Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: author, Elizabeth Lodor Merchant, James Knowles, King Arthur, literature, Thomas Malory, version

This topic has 2 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 8 months ago by TX-Melissa.

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August 18, 2013 at 2:03 am
TX-Melissa
Participant
I did not realize this could be so complicated. I have two different versions of King Arthur and His Knights and can’t decide which I should include in our literature reading. I didn’t find either of them in the bookfinder, but don’t really want to go get another book, if one of the ones I have will do. So, the one on my Kindle is The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by Sir James Knowles. Another book I picked up at a book sale, thinking I was just getting a print copy of the same thing, is King Arthur and His Knights based on Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, compiled and arranged by Elizabeth Lodor Merchant, published by Calvert Education Services.
Oh, and I also have an abridged version of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table by Howard Pyle. That was just an ‘if ds really likes the story, maybe he’ll read that one himself’ idea. 😉
So, would any of you recommend one or the other of those for a family literature read-aloud? Would one be a better read or is it just 6 one half a dozen the other?
Thanks a bunch,
Melissa
August 18, 2013 at 6:31 pm
4myboys
Participant
I do own the Merchant book, but I’ve not yet ready it myself. I have glanced through it and find it is likely a good option for your children. I checked through for mention of some of the common inappropriate themes and have found them absent. There is a lot of magic mentioned, as I am sure you are aware, as well as some platonic romance.
I am not a huge fan of these types of books, anthologies of vaguely connected stories, myself (kind of reminds me of The Famous Men of Greece that we tried this past year). I personally prefer novels, but having read a great number of novels based on the Arthurian legends in my teens and twenties, I can’t think of any off hand that I would recommend as a read aloud. One that I may have my high schooler read in a couple years is the one that got me interested in Arthur in the first place –the one assigned to us by our 9th grade teacher: “The Crystal Cave” by Mary Stewart, but I will re-read it first just to be sure.

August 19, 2013 at 2:35 am
TX-Melissa
Participant
Thanks for your thoughts. I went back to try and see what list I had gotten it from and why I had it in our yr. 5 list. I remember he had enjoyed Robin Hood quite a bit. But I see its on Ambleside Online’s yr. 5 list and I generally choose books from the previous year when selecting from there. Based on that and your thoughts & reminders about the story, I think I’ll put it off a while. It seems we have plenty of other books on the list this year. 🙂
Thanks so much,
Melissa

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Which King Arthur?

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