Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010095976 | PR6064.I45 C37 2005 | Open Access Book | Creative Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000010095931 | PR6064.I45 C37 2005 | Open Access Book | Creative Book | Searching... |
On Order
Summary
Summary
Charlie and his friends are back danger, and the balance of power between the Children of the Red King has never been more dangerous. Billy finally gets his longed-for parents, but he soon wishes he hadn't when the oaths he's forced to sign come flying through the air at him. Charlie is haunted by a ghostly horse, mad with rage over an ancient wrong that happened in the sparkling Castle of Mirrors. The castle was petrified from stone into glass by the sorcerer Yorath in a terrible fire. Charlie's good friend Olivia is haunted too - but no one knows her new secret. Even with the power of Tancred's storms and Lysander's ancestors, Charlie Bone is running short of allies - just when he needs them most.
Author Notes
Born in Windsor, England in 1944, Nimmo's father died when she was only five. By the time she was fourteen, she had gone to two boarding schools and had joined a theater company in England. Her unstable childhood led to a series of diverse jobs where she worked in several fields as a nanny, a photographic researcher, and a floor manager at the BBC. At the BBC she became a director of Jackanory, a children's show. After having her first child, Nimmo left the BBC and began work on her first novel, "The Bronze Trumpeteer." Nimmo is best known for two series of fantasy novels: The Magician Trilogy (1986 to 1989), contemporary stories rooted in Welsh myth, and Children of the Red King (2002 to 2010), featuring Charlie Bone and other magically endowed school children. The Snow Spider, first of the Magician books, won the second annual Nestlé Smarties Book Prize and the 1987 Tir na n-Og Award as the year's best original-English-language book with "authentic Welsh background". The Stone Mouse was highly commended for the 1993 Carnegie Medal.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews 2
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-Charlie Bone is off on another action-packed adventure in this recording of Jenny Nimmo's fourth book (Orchard Books, 2005) in the Children of the Red King series. Listeners will need to be familiar with the previous books in the series in order to follow the extended cast of characters and their endowments-magical gifts that are bestowed upon descendents of the Red King-or they will become lost in the quickly moving plot. Charlie begins his second year at Bloor Academy with a bang, receiving detention his very first morning back at school. A literally magnetic new student, a mystical white horse, an ethereal woman with a gift for plants, and young Billy Raven, who can talk to animals, each play a substantial part while Charlie is swept up into a mystery revolving around the Castle of Mirrors during his ongoing search for his missing father. Subtle humor brings a lighter touch into the convoluted and shifting loyalties among the students and instructors at Bloor. Actor Simon Russell Beale reads with aplomb and grace, giving each character, whether man or beast, a distinct voice that makes the many players come to life. A good purchase for both school and public libraries where the series is popular.-Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 4-6. In the fourth book of the projected five in the Red King series, Charlie Bone and his friends (and enemies) begin a new term at Bloor's Academy, where many of the students and staff are endowed with magical abilities. Hoping to find his father and help a friend, Charlie travels to the ominous Castle of Mirrors. Nimmo adds several inventive elements to this magical world, including the transformation of Charlie's wand into a silent creature of mysterious power. Explaining the complex background story and introducing the many characters to new readers slows down the action quite a bit at the start, but the pace picks up nicely when Charlie goes to the rescue of his friend Billy. Prediction: this fantasy should do quite well, assuming a continuing demand for stories about a nice lad with magical powers who goes to boarding school, longs to see his father, has adventures, makes a few mistakes, and gets by with a little help from his friends. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2005 Booklist
