Title: Avalon
High
Author: Meg
Cabot
Publication
Date: 27th December 2005.
Summary
of the book: Elaine "Ellie" Harrison
and her family have moved to Annapolis, Maryland, while her parents are on
sabbatical. Ellie's parents are professors of medieval history; they plan to do
research in Annapolis on their separate interest, the Lady of Shalott and a sword
which resembles the Arthurian Excalibur.
Ellie is
a 16-year-old junior in high school who is not thrilled about moving, but is
used to dealing with her parents' eccentricities. Like when they named her
Elaine, after Alfred Lord Tennyson's ill-fated character the Lady of Shalott.
Elaine of Astolat, in the poem, killed herself when Sir Lancelot chose to love
Queen Guinevere over her. Ellie sees the poetic Elaine as a weak woman and is
not thrilled to be named after her.
Ellie makes a few friends at school and finds herself pulled into the
intriguing world of A. William "Will" Wagner, as well as his best
friends; Jennifer Gold (his girlfriend) and Lance Reynolds. However a strange
connection brings Ellie, Lance, Jennifer, Will, along with their teacher Mr
Moore and Will’s step brother Marco closer together…
I liked this book because it spins a tale on high-school characters
being reincarnations of historical characters, in this instance Ellie and her
friends are reincarnations of King Author and the Knights of the Round Table.
There are a lot of references to the legend of King Author in the novel, but
they are added subtly so that you don’t notice them straight away.
Jennifer, Elle, Lance and Will are all likeable characters, and so is Mr
Moore who also plays a critical part in the novel. After starting to read the
novel, you begin to understand the characters better, and they are more
relatable, since they all have their flaws and none of them are perfect. At the
beginning of the novel we learn that Elle’s parents are professors who take a
keen interest in medieval history and this foreshadows what will happen at the
end of the novel.
“Meg
Cabot does it again with this lively and intriguing rendition of the story of
King Arthur. The characters, storyline and intricate details will have readers
not wanting to put the book down. This is an excellent tie-in for teaching
medieval history, guaranteeing that Avalon High will have students clamoring
for more.” –Teen reads.
This
is one of my all-time favorite books and it is extremely well written and I found
all the characters very likeable, and I liked how the books ties in with
legends from history, making the storyline original and clever.
Currently
there is a film adaptation of the novel starring; Britt Robertson, Devon Graye,
Molly C. Quinn, Christopher Tavarez, Steve Valentine and Gregg Sulkin. Although
in conclusion I found the film enjoyable, but they changed a lot of the book.
Buy the book: here
Read more about Meg Cabot: here
Browse more historical fiction mystery
Buy the book: here
Read more about Meg Cabot: here
Browse more historical fiction mystery