I have two children, and recently I’ve been trying to teach my son (7) the importance of caring for his younger sister (5), which is why I’ve also been trying to find great stories of chivalrous knights and their fair maidens in distress. While the hero in this tale, Shen, does not have a princess to save, he does have a mother to care for, which for my purpose is really just as good.

Like in A Lion To Guard Us, author Clyde Robert Bulla takes his readers on a journey to a time long before our own with clarity and believability. There are no monsters in these tales and there is no magic, just real-life problems that his heroes and heroines must face with courage, despite their fears. There’s much to learn from these stories, as young readers consider the reality of bad guys and the importance of character through a life of hardship.

As I read the story, I found myself as enthralled by its twists and turns as my children, and we enjoyed guessing what might happen next. The chapters flowed well, many ending with cliffhangers, so on several nights we read more than I had planned! Each night left us with much to anticipate, and my children really felt like they were inside the story with Shen.

On the negative side, I felt that the title was a bit of a letdown. We daily tried to figure what role “the sword in the tree” might play in the story, and I truly anticipated it to be the climax of the book. As it turned out, the boy retrieves the sword mid-paragraph and mid-sentence with no strong build-up, and it serves merely as a piece of evidence, not the novel-clinching treasure we had thought.

Also, I was a bit skeptical of whether or not the band of bad guys really did turn themselves in to King Arthur for punishment. While in the era of gentlemen and chivalry this might have occurred, I have a hard time believing it, for my skeptical mind thinks that Lionel and his band instead escaped to take revenge upon the family another day. Bulla might have included this innocent conclusion on purpose, however, to suggest to these fertile minds that even bad guys can behave justly and properly in the end.

I’m greatly impressed with these books by Bulla, and I look forward to reading more for nighttime tales. Hopefully my kids will return to them as well someday, as they seek to enjoy strong adventure tales on their own.

©2018 E.T.

Read More from Clyde Robert Bulla:

• The Secret Valley (1949)
• The Sword in the Tree (1956)
• The Ghost of Windy Hill (1968)
• The Shoeshine Girl (1975)
• A Lion to Guard Us (1981)