The Trumpeter of Krakow
by Eric P. Kelly -- In medieval Poland, a mysterious jewel is stolen, a
family is displaced, and an alchemist seeks the secret of transmuting
base metals to gold. This book won the Newbery back in 1929, and I do
see some distinguished elements -- the writing is good, though a little
more flowery than is common these days, and there's an interesting plot
if you can get through all of the descriptive bits. The characters
aren't particularly fleshed out (the alchemist, a secondary character,
was probably the most interesting to me). I had a hard time staying
engaged with the narrative, so it took me several days to get through
this book. Would I recommend it to kids today? Probably only if I had
one who was really fascinated with medieval stories.
(Reviewed from a copy borrowed through my library system.)
My library copy never circulated, so when it started to smell bad, out it went. Styles in literature do change.
ReplyDeleteYes -- while I think you might find the occasional young reader who would enjoy this title, it would probably require some enthusiastic hand-selling on the part of the librarian to get them to try it.
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