ABOUT THIS BOOK: KING ARTHUR VERY GREAT GRANDSON
by Kenneth Kraegel
Kenneth Kraegel has started his career as an author and illustrator with a critically acclaimed tale based on historical fiction. He draws from the legends of King Arthur to create an original twist on a brave knight’s quest to battle beasts. A child’s desire for adventure is treated with respect and humor as Mr. Kraegel blends magic, beasts, suspense, and a peaceful tone together with humor. You will have a wonderful discussion about the great lesson that Henry Alfred Grummorson learns on his daring search for adventure on his sixth birthday, centering on topics, such as: friendship, aggression, and bravery.
Mr. Kraegel’s lovely illustrations of watercolor and ink are rich in detail. These join his Monty Python-like language and great vocabulary (for example: leviathan and lurking) to deliver a positive message. You will understand why he has won such awards as the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators’Tomie dePaolo Award and the Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year Award (2012). This book appears on recommended reading lists, such as: the New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing for 2012.
The Reading Comprehension Best Practice that works well with this book is Inferencing. Because of the many unique vocabulary choices made by Mr. Kraegel, your child will have many opportunities to use the context of the text and the clues provided by the illustrations to help determine the general meaning of the new words.
A previous Practickle selection about nontraditional beasts such as A Gold Star for Zog would be great to read along with this to compare the beas