth, legend and folk-tale.
After seven years teaching in Minnesota, where he held an Endowed Chair in the Humanities, Kevin Crossley-Holland returned to the north Norfolk coast in East Anglia, where he now lives.
He has a Minnesotan wife, Linda, two sons (Kieran and Dominic) and two daughters (Oenone and Eleanor). He is an Honorary Fellow of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, a patron of the Society of Storytelling and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
July 20, 2016
While the riddles were a tad interesting, the book was not. I wasn't a fan of the illustrations and felt that the story didn't flow well. It was as though the story jumped ahead a few pages and left the reader wondering if a page or two was missing, leaving the ending feeling disjointed.
March 24, 2017
Three kids want to go to an island to look for treasure but have to answer seven riddles to get safe passage. You, dear reader, will fall asleep before they answer them.
September 29, 2019
Unfortunately I didn’t particularly enjoy this one.
The moral message and ending are sweet and suggest the idea that stories are gifts that anyone can share and enjoy.
However the actual journey to get there seemed rushed and confusing.
The riddles were vague, tricky and not particularly child friendly. And the point of the children’s journey wasn’t explained at all.
The moral message and ending are sweet and suggest the idea that stories are gifts that anyone can share and enjoy.
However the actual journey to get there seemed rushed and confusing.
The riddles were vague, tricky and not particularly child friendly. And the point of the children’s journey wasn’t explained at all.
September 30, 2017
One star for the illustrations and one for the riddles. Minus three for the disjointed story. Kids have to answer riddles to get safe passage. They answer riddles. They get to the island. The end. A more interesting story would have been how they learned those answers in the first place. It has the flavor of an allegory—you can’t reach the “island” of stories without deep thought, true. But pretty sure bears don’t eat you if you miss an author’s central message.
May 31, 2018
Ok, I know that fairytales are dark, dark, creatures but this book did have the guts (figuratively and literally) to show that. The overall idea is cute but the execution was flat. The illustrations added nothing and the writing was poor. The game was never fully revealed for what it was and the sudden appearance of random fictional characters was bleh.
July 13, 2018
The riddlemaster promised the three kids to take them across the blue waves to the island, only after they solve 7 riddles.
I think the book has a simple fun idea but it was over complicated by all the useless characters added on that boat ride.. Would readers like it more if it was only the three kids and the riddlemaster? maybe.
I think the book has a simple fun idea but it was over complicated by all the useless characters added on that boat ride.. Would readers like it more if it was only the three kids and the riddlemaster? maybe.
November 9, 2016
I just did not enjoy this story and did not like the idea of the animals eating the children if they could not solve the riddle. and the riddles just seemed too difficult for the children to solve.
December 14, 2016
Well. Huh.
I thought for sure this was a translation that had some of the story lost in, well, translation. The story does not flow at all; there were two places where I was sure I must have missed a page...but no, this is just a very strange book. I don't see this being appealing to a child.
I thought for sure this was a translation that had some of the story lost in, well, translation. The story does not flow at all; there were two places where I was sure I must have missed a page...but no, this is just a very strange book. I don't see this being appealing to a child.
July 31, 2017
I liked The Riddlemaster because it has a unicorn in it and I like unicorns. I also like this book because the drawings. They have a funny look to them. And, I like The Riddlemaster because this book has monsters that come from other books. They live on an island of books. I think this is cool.
January 1, 2018
I loved the art, especially the textured blue colors, but was disappointed in the story. Its tantalizing suspense turned out to be nothing. Also, he could have done so much with some of the images he chose, but he just didn't quite pull them together.
January 31, 2019
I liked the concept, but wasn't a fan of the execution. I really disliked that the animals were named what they were. It made it difficult to read because I wanted to say "a dragon" instead of just Dragon.
November 30, 2016
Kids must solve riddles to get to an island (although why??) surrounded in boat by hungry mythical creatures. Suspenseful and rich language
The value of story.
The value of story.
March 7, 2017
This was really wonderfully creepy for a picture book, but the tone of the ending did not match the rest of the book at all. It was quite jarring, in fact.
May 15, 2017
I found the illustrations unappealing, the children tiresome and the riddles a bit lame. I mean, puppies ARE dogs.
June 20, 2017
Dark plot, fanciful and whimsical pictures, and fairy-tale blending.
October 17, 2019
Children have to answer riddles in order to pass over the sea. A story filled with lots of colourful characters and they use their brains in order to achieve!
November 23, 2021
I liked the cover art, with the kids dressed so smartly. But the riddles and danger only made me uneasy.
August 19, 2022
Three brave children avoid a dragons jaw and claws by answering riddles.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 4, 2016
The ending was incongruous to the story. A lot of tension built up, and it seemed like a fairy tale, but the ending reveal took me straight out of the story, smack back into modern times.
July 11, 2016
I was intrigued to receive this review copy from the publisher; Kevin Crossley-Holland is an author I've had a strange relationship with. I admire his writing, greatly, yet often feel quite distanced from it when reading. When spoken though, or performed, I would wed it in a heartbeat. Language is strange like that, it shifts depending on the space it is. This is how I write here, tentatively, reaching my way into this review, but speaking - ? No. Difference. Form, space - content. Language shifts; writing is not speaking, speaking is not writing, but then sometimes, writing is all things and all things are writing. A world of contradiction caught in a few quick dashes on the paper, and held as tight as a kite string in a wicked Autumn storm.
The Riddlemaster holds the key to a marvellous island, full of treasure. In order to get to the island, Anouk, Ben and Cara must solve seven riddles. If they don't solve them, they face the grim fate of being eaten by the animals on the boat; "Beast, and Wildcat, and Wolf, the three Bears, and Dragon / surrounded the three children. They licked their lips." The children manage to solve the riddles and eventually arrive on an island full of stories: "So now you're ready to meet the islanders and they're all / waiting to share their stories with you. Anansi and Anne of Green Gables, Ali Baba and Arthur ...." The final scene sees the children racing excitedly onto a island full of books, and the land scored with letters from the alphabet.
Though I found a few of the moments between the pages jarring (a book like this lives on rhythm and sometimes that rhythm skipped) and would have happily pared down several paragraphs, there is much to enjoy in The Riddlemaster. It's a paean to stories and libraries and I see some substantial opportunities for related play and activities with it. I also applaud the way it flirts quite happily with disaster; the children are almost eaten several times when they almost can't quite figure out the riddle in time. Crossley-Holland's skill in strong, powerful language remains deeply pronounced and rather lovely: "Cara blew out her cheeks like a teapot" and "The boat's mast was a soaring word-tree. It had thousands and thousands of leaves and each fluttering leaf had one word painted on it."
Where this book absolutely sings is in Stéphane Jorisch's illustrations. Jorisch gives us a tapestry of almost medieval characters; those twisting, fanciful half-dreamt, half-believed outlines of animals and characters that twist into each other and curve around the page. His children are perfect; three distinct, diverse characters, and they're each rendered with such movement that they're a delight. These thin washes of colour, dark and light, thin and fat, balance deliciously against the white background of the page, and it's a delight. I want a wordless picturebook from Jorisch because there's so much in his work; the question of a line, the expression of doubt in his finger. It's the artwork that pulls this book together for me; great dreamy, fantastical washes, and movement filled lines. I need to find out more about Jorisch.
The Riddlemaster holds the key to a marvellous island, full of treasure. In order to get to the island, Anouk, Ben and Cara must solve seven riddles. If they don't solve them, they face the grim fate of being eaten by the animals on the boat; "Beast, and Wildcat, and Wolf, the three Bears, and Dragon / surrounded the three children. They licked their lips." The children manage to solve the riddles and eventually arrive on an island full of stories: "So now you're ready to meet the islanders and they're all / waiting to share their stories with you. Anansi and Anne of Green Gables, Ali Baba and Arthur ...." The final scene sees the children racing excitedly onto a island full of books, and the land scored with letters from the alphabet.
Though I found a few of the moments between the pages jarring (a book like this lives on rhythm and sometimes that rhythm skipped) and would have happily pared down several paragraphs, there is much to enjoy in The Riddlemaster. It's a paean to stories and libraries and I see some substantial opportunities for related play and activities with it. I also applaud the way it flirts quite happily with disaster; the children are almost eaten several times when they almost can't quite figure out the riddle in time. Crossley-Holland's skill in strong, powerful language remains deeply pronounced and rather lovely: "Cara blew out her cheeks like a teapot" and "The boat's mast was a soaring word-tree. It had thousands and thousands of leaves and each fluttering leaf had one word painted on it."
Where this book absolutely sings is in Stéphane Jorisch's illustrations. Jorisch gives us a tapestry of almost medieval characters; those twisting, fanciful half-dreamt, half-believed outlines of animals and characters that twist into each other and curve around the page. His children are perfect; three distinct, diverse characters, and they're each rendered with such movement that they're a delight. These thin washes of colour, dark and light, thin and fat, balance deliciously against the white background of the page, and it's a delight. I want a wordless picturebook from Jorisch because there's so much in his work; the question of a line, the expression of doubt in his finger. It's the artwork that pulls this book together for me; great dreamy, fantastical washes, and movement filled lines. I need to find out more about Jorisch.
February 23, 2017
Imaginative and playful
February 13, 2017
megan winter reading 2017, children's book, picture book, riddles, nonsense, fun, imagination, first grade, second grade, third grade
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 15, 2016
Hoping to claim a treasure, 3 children are ferried across the sea to a mysterious island. If they fail to correctly answer 7 riddles posed by the Riddlemaster (the strange old man at the helm of the boat), the island's villagers will eat them.
The riddles were interesting, but the story seemed to lack a little something. It has glimmers of a lovely allegory (about the wonders of reading and the power of storytelling) in it, but I'm not sure I understand how the villagers-eating-children-who-can't-solve-the-riddles fits in with that.
The riddles were interesting, but the story seemed to lack a little something. It has glimmers of a lovely allegory (about the wonders of reading and the power of storytelling) in it, but I'm not sure I understand how the villagers-eating-children-who-can't-solve-the-riddles fits in with that.
December 21, 2016
It's a shame that this book's cover isn't uploaded on Goodreads, because the art is one of the best parts of this lovely book. We all loved this book, but our five year old was especially enamored with it, and it quickly became a nightly fixture at bedtime. The art is unique and beautiful, and the story is lovely, with just the right amount of danger as the children make their way to a mysterious island reputed to hold treasure. A gorgeous book with stunning art, we loved every page.
December 7, 2016
Clever riddles children will enjoy guessing the answer to and a great ending that show how wonderful books are.
December 21, 2016
Strange...
January 5, 2017
Three children want to go to a special island but the boat captain tells them they must answer seven riddles on their way there to get off the boat. Preschool or one on one for length.
October 27, 2016
Well, I feel weirder now.
April 29, 2017
I love the author's style. I'll read it to my students and report back if they liked it.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews