β Scribed by Haberdasher, Violet
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Grade 8 UpβHaberdasher introduces readers to an alternate history in which a treaty among the nations of the Britonian Isles has made combat training illegal at Knightley Academy. Though electricity is commonplace, horse-drawn carriages are far more frequently used than cars, and weapons technology remains at the level of swords and polearms. Servant boy Henry Grim is the first commoner to be admitted to the elite academy, which trains police, detectives, and other protectors of the public. Negotiating his way through his classes is the least of Henry's worries, however. Someone doesn't want commoners at Knightley and is working hard to sabotage Henry and two other misfits. Add a brewing tension in the Nordlands, and the political sphere of Henry's world becomes far larger than the orphan boy ever believed possible. Beginning with a self-conscious narrator in the style of J. M. Barrie or Lemony Snicket, the story progresses with the same kind of school-story mystery that worked so well in the "Harry Potter" novels. However, there is no magic hereβjust classical knightly studies and political commentary written on a level that even reluctant readers should find accessible. The characters, particularly Henry and his early nemesis, Valmont, are well drawn. Henry's outcast roommates and the unconventional daughter of the headmaster are also appealing. Clearly set up as the beginning of a series, the book should do well with some "Harry Potter" readers, but is unlikely to have the same widespread appeal.β Alana Joli Abbott, James Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford, CT
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Henry Grim is an orphaned servant who studies in secret, hoping to rise above his station. He gets his chance when he is allowed to sit for the Knightley Academy entrance exam and becomes the first commoner admitted. This prestigious school once trained knights for combat, but combat was outlawed when the Longsword Treaty brought peace to the Britonian Isles. If Henry excels, Knightley could open its doors to commoners for good, but vicious sabotage threatens his triumph. On the hunt to identify his saboteurs, Henry discovers a plot to break the treaty and start a war. Haberdasher embraces the Harry Potter comparison with in-jokes, but this series debut doesnβt rise above the comparison. Knightley Academy has disappointingly little to do with actual knights-in-training; it is more like an elite boarding school, and what knights do in this alternate history is unclear. Yet Henry and his outcast friends are an appealing group with great chemistry, and itβs easy to enjoy their fast-paced adventures as they navigate classes and thwart bullies. Grades 4-8. --Krista Hutley
π SIMILAR VOLUMES
In an alternate Victorian England, fourteen-year-old orphan Henry Grim, a maltreated servant at an exclusive school for the "sons of Gentry and Quality," begins a new life when he unexpectedly becomes the first commoner to be accepted at Knightley Academy, a prestigious boarding school for knights.
EDITORIAL REVIEW: Henry Grim has never been in trouble for borrowing a sword from the headmasterΓs private stores. He has never discovered a forbidden room in a foreign castle, or received a death threat over breakfast. All Henry knows is life as an orphaned servant boy at the Midsummer
### From School Library Journal Grade 8 UpHaberdasher introduces readers to an alternate history in which a treaty among the nations of the Britonian Isles has made combat training illegal at Knightley Academy. Though electricity is commonplace, horse-drawn carriages are far more frequently used th
EDITORIAL REVIEW: Henry Grim has never been in trouble for borrowing a sword from the headmasterΓs private stores. He has never discovered a forbidden room in a foreign castle, or received a death threat over breakfast. All Henry knows is life as an orphaned servant boy at the Midsummer
In an alternate Victorian England, fourteen-year-old orphan Henry Grim, a maltreated servant at an exclusive school for the "sons of Gentry and Quality," begins a new life when he unexpectedly becomes the first commoner to be accepted at Knightley Academy, a prestigious boarding school for knights.
Knightley Academy is back in session, and Henry Grim is confident that nothing else can prevent him from earning his knighthood. But Henry and his friends quickly discover that their professors have made some troubling changes to the curriculum--and there's an old classroom filled with forgotten wea