Mice of the Round Table #1: A Tail of Camelot
By Julie Leung
An epic new middle grade series in the tradition of Redwall and Poppy, based on Arthurian legend and told from the perspective of Camelot’s most humble creatures: mice
Young mouse Calib Christopher dreams of becoming a Knight of the Round Table. For generations, his family has led the mice who live just out of sight of the humans, defending Camelot from enemies both big and small. But when Calib and his friend Cecily discover that a new threat is gathering—one that could catch even the Two-Leggers unaware—it is up to them to unmask the real enemy, unite their forces, and save the castle they all call home.
With the sweeping adventure of New York Times bestselling series like Wings of Fire and Warriors, Mice of the Round Table brings to life a legendary world of animals and magic that kids will want to return to again and again.
I read this story with my kids and we all loved it! It’s an absolutely darling book that takes a unique view of the Camelot histories but using animals as the main characters; though human characters do make their own appearance as well including the son of a very famous knight. Originally I was only going to read a few chapters to them but we got so sucked into the story that we ended up finishing the whole book in 2 days; the sore throat I now have from all that reading aloud was thankfully worth it.
It is such an imaginative take you feel like you’re one of the mice in training as you go on these adventures side by side with Calib the last mouse in the Christopher line who is training to be a knight. Even though the vast majority of the story is told from the point of view of animals, particularly Calib the mouse, Julie Leung has created such complex and interesting characters you really become invested in them. You want to root them along so they can be successful and hope the villains fall of a castle wall.
Leung has a great writing style; it showed she really put some thought and research into the time period as well as the legacy of Camelot and Arthur. Her plot line made sense and was straightforward so it was easy for my kids to follow. She writes with an incredible amount of detail making you feel like you’re actually walking around the castle grounds of Camelot. She made the animals so realistic I wouldn’t be half surprised to encounter walking/talking mice, squirrels, foxes, hares, badgers, etc that she based her own characters on.
It’s definitely a wonderful book I believe adults and children alike can enjoy plus it makes a great educational jump off to learn about old British history.
Thank you to Paper Lantern Lit for allowing me to review this book.