Children's books about King Arthur?

My daughter, who is 5 and about to start kindergarten, has been enjoying the Magic Treehouse series of books, both hearing them read aloud and the audio books (thanks to Wendy's!). As a result, she is now curious about Merlin and King Arthur but unfortunately I don't know much about them myself.

Anybody know of any book or series of books about King Arthur, Merlin, etc. on a similar reading level that she might enjoy?

Thanks for your help!

Carol

how about The sword in the stone?

Unfortunately nearly all the versions of the story that I can think of are for older children or adults. Maybe the abridged and illustrated version of Sword in the Stone Disney produced to go with the film.

Some Arthur stories are available in stand-alone books. Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight springs to mind. I'd talk to the librarian in the children's section of your public library.

Margaret Hodges has some that are beautifully illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, like Merlin and the Making of the King and The Kitchen Knight, which were well received by my 5 year old. They are picture books, so shorter than the Magic Treehouse books (usually only a standard 32 pages), but the reading level is similar, and they really are lovely books.

The Sword in the Stone and the rest of The Once and Future King is just wonderful, but I wouldn't recommend it until she is a bit older, regardless of her reading/comprehension level.

Take a look at Marcia Williams's King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Williams is an author/illustrator who has a sort of cartoon style with lots of detail and humor. I think her books would be perfect for a 5-year-old. They are probably considered picture books, but they are complicated and not simplistic, so they wouldn't be boring for a child with a longer attention span. Williams has adapted the Robin Hood stories and lots of other classics, too.

Thanks for all the suggestions! You've all been a big help.

I checked out the The Sword and the Stone from our library to read myself. I'll be keeping an eye out for the other books mentioned - they sound very interesting.

Carol

There's a series of audio CDs called Classical Kids that feature music and stories about famous composers. My kids and I love them -- our favorites are Beethoven Lives Upstairs, Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery and Song of the Unicorn, which is narrated by Jeremy Irons and features pre-baroque and traditional English music and Merlin, Arthur, Morgan, etc. as characters. The stories are well-done, and the music is beautiful. We started listening to these when my youngest was 3 -- my kids are now 10 and 7 and still love them.

here's the Amazon product info for The Song of the Unicorn:
http://www.amazon.com/Song-Unicorn-Susan-Hammond/dp/B00001SIBJ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF...

We first found them at our public library, so you might want to search there, too. Good luck!

THere is a new series of books aimed at about the same age range as Magic Tree House, by Gerald Morris, called "Knight's Tales".

another by Margaret Hodges is Of Swords and Scorcerers: the adventure of King Arthur and his knights. My reading list says we read it once, but I don't remember it.

I just remembered about the Wishbone Classics series and the "Adventures of Wishbone" series. There is a title A pup in King Arthur's Court by Joanne Barkan. These books use Wishbone the dog to present the classics on a child's level and with a bit of humor.

from Rosemary Sutcliff- see www.rosemarysutcliff.wordpress.com
Try the trilogy:
The Sword and the Circle
The Light Beyond the Forest
The Road to Camlann

B&N has a series of books called "Classic Starts" which are abridged and re-told classic stories for a younger age group. They might be a tad more difficult than what your daughter is used to, but not by much. Here is a link to the King Arthur one:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Story-of-King-Arthur-His-Knights/Howard-Pyl...