The Whispering Knights Review 2r6v5d

BOOK REPORT AND REVIEW Midterm Assignment

The Whispering Knights RAHINA LARASATI 2201409044 Rombel 311-312

SEMARANG STATE UNIVERSITY 2011

Book Review THE WHISPERING KNIGHTS

Identification of the book: Title

The Whispering Knights

Genre

Fantasy

Authors

Penelope Lively, Clare West

Editor

Clare West

Illustrated by

Ernesto Melo

Edition

3, illustrated, simplified

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Year

2008

ISBN

978 0 19 4791946

Length

88 pages

Word count (main text) 17,100 words

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR British writer Penelope Lively is considered one of the "most interesting and important writers of children's books" of the late twentieth century, according to a Horn Book contributor. Winner of one of Britain's most prestigious award for children's writers, the Carnegie Medal, Lively has earned other honours for her contributions to children's literature. "Rarely does a novelist prove consistently adept at writing for children and for adults—understanding, respecting, and reaching both audiences through storytelling relevant to diverse experience," commented Betsy Hearne in Horn Book. She added, "Even more rarely does she garner critical acclaim in both realms. Penelope Lively is the only writer to win both the Booker Prize and the Carnegie Medal—like winning both a Pulitzer Prize and a Newbery Medal" in the United States. In all her written work Lively focuses on memory and the continuity of life. Because her father worked for the National Bank of Egypt, Lively was born in Cairo and spent much of her childhood at the family's rambling home in the rural area outside the city. Like many creative authors, Lively's writings have reflected the course of her own life, and she wrote most of her books for young readers while her own children were of school age. She further commented that "Most of my books for children reflect, in one way or another, my own interest in the workings of memory—whether personal or collective. They all seem to come out differently—memory fantastical, memory experimental, memory pastoral or historical or comical—but somehow, so far, the theme has persisted." Lively deals with the past's effect on the present differently in her works for children and for adults, "tending in juvenile fiction toward supernatural manifestations such as ghostly characters or time-travel plots, and in adult fiction toward a psychological layering of recollection, imagination, flashback, and shifting viewpoint," as we can observe in The Whispering Knights. This book was written in 1971, which idea was suggested by the Rollright Stones, a mysterious group of very old stones in a field we can visit in North Oxfordshire. In 1976, The Whispering Knights was awarded by Child Study Association of America as Children's Books of the Year.

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SUMMARY Have you ever experienced something that you thought impossible? Something that you called total rubbish and yet somehow it happened to you? In this book, three children named William, Susie, and Martha experience a really dangerous yet exciting adventure they have never even thought is possible until they try an experiment in their favourite barn. The story begins with the three children playing in a barn outside the village of Steeple Hampden on a Tuesday morning in August. They are carrying William’s idea out, which he pointed out couple weeks before about how to make witch’s brew. His dad, who is a teacher at the village school, told him what they needed to make the brew. Eye of fish, toe of frog, wool of sheep, hair of dog, oil of rose, skin of snake, and wing of bird in a pan heated on a fire in the barn are all the things needed to realise their fantasies, something that would change the course of the game entirely. Later, the kids are told by the barn’s owner, Miss Hepplewhite, that they have done something dangerous by making the witch’s brew. She told the children about Morgan le Fay, a witch who has appeared in many different shapes from time to time. She has places everywhere, including the barn they are playing in right now. She watches the places that have once been hers. And if she finds people who still believe about her existence, she will come to them, seek their weaknesses. It seems that the children have called Morgan up from the distant past. Weird thing happens to Martha in the middle of her sleep. There’s a peculiar shadow shaped like an old, bent woman wearing a black dress with her head covered appears on her floor and wall. She plucks up her courage to turn the light on. She does not want to give in, so she goes back to sleep again. At first, William and Susie do not trust the story of Martha. They regard it as a dream. But, more peculiar events that prove that Morgan is stalking them continue to occur. After the strange incident that happened to Martha, the three children later find a creature under the hay in the barn which breathes fire. William, Susie, and Martha think that the evil magician Morgan has gone, as three days before they performed the ritual Walpurgis Night with Miss Page | 4

Hepplewhite. But in fact, Morgan is still stalking the three children. A poisonous cake that disappears and spots in television sets make them more realise that Morgan has truly come to their ground and into their time. In the midst of what happened to William, Susie, and Martha, Steeple Hampden people are in uproar after a sudden decision taken by a rich man named Mr. Steel to build a new motorway straight through their village. This of course makes people upset because moments earlier, Mr. Steel intends to build a motorway past Chipping Ledbury, where Mr. Steel's factory is located. And this is what makes the children more surprised: The road will go through their barn, the place where they like to play at! This sudden happening draws Martha to a conclusion that somebody must have put a spell on Mr. Steel, and Miss Hepplewhite agrees with her. The old lady says that the road which lays on her ground will still be her place. Worse yet, it could easily be an evil place—a place where accidents happen. Now the clever kids know that they have to stop Morgan doing her evil plan. Miss Heppleton reminds the children that Morgan hates the sign of cross and she does not understand science. Since then, their meeting with Morgan becomes more intense. Something will bring them closer to the witch, really close. One night, Martha hears a loud scream which she cannot avoid not to hear. When the morning comes, Susie finds something strange about her friend. Martha seems unwell. The next thing happens will bring the three brave children to a final journey: Martha has gone off with a stranger, which they are believed to be Morgan le Fay, the evil witch. William and Susie decide to find Martha. With some effort, finally they find residence of the wizard. It was a big luxurious house located in the countryside. Large, quiet, and secluded, very well suited to be a living place for witch. Susie suddenly gasps. She sees the black RollsRoyce, which is usually used by Morgan. Now they are convinced that Martha is in the house, she must be hidden somewhere. Sneaking into the house, finally William and Susie find Martha. She is still under Morgan’s spell. In order to erase the spell, they take Martha away from the house, or to be more exact, from Morgan. But, it is not easy to run away. Morgan will not release her prey away.

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After a long journey, the three kids decide to flee to Steeple Stones. People call the Stones the Knights and say that they had a battle in the past with an evil queen. Now, to William, Susie, and Martha, the Stones and Morgan seem like the opposite sides of things - good against evil. The witch is still chasing them. Now, instead of driving the Rolls, she is riding a white horse. Gasping painfully, the children try so hard to climb the hill. At last, they finally reach the top of the hill where the Stones lay. They see a figure inside the Stones’ circle. It appears to be a woman, calling them to come closer. Wait, she looks like Miss Hepplewhite to Susie! But she is not sure about what she sees because the woman looks way much younger than old Miss Hepplewhite. Then the figure is gone. As they throw into the circle, they feel the Stones move, making a solid barricade around them. Outside, they can hear terrible sounds of a battle, but they are safe inside. Later, they hear the final scream of the evil witch, which indicates that the Stones have won the battle. As we all can guess, the next day everything is well. The motorway construction is finally cancelled and people are busy in their usual activities. Everything seems to be back to normal. The three sweet children keep their last tense-but-awesome journey as a secret. Only they know what actually happened. No, that’s not completely true. We must not forget the old kind-hearted lady, Miss Hepplewhite. There are moral values we can get in this story. First, we must be responsible of what we have done, especially if it concerns the livelihood of many people. In the story, William, Susie, and martha tried their utmost to overcome the chaos that occurred after the presence of Morgan, who has come by mistake they have done. Second, a success is something that a person ought to be proud of, but if it leads to arrogance, nothing good will follow. The author through these three children exemplifies well the reader that after they managed to defeat Morgan and make everything normal again they are not found to be arrogant. Instead, William says to his father, “I’m sure you did, Dad. You and the whole village made Mr Steel change his plans. It’s fantastic!”

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STRENGTHS This book is more of a novella than a novel, as it is only 88 pages long and it can be read in one sitting. The story is obviously intended for children. It is also completed by some illustrations which help young readers to build their imagination up. Even though, it is still an interesting story for adults since the story does not only contain childish things, but it covers things that are often written in the adolescent or adult fiction book, such as mystery, witch, and adventure. The author’s way of telling the story really evokes both younger and older readers’ sense of atmosphere in the last scenes when Morgan le Fay is chasing the children. The use of simple language with words that are easy to understand adds positive value of this book. The characterisation of the story is simple which can easily be followed by young readers. But there is one interesting point in the characterisation. Many adult readers would get tricked by the character of Miss Hepplewhite since in the beginning she appears as a mysterious figure which will lead adult readers to conclude that she is an antagonist character, while actually she is protagonist. This can be an additional point to reason why this book is also suitable for older readers. For people outside the United Kingdom, it is rather difficult to get the image that The Whispering Knights, which real name is The Rollright Stones, are a complex of three Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monuments because these stones are located in Oxfordshire. These people, including me, will have a first impression that tells that The Whispering Knights are in the shape of real knights until almost half of the book since the author put the explanation of the stones in page 31. This can be called as a smart way to keep the readers’ interest of the book alive, because the meaning of the title is not explained right away. This book has a great setting. Actually the most attractive setting in this book is The Whispering Knights itself that provides lure for readers, especially for readers who know exactly what the stones are like and for people who have experience with these historical stones, “Read it mostly because it is loosely connected to the Rollright Stones where I did some voluntary work,” Gary Stocker, Goodreads. The story also features other interesting places, like the barn, the stone bridge, and also Morgan’s house which is increasingly Page | 7

attractive with the addition of the tense atmosphere setting. The readers can easily imagine the places, because they are well described as in “The barn’s old walls were made of rough stone, which appeared to change colour when the sunlight touched it, and the barn roof had green and gold plants climbing all over it.”

WEAKNESSES Even though the story is aimed for young readers, it does not simply fit to be read by children less than 7 year-old because sometimes they are still have difficulties to separate between the reality and fantasy. Because there are several scary scenes and illustration in this book, parental guidance is still needed for these children. Although The Whispering Knights have a remarkable setting, this book has a routine detection and plot that leads to boredom for the reader, especially for adult readers. The routine plot intensely happens in chapter 6 until chapter 9, which tells about the chases between the three kids and Morgan. The characterisation of Miss Hepplewhite also can be a cause of boredom because in the commencement, the readers, especially adult readers who in fact have often read stories of mystery and fantasy genre, get the impression that Miss Hepplewhite is a villain who was pretending to be kind to William, Susie, and Martha. As the proof of the impression does not come, even until late in the story, these readers will feel bored and disappointed because they consider that there is no turning point in the character of Miss Hepplewhite.

RECOMMENDATION The Whispering Knights is recommended for children above 7 because this book contains several scary scenes and illustrations which are not suitable for kids under 7. This book is also suitable for adult readers who are interested in simple and short story, but it is not suitable for adult readers who seek for a real story of adventure and mystery tale like in adult books. In conclusion, I would give 3 out of 5 stars to this book.

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