''The Seeing Stone'', or ''Arthur: The Seeing Stone'', is a historical novel for children or young adults, written by

Kevin Crossley-Holland Kevin John William Crossley-Holland (born 7 February 1941) is an English translator, children's author and poet. His best known work is probably the #Arthur trilogy, Arthur trilogy (2000–2003), for which he won the Guardian Children's Fiction ...

and published by Orion in 2000, the first book of the Arthur trilogy (2000 to 2003). Set primarily in the March of Wales during A.D. 1199 and 1200, it features a young boy named Arthur de Caldicot who observes a secondary story in the "Seeing Stone", the early life of legendary

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

. Crossley-Holland and ''The Seeing Stone'' won the annual

Guardian Prize The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annually recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author ...

and Tir na n-Og Award. The trilogy is a contemporary retelling of Arthurian legend, told by Arthur de Caldicot as a

first-person narrative A first-person narrative (also known as a first-person perspective, voice, point of view, etc.) is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from that storyteller's own personal point of view, using first-person grammar su ...

, where both the primary and secondary settings contribute to the retelling.

Plot

Plot in ''The Real World''

The story begins in the year 1199, just before the beginning of the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

. Young Arthur de Caldicot, thirteen years of age at the time, is the second son of a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

living in Caldicot manor in the "Middle Marches" of the

March of Wales March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 21 ...

. Most of the first book deals with the stresses associated with

medieval life In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

. Most important to Arthur is the fact that he is Sir John's second son, and thus ineligible to inherit land. To have a life of his own, he must become a

squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Boys served a knight as an attendant, doing simple but important tasks such as saddling a horse or caring for the knight's weapons and armour. Terminology ''Squire'' ...

and then a

, and create his own manor and farmland. One challenge to overcome is his inadequate "yard-skills", especially

jousting Jousting is a medieval and renaissance martial game or hastilude between two combatants either on horse or on foot. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The term is derived from Old French , ultim ...

and

swordplay Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to an ...

. He is

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply l ...

, considered a dangerous oddity in those days, but he must joust and fence with his off-hand. Another challenge is that his father would make him a

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

for his skill reading and writing. The obstacles disappear when he learns on his fourteenth birthday that his "uncle" Sir William de Gortanore is really his father; he becomes heir to a large manor. Unfortunately, it seems that his mother's husband was murdered by Sir William, who was jealous of him. And the revelation terminates the

betrothal An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

of Arthur and Grace, Sir William's daughter; as Grace is Arthur's half-sister they cannot marry. The novel ends with Arthur accepted as squire to the

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

of the Middle Marches, Stephen de Holt.

Plot in ''The Seeing Stone''

The wizard

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

gives Arthur de Caldicot the "Seeing Stone" early in the story, along with the warning it will cease to work if anyone else shares in its knowledge. Through the stone Arthur observes the life of legendary

until his rise to power as

King of Britain There have been 13 British monarchs since the political union of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland on 1 May 1707. England and Scotland had been in personal union since 24 March 1603; while the style, "King of Great Britain" fi ...

. It begins with the marriage of

King Uther Uther Pendragon ( ; the Brittonic name; , or ), also known as King Uther (or Uter), was a legendary King of the Britons and father of King Arthur. A few minor references to Uther appear in Old Welsh poems, but his biography was first writ ...

and Ygerna. They conceive a child, who is named Arthur and is taken by Merlin to a foster family. Years later, when King Uther dies, Arthur comes to be king. Many specific people look similar to or exactly like people in Arthur's life. The most notable resemblance is between Arthur and young King Arthur himself, which leads de Caldicot to suppose that Arthur in the stone is himself in the near future. This belief is only accentuated when he learns on his birthday that his parents are only foster parents, as for young King Arthur. Eventually it becomes clear that King Arthur inhabits a parallel universe, with events in both worlds reflecting each other.

Awards

Crossley-Holland won the annual

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annually recognised one fiction book written for Children's literature, children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conf ...

, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers, recognising the best children's book by an author who has not yet won it. Exceptionally the 2001 Prize covered new publications during 21 months 2000–2001 as the schedule was re-aligned with the preceding school year rather than calendar year. The Welsh Tir na n-Og Award recognised ''The Seeing Stone'' as the year's best English-language book for young people with "authentic Welsh background". ''The Seeing Stone'' was bronze runner up for the

Smarties Prize Smarties are dragée chocolate confectionery. They have been manufactured since 1937, originally by H.I. Rowntree & Company in the United Kingdom, and now by Nestlé. Smarties are oblate spheroids with a minor axis of about and a major axis ...

in ages category 9–11 years and it made the

2000 Whitbread Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

children's book shortlist. In 2001, it was a finalist for the ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize for Young Adult Literature.

Series

The Arthur trilogy comprises ''The Seeing Stone'' and two sequels, summing about 1100 pages in their first editions (hardcover). * * * In the UK, the first book was published in print and

audio tape Audiotape is magnetic tape used for storing audio. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Audiotape can be used in various tape recorders including machines for reel-to-reel audio tape recording on open reels ...

editions. A paperback edition followed in June 2001, and an audio CD in July 2003. There was another paperback edition in September 2006 with new cover art (see image). Scholastic published the first US edition in 2001 under its

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

Arthur A. Levine Books Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. P ...

. There were Danish, Finnish, German, Spanish, and Norwegian-language translations that year; Catalan, French, and Italian in 2002; Hebrew 2004, Serbian 2006, Romanian 2008."Formats and Editions of The Seeing stone"
WorldCat. Retrieved 2012-08-07.

References

External links

* —immediately, first US edition {{DEFAULTSORT:Seeing Stone British children's novels Children's historical novels Modern Arthurian fiction Welsh fantasy novels Guardian Children's Fiction Prize–winning works Fiction set in the 1190s Fiction set in the 1200s Novels set in Wales Novels by Kevin Crossley-Holland 2000 British novels 2000 children's books Orion Books books Children's books set in Wales Children's books set in the 12th century Children's books set in the 13th century Novels set in the 12th century Novels set in the 13th century Children's books based on Arthurian legend Orion Publishing Group books