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The Story of King Arthur His Knights
From the sword in the stone and the founding of Camelot to the famed Round Table and the Lake of Enchantment, the legend of King Arthur will never lose its magic. Though simpler, this version includes all the wonderful stories—such as King Arthur’s winning of Guenievere and Merlin’s tragic downfall at the hands of the evil Vivien.
160 pages, Paperback
First published March 28, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
February 28, 2016
I have read this book so many times. It is a real classic. Every time I read it seems to be better than the last time. It was interesting to see the tv show Merlin which takes on a slightly different storyline.
June 28, 2025
Read this book with my kids. We so enjoyed it. I love the lessons taught through the character of the knights, like the power of being kind to others or not judging a book by its cover. So many good truths in these exciting stories.
D’s Review: it was so cool, I liked all of it. I really enjoyed when King Arthur got Excalibur.
D’s Review: it was so cool, I liked all of it. I really enjoyed when King Arthur got Excalibur.
June 9, 2016
Tania Zamorsky does a wonderful job in captivating the classic stories of King Arthur in one book. Her rendition follows the marvelous legends of the great "Kingdom of Camelot" that King Arthur built . From the classic stories of the Sword in the Stone to the Quest for the Holy Grail and the captivating chapter of the love triangle between Lancelot, Arthur and Queen Guinevere. Reading this book however has been difficult, due to its older form of English language. But learning how to read Early Modern English is a great skill that students should have and use in later in school when annotating older passages of literature. After reading this book I can see the accurate representations of the High Middle Ages, from power of European kingdoms to honor, love, magic, and chivalry, these ancient stories inspire writers to write, readers to read, and people to imagine.
October 22, 2021
For as quick as it was, this was a pretty good intro to Arthurian legends, assuming it was 'accurate' to traditional stories. What I got out of the book more than anything else was that the men were dumb and the women were treacherous. Haha. Also, I thought that Merlin was a part of Arthur's life longer.
I did think that the book was more about Gawaine than Arthur after part 1. Like, what was Arthur doing during his knight's adventures off breaking spells and marrying ladies of the lake?
I did think that the book was more about Gawaine than Arthur after part 1. Like, what was Arthur doing during his knight's adventures off breaking spells and marrying ladies of the lake?
April 25, 2019
I feel like reading the classic starts version gave me a good foundation for understanding the stories of King Arthur. I definitely want to give the original stories a try now.
August 18, 2022
both me and my kids loved listening to this the Tales of Camelot and Arthur
October 15, 2025
I read this aloud to my kids and they thoroughly enjoyed it and acted out each chapter. I also appreciated the discussion questions in the back.
February 19, 2024
It had a lot of adventure and action
April 4, 2020
My son is in a home school co-op this year. I am the fifth and sixth grade writing teacher. I was given my curriculum, which came complete with a list of reading for the year. So I read the novels along with the kids, and there were some mixed results. As you should be able to tell from the title of this blog entry, the theme of their writing course of the year was Medieval times, which was cool because they were also studying the Middle Ages in their history class. So there was a lot of overlap and it worked out nicely. I’ll just start plowing through the book reviews. (Note: We did not get to the last two books, due to Covid-19 and the stay at home restrictions. We missed a book about Marco Polo and one about the Crusades.)
The first book we read was The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, by Tania Zamorsky. If you know me at all (even just as a blog follower), you know that I enjoy King Arthur stuff. I have reviewed several King Arthur books and series here on the blog, as well as some TV series and maybe a movie. My second novel (a novella, actually) is based in the Middle Ages and has the flavor of Camelot. So I was excited to begin the year this way. I hadn’t read any children’s chapter books about King Arthur, and, well, this would not be the one I would recommend. There must be better out there. (Or not. I am only guessing.) It has decent ratings, but it just wasn’t very engaging. Sure, it told some of the stories so that kids could follow along, but it lacked cohesion (perhaps on purpose, remaining true to the bits-and-pieces legends) and it just wasn’t a page-turner. I didn’t enjoy it and either did the kids. It fell flat. It may be that I enjoy King Arthur approached with a more modern sense of storytelling, but I kept wondering where all the drama and the energy was. The romance. The adventure. It felt almost textbook-y. I wonder if the Howard Pyle original might have been better.
And then we went into Robin Hood by J. Walker McSpadden. Again, I rejoiced, because I like Robin Hood stories, although not nearly as much as King Arthur. I also hear Bryan Adams singing in my head whenever Robin Hood is mentioned. And again I was disappointed. And again I was left hoping there was a better version of the Robin Hood stories for children. This book was actually better than the other, though. Written better a little bit. Actually had some life in it, and a sense of humor. It was broken up into stories without a real arc (or at least one you noticed while it was arcing), however, and this made it hard to keep reading. I asked the same questions as last time, except less about adventure and more: where’s the romance and maybe where’s the drama? If you have a kid on your hands who likes short stories and British history, then perhaps this is the book for him or her. I mean, English children have been loving these stories for like a million years, so maybe yours will as well. Sadly, this book (though a Dover classic,) made the stories feel outdated.
I had no idea what to expect from The King’s Shadow by Elizabeth Alder. Turns out it is a book about a Welsh boy who is orphaned and maimed and then betrayed into slavery among the Anglo-Saxons. In the Middle Ages, of course. His tongue is cut out near the beginning of the book, so I had to warn parents about this. Not that it was especially graphic, but the idea is a little intense. Evyn, the boy, is resilient and has just enough luck and intelligence to be able to make himself useful and be promoted over and over until he is, as the title says, the King’s shadow. Since the children had already learned about King Harold and the Battle of Hastings, it was nice to make connections to history. On the other hand, I used this book to teach the kids a couple of things that they should NOT do when they write. (Among other things, they should not use physical attributes as sure indicators of characteristics. Just because someone is tall and muscular does not make him a great king, etc. or just because someone is wearing black and has a scar does not make him a villain. The author does this regularly. There’s also a whole lot of telling and not showing going on, so we learned about that.) While the book was useful as a tool for teaching writing pitfalls, again we found ourselves not enjoying a book. Though I had one or two who did like this book and reviews online are pretty good. I really didn’t like it.
And then we read One Thousand and One Arabian Nights by Geraldine McCaughrean and I felt very happy. My mind had been trained by now not to expect much from this reading list, though it kept to topics that I normally would really enjoy. One Thousand and One Arabian Nights was a book that I had been meaning to read for many years. This is, obviously, a version of the Islamic classic adapted for children. Which makes it a bit awkward, because the premise is this: King Sharyar is jilted and spends years in bitterness, marrying a new woman every day to have her executed the next morning. The clever Shaharazad “sacrifices” herself by marrying the king and uses storytelling to keep him from executing her day after day after day. We, as the reader, get to listen in to all the tales. Again, I had to warn the parents about the sadistic king. Containing within it some real classics, like Aladdin and Ali Baba and the forty thieves, I was blown away by the humor and the voice of this rendition. In the end, I would probably recommend it for an older audience, but I really had a great time reading this and marveling at the cleverness of the story itself. Maybe one day I’ll get around to reading the original, but I also wouldn’t mind giving this one another read on my own.
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli felt like déjà vu. It’s about a boy who loses everything, including his future plans and his legs (instead of tongue) to the Plague. Robin finds himself at the mercy of the monks and with his personality and his ability to learn, he works his way up and finds a new future for himself. So, very similar to The King’s Shadow. While this one tends to get lower reviews than the other, I can’t agree with that. I thought that this book had a charm that the other was lacking, even if it still wasn’t my favorite. A Newbery Award winner, it is a bit heavy on the morals and perhaps suffers from a lack of action, but I still liked it alright and would recommend it for the right child.
Before Covid-19 forced us into quarantine, we read Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray. Another Newbery Award-winner, this was my second-favorite book of the bunch because it contained a levity and tenderness that I enjoyed. It’s about yet another boy who suffers a loss and has to be strong, keep going, and use his wits to overcome. In this version, he loses his dog and his father, both of which he pursues for the duration of the book. Part of why this book is so interesting is because of the sheer otherness of Adam’s experiences in contrast to a child today. As a minstrel’s child, Adam had almost complete free-range and he lived on the road, which could mean sleeping on the side of it. While we can see a little around it, Adam adores his father and his life as the son of a minstrel, and I was intrigued by what this life might have looked like in the Middle Ages. The book gives you a glimpse into life at the time and also gives you a handful of characters to love.
Here are a few titles in middle grades Middle Ages, which I have not read, that might be worth a try. (They are also more diverse.):
The Inquisitor’s Tale, Hatem Ally
Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction, David Macaulay
The Sign of the Chrysanthemum, Katherine Patterson
Possibly The Shakespeare Stealer Trilogy
The Crystal Ribbon, Celeste Lim
The Mad Wolf’s Daughter, Diane Magras
The Ugly One, Leanna Statland Ellis
I might recommend trying Crispin: The Cross of Lead (Avi) or Leonardo’s Shadow (Christopher Peter Grey), but I’m tired to stories of boys in the Middle Ages who lose everything and have to be resilient and have their wits about them to succeed.
***REVIEW WRITTEN FOR THE STARVING ARTIST BLOG***
The first book we read was The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, by Tania Zamorsky. If you know me at all (even just as a blog follower), you know that I enjoy King Arthur stuff. I have reviewed several King Arthur books and series here on the blog, as well as some TV series and maybe a movie. My second novel (a novella, actually) is based in the Middle Ages and has the flavor of Camelot. So I was excited to begin the year this way. I hadn’t read any children’s chapter books about King Arthur, and, well, this would not be the one I would recommend. There must be better out there. (Or not. I am only guessing.) It has decent ratings, but it just wasn’t very engaging. Sure, it told some of the stories so that kids could follow along, but it lacked cohesion (perhaps on purpose, remaining true to the bits-and-pieces legends) and it just wasn’t a page-turner. I didn’t enjoy it and either did the kids. It fell flat. It may be that I enjoy King Arthur approached with a more modern sense of storytelling, but I kept wondering where all the drama and the energy was. The romance. The adventure. It felt almost textbook-y. I wonder if the Howard Pyle original might have been better.
And then we went into Robin Hood by J. Walker McSpadden. Again, I rejoiced, because I like Robin Hood stories, although not nearly as much as King Arthur. I also hear Bryan Adams singing in my head whenever Robin Hood is mentioned. And again I was disappointed. And again I was left hoping there was a better version of the Robin Hood stories for children. This book was actually better than the other, though. Written better a little bit. Actually had some life in it, and a sense of humor. It was broken up into stories without a real arc (or at least one you noticed while it was arcing), however, and this made it hard to keep reading. I asked the same questions as last time, except less about adventure and more: where’s the romance and maybe where’s the drama? If you have a kid on your hands who likes short stories and British history, then perhaps this is the book for him or her. I mean, English children have been loving these stories for like a million years, so maybe yours will as well. Sadly, this book (though a Dover classic,) made the stories feel outdated.
I had no idea what to expect from The King’s Shadow by Elizabeth Alder. Turns out it is a book about a Welsh boy who is orphaned and maimed and then betrayed into slavery among the Anglo-Saxons. In the Middle Ages, of course. His tongue is cut out near the beginning of the book, so I had to warn parents about this. Not that it was especially graphic, but the idea is a little intense. Evyn, the boy, is resilient and has just enough luck and intelligence to be able to make himself useful and be promoted over and over until he is, as the title says, the King’s shadow. Since the children had already learned about King Harold and the Battle of Hastings, it was nice to make connections to history. On the other hand, I used this book to teach the kids a couple of things that they should NOT do when they write. (Among other things, they should not use physical attributes as sure indicators of characteristics. Just because someone is tall and muscular does not make him a great king, etc. or just because someone is wearing black and has a scar does not make him a villain. The author does this regularly. There’s also a whole lot of telling and not showing going on, so we learned about that.) While the book was useful as a tool for teaching writing pitfalls, again we found ourselves not enjoying a book. Though I had one or two who did like this book and reviews online are pretty good. I really didn’t like it.
And then we read One Thousand and One Arabian Nights by Geraldine McCaughrean and I felt very happy. My mind had been trained by now not to expect much from this reading list, though it kept to topics that I normally would really enjoy. One Thousand and One Arabian Nights was a book that I had been meaning to read for many years. This is, obviously, a version of the Islamic classic adapted for children. Which makes it a bit awkward, because the premise is this: King Sharyar is jilted and spends years in bitterness, marrying a new woman every day to have her executed the next morning. The clever Shaharazad “sacrifices” herself by marrying the king and uses storytelling to keep him from executing her day after day after day. We, as the reader, get to listen in to all the tales. Again, I had to warn the parents about the sadistic king. Containing within it some real classics, like Aladdin and Ali Baba and the forty thieves, I was blown away by the humor and the voice of this rendition. In the end, I would probably recommend it for an older audience, but I really had a great time reading this and marveling at the cleverness of the story itself. Maybe one day I’ll get around to reading the original, but I also wouldn’t mind giving this one another read on my own.
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli felt like déjà vu. It’s about a boy who loses everything, including his future plans and his legs (instead of tongue) to the Plague. Robin finds himself at the mercy of the monks and with his personality and his ability to learn, he works his way up and finds a new future for himself. So, very similar to The King’s Shadow. While this one tends to get lower reviews than the other, I can’t agree with that. I thought that this book had a charm that the other was lacking, even if it still wasn’t my favorite. A Newbery Award winner, it is a bit heavy on the morals and perhaps suffers from a lack of action, but I still liked it alright and would recommend it for the right child.
Before Covid-19 forced us into quarantine, we read Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray. Another Newbery Award-winner, this was my second-favorite book of the bunch because it contained a levity and tenderness that I enjoyed. It’s about yet another boy who suffers a loss and has to be strong, keep going, and use his wits to overcome. In this version, he loses his dog and his father, both of which he pursues for the duration of the book. Part of why this book is so interesting is because of the sheer otherness of Adam’s experiences in contrast to a child today. As a minstrel’s child, Adam had almost complete free-range and he lived on the road, which could mean sleeping on the side of it. While we can see a little around it, Adam adores his father and his life as the son of a minstrel, and I was intrigued by what this life might have looked like in the Middle Ages. The book gives you a glimpse into life at the time and also gives you a handful of characters to love.
Here are a few titles in middle grades Middle Ages, which I have not read, that might be worth a try. (They are also more diverse.):
The Inquisitor’s Tale, Hatem Ally
Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction, David Macaulay
The Sign of the Chrysanthemum, Katherine Patterson
Possibly The Shakespeare Stealer Trilogy
The Crystal Ribbon, Celeste Lim
The Mad Wolf’s Daughter, Diane Magras
The Ugly One, Leanna Statland Ellis
I might recommend trying Crispin: The Cross of Lead (Avi) or Leonardo’s Shadow (Christopher Peter Grey), but I’m tired to stories of boys in the Middle Ages who lose everything and have to be resilient and have their wits about them to succeed.
***REVIEW WRITTEN FOR THE STARVING ARTIST BLOG***
July 8, 2018
Reading this made me realize my knowledge of King Arthur came entirely from Monty Python. I didn’t recognize any of the knights mentioned in this book and had never heard the story of Merlin’s demise. A lot of it felt disjointed but that might be fallout from the source material; I look forward to finding out.
September 11, 2019
Read this book with my son for a school assignment. I felt that the stories were appropriate for a 5th grader and the choice of vocabulary words was excellent.
February 16, 2021
I have listened to the audiobook for this book and I didn't care for the audiobook but I should have read the book instead.
February 18, 2024
2.6/5 stars — this is more a complaint about Howard Pyle than the Classic Starts series but… I don’t think abridging these stories serves the audience, even when your intended audience is children. I guess if you’re trying to lean into the morality discussion (as the questions at the end seem to suggest) it almost works, but narratively it just makes everything feel confusing. Making these stories more vague makes most character motivations seem completely nonsensical, and really waters things down to the point where some of the narration is really funny when I don’t think they intended it to be humorous.
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Pacing: 2/5
Writing: 2/5
Enjoyment: 3/5
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Pacing: 2/5
Writing: 2/5
Enjoyment: 3/5
December 7, 2025
My nieces are still too young to read chapter books with, but that doesn't stop an excited Aunt around Christmastime, does it?
I was curious and had to read through this version first, and I think it did a wonderful job of not just retelling the tales in Pyle's version, but maintaining his wholesome storytelling style. There is no less adventure or romance in this book, however much it may be abridged.
An ideal introduction to Arthurian legends for an early chapter book audience, and I expect my brother and sister-in-law to have just as much enjoyment reading this before bedtime as I want for my niece.
I was curious and had to read through this version first, and I think it did a wonderful job of not just retelling the tales in Pyle's version, but maintaining his wholesome storytelling style. There is no less adventure or romance in this book, however much it may be abridged.
An ideal introduction to Arthurian legends for an early chapter book audience, and I expect my brother and sister-in-law to have just as much enjoyment reading this before bedtime as I want for my niece.
November 18, 2022
I enjoyed this! I think it's a great intro for kids. I also feel as though my appetite is whetted for more...not sure when I'll prioritize that, but I look forward to reading other versions of it.
This was one I mostly read aloud, I believe, though perhaps we found an audiobook version at some point? I don't recall now.
This was one I mostly read aloud, I believe, though perhaps we found an audiobook version at some point? I don't recall now.
July 31, 2023
I was looking for a book to give my young grandson about King Arthur. This fills that spot. It is a brief story telling of King Arthur that hits the highlights but not so much details. It is from a series at Barnes and Noble to get young readers to read the classics. As an adult I probably would rate the story higher if I read the unabridged version.
September 29, 2018
I’m only loosely familiar with the King Arthur stories, but if this made-for-kids book is any indication of their quality, they’re terrible, with some stories outrageously predictable and others extremely random. The morals they are presumably meant to impart are suspect as well.
June 17, 2023
I liked this condensed take of King Arthur and his nights. It was simplified for younger readers but still kept the integrity of the stories. It was a quick read that gives some insight into the many knights of King Arthur's round table.
January 7, 2025
Sadly this was my first exposure to the King Arthur stories. One day I hope to read the original, though more for their cultural significance than anything else. I felt that there was a huge amount of treachery and betrayal in these stories, and that was the major impression I was left with.
December 12, 2018
Not bad but YUCKY!
November 4, 2019
Read as part of Medieval study with my 6 and 5year old. They loved the stories of King Arthur. Very easy read. Hopefully my 6 year old can read this on his own.
Read
April 24, 2020What a silly book. King Arthur and his knights running around trying to out do each other. Zeke and I mostly enjoyed the tales of magic and sorcery.
August 7, 2020
Fairly entertaining.
January 19, 2021
Read allowed to the children and they enjoyed it.
January 22, 2021
Classic Starts version of The Story of King Arthur and His Knights.
September 5, 2021
A very nice adaption!
November 9, 2021
I loved this abridged version! My boys loved it too.
September 6, 2022
I understand the idea behind classic starts and have enjoyed many of them, but this version of King Arthur and his knights felt disjointed in this format.
June 8, 2023
Good for familiarizing yourself with Arthur stories. Easy to read and gets the basic plot points for a younger reader. This doesn't cover any of the seedier seductions.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews