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Dragons have invaded Crumbling Castle, and all of King Arthur's knights are either on holiday or visiting their grannies. It's a disaster!
Luckily, there's a spare suit of armour and a very small boy called Ralph who's willing to fill it. Together with Fortnight the Friday knight and Fossfiddle the wizard, Ralph sets out to defeat the fearsome fire-breathers.
But there's a teeny weeny surprise in store...
Fourteen fantastically funny stories from master storyteller Sir Terry Pratchett, full of time travel and tortoises, monsters and mayhem!
Story List:
CD 1: Dragons at Crumbling Castle, The Great Speck, Hunt the Snorry, Tales of the Carpet People (beginning)
CD 2: Tales of the Carpet People (concluded), Hercules the Tortoise, Dok the Caveman, The Big Race
CD 3: Another Tale of the Carpet People, The Great Egg—‐dancing Championship, Edwo the Boring Knight
CD 4: The 59A Bus Goes Back in Time, The Abominable Snowman, The Blackbury Monster, Father Christmas Goes to Work at the Zoo
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 3, 2015 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781101892046
- File size: 119518 KB
- Duration: 04:08:59
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 820
- Text Difficulty: 3-4
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Reviews
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Narrator Julian Rhind-Tutt's delivery is as varied as the diverse characters in this collection, written when the author was a teenager. The introduction is pure Pratchett as he tells his young audience how he came to be a writer. In the title story, young Ralph sounds appropriately nervous because he must fill in for "real" knights who are on vacation or out sick. The most fun is a story called "The Great Race," which abounds with German and English accents as the competitors race--and cheat--to the finish line. Rhind-Tutt is outstanding with Pratchett's witty wordplay, and his spirited descriptions will keep young listeners tuned in. Sound effects such as buzzing bees, birds, yawns, and racing cars are genuine and add to the lively atmosphere. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine -
April 27, 2015
This collection gathers 14 short stories written by the late fantasy author when he was a teenager. Dragons get ousted from their caves and take over a castle. The world’s most boring knight wins half a kingdom and the princess’s affection through sheer doggedness. A tortoise journeys far from home and discovers bravery and a new life. A champion “egg dancer” forfeits his win to catch some thieves. Fans of Sir Terry’s later work will recognize the seeds of some of his Discworld characters and themes in these tales: wordplay, puns, silly jokes, wonderfully goofy names, characters with strong ethics, and wild ideas grounded in reality. In the audio edition, musical interludes and other sound effects help to divide some of the very short
stories. Rind-Tutt’s flexible voice and spot-on accents allow listeners to immediately grasp the nature of the characters. His Scotsmen are daring adventurers, his upper-crust ladies have hooting, high-pitched voices, and the heroes sound sturdy and forthright. Parrots, princesses, tortoises, and very proper butlers all come to life. Rind-Tutt’s energetic performance is both goofy and warm, just perfect for Pratchett’s sensibilities. Ages 9–12. A Clarion hardcover. -
December 22, 2014
In the 1960s, the young, not-yet-knighted Pratchett worked for the Bucks Free Press, a small British newspaper, where he began publishing children’s stories, 14 of which are collected in this volume. In the title story, King Arthur’s most junior knight, Ralph, “a small boy in a suit of mail much too big for him,” is sent to deal with a dragon infestation, but discovers that the creatures are entirely sensible chaps. “Tales of the Carpet People,” a precursor to Pratchett’s first novel, concerns a tiny tribe’s heroically goofy migration across a rug. And in “The Great Egg-Dancing Championship,” a skilled egg dancer (“A lot of eggs are rolled onto the floor and two dancers... have to dance blindfolded without breaking one”) must choose between the championship and the girl of his dreams. Though these stories lack the perfectly timed wordplay of Pratchett’s later work, they are a charming and funny sample of his early fictional imaginings. Accompanied by Beech’s wiry Quentin Blake–like illustrations, as well as numerous typographical flourishes, this volume will please both its intended audience and older Pratchett completists. Ages 9–12.
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