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Summary
Summary
This latest stand-alone novel by the #1 New York Times bestselling author has all the wit and charm of The Princess Diaries, but with a supernatural twist on the Arthurian legend. HarperCollins Children's Books
Author Notes
Meg Cabot was born in Bloomington, Indiana on February 1, 1967. She recieved a fine arts degree from Indiana University, Meg moved to New York City, intent upon pursuing a career in freelance illustration. Illustrating, however, soon got in the way of Meg's true love, writing, and so she abandoned it and got a job as the assistant manager of an undergraduate dormitory at New York University, and writing on the weekends.
Meg wrote both The Princess Diaries and The Mediator: Shadowland (under the name Jenny Carroll), the first books in two series for young adults which happen to be about, among other things, teenage girls dealing with unsettling family issues. Her latest book is entitled, Insatiable.
Meg now writes full time, and lives in Key West, Florida with her husband.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Cabot (the Princess Diaries) brings the Arthurian legend to modern times in this clever novel. Ellie's parents are medieval studies professors on sabbatical in Annapolis, where Avalon High's senior class president tells her he feels a strange connection to her. Will seems like a golden boy, but Ellie soon hears strange rumors: Will's father had his best friend killed and married the man's wife, leaving Will with a troubled stepbrother. Plus, Ellie discovers Will's girlfriend cheating on him with his best friend. Readers will enjoy making the connections to the real Arthurian legend, puzzling out-as Ellie does-that girlfriend Jennifer is sort of like Guinevere, and Will's best friend, Lance, Lancelot. It will likely come as no surprise to readers when Ellie learns that Will's first name is really Arthur. But could it be true, as one teacher (and the Order of the Bear to which he belongs) believes, that Will is King Arthur reborn, destined to "lead the modern-day world out of the Dark Ages and into a new age of enlightenment"-unless his brother kills him? Ellie cannot deny the similarities in their stories, but she refuses to believe she is Elaine of Astolat (aka the Lady of Shalott), who killed herself over Lancelot. If that's the case, she thinks, why is she crushing on Will? Readers will be swept up in the fantasy framework (and likely be willing to accept some delectably outrageous plotting, such as when Will learns that his stepmother is actually his true mom). There is plenty of suspense here to hold their attention, as they, like Ellie, try to fit together all the pieces. Ages 12-up. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Middle School, High School) Elaine Harrison is starting junior year in an unfamiliar high school because her parents, both professors of medieval studies, have taken a sabbatical in Annapolis. When star football player and senior class president A. William Wagner begins to seek Ellie out, she finds herself re-enacting Arthurian legend -- complete with a Guinevere, Lancelot, and Mordred, and Ellie herself as Elaine of Astolat, the Lady of Shalott. As Ellie struggles to make sense of it all, correlations between the legend and what's going on among her schoolmates continue to pile up. While the plot stretches credibility, it helps that Ellie has trouble believing it, too, and readers will thoroughly enjoy the predictable twists and turns of the story. The tension in the final duel between Will and his unstable stepbrother Marco (i.e., Mordred) is palpable; Will and his father's rocky relationship contrasts nicely with the idealized one Ellie has with her parents. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 7-10. Is it all coincidence, or are dark forces at work? Ellie, the new kid who is starting her junior year at Avalon High, lives with parents, medieval scholars who named her for the lamentable Lady Elaine, aka the Lady of Shalott. Sure there are a few connections to Arthurian legend--similar names, bitter relatives, even an illicit affair--but high-school math teacher Mr. Morton, who belongs to a secret society dedicated to the return of Arthur, believes the Round Table is about to be reenacted in Ellie's present-day Washington, D.C., suburb. If that's so, then Ellie has fallen for the wrong guy. Forget that; Ellie has no intention of letting the past write her future. Using a selection from Tennyson's classic Lady of Shalott to set up each chapter, Cabot delivers a clever modern take on Arthurian legend, which moves swiftly along to a satisfying, tender conclusion. An entertaining novel that will attract new Cabot readers and as well as the author's devotees. --Cindy Welch Copyright 2006 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7-10-Meg Cabot Avalon High (HarperCollins, 2006) will be a surefire hit with the author fans. Ellie parents, medievalist college professors, are on sabbatical and have moved the family from Minnesota to Annapolis, MD, for the school year. Ellie is named after a character in Alfred Lord Tennyson poem, The Lady of Shalott. The teen accepts the move and, when she meets Will Wagner and his friends while running in the park with her father, there is an instant connection that changes their lives forever. Will goes to her school, and Ellie new friends from the girl track team fill her in on Will and his girlfriend. Ellie doesnt think she has a chance with Will, who is the senior class president and football quarterback, but he soon begins to confide in her and they develop a close friendship. When connections to the world of King Arthur start cropping up and Ellie is warned that Will life is in danger, she must put all of the pieces together and save her new friend. Each chapter begins with a stanza of poetry from Tennyson poem, adding to the tension. Listeners will thrill at the exciting happily ever after ending, replete with a sinister storm and a sword fight. They may even be enticed to seek out other books about King Arthur and life in Camelot. Actress Debra Wiseman does a splendid job of reading the book with youthful exuberance. She hits all of the right notes, giving each character a realistic personality. This blend of romance, fantasy, and history will keep listeners entranced to the very end.-Jo-Ann Carhart, East Islip Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
The author of the Princess Diary series tackles a royal family of more ancient and mythical lineage in this fun, suspenseful retelling of the King Arthur legend. Elaine is the daughter of two medieval scholars. Named after the Lady of Shallot, Elaine immediately finds herself in with the "in crowd" at her new high school and hopelessly attracted to Will, all-around leader, football hero and wonderful guy. When she learns that Will's girlfriend Jennifer is cheating on him with best friend Lance, parallels to the Arthur legend immediately spring to Elaine's mind. Worse, the school's English teacher insists that Will, his friends and even Elaine are reincarnations of the medieval figures, and that it's already too late to save Will from the forces of darkness. The prose and story gallop along with a style that will easily appeal to fans of both fantasy and realistic fiction alike. Very nicely done. (Fiction. 12+) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Avalon High Chapter One And by the moon the reaper weary, Piling sheaves in uplands airy, Listening, whispers "'Tis the fairy Lady of Shalott." "You are so lucky." Trust my best friend Nancy to see things that way. Nancy is what you would call an optimist. Not that I'm a pessimist, or anything. I'm just . . . practical. At least according to Nancy. Apparently, I'm also lucky. "Lucky?" I echoed into the phone. "In what way am I lucky?" "Oh, you know," Nancy said. "You get to start over. In a whole new school. Where no one knows you. You can be whoever you want to be. You can give yourself a total personality makeover, and there won't be anyone around to be all, 'Who do you think you're kidding, Ellie Harrison? I remember when you ate paste in first grade.' " "I never thought of it that way," I said. Because I hadn't. "Anyway, you were the one who ate paste." "You know what I mean." Nancy sighed. "Well. Good luck. With school and everything." "Yeah," I said, sensing even over the thousand-mile difference between us, that, it was time to hang up. "Bye." "Bye," Nancy said. Then added, "You're so lucky." Really, up until Nancy said this, I hadn't thought there was anything lucky about my situation at all. Except maybe the fact that there's a pool in the backyard of our new house. We never had a pool of our own. Before, if Nancy and I wanted to go to the pool, we had to get on our bikes and ride five miles -- mostly uphill -- to Como Park. I have to say, when my parents broke the news about the sabbatical, the fact that they were quick to add, "And we're renting a house with a pool!" was the only thing that kept down the vomit that started coming up in my throat. If you are a child of professors, sabbatical is probably about the dirtiest word in your own personal vocabulary. Every seven years, most professors get offered one -- basically a yearlong vacation, so they can recharge and try to write and publish a book. Professors love sabbaticals. Their kids hate them. Because would you really want to uproot and leave all your friends, make all new friends at a whole new school and just be getting to think, "Okay, this isn't so bad," only to have to uproot yourself again a year later and go back where you came from? No. Not if you're sane, anyway. At least this sabbatical isn't as bad as the last one, which was in Germany. Not that there's anything wrong with Germany. I still exchange e-mails with Anne-Katrin, the girl I shared a desk with in the weird German school I went to there. But come on. I had to learn a whole other language! At least with this one, we're still in America. And okay, we're outside Washington, D.C., which isn't like the rest of America. But everyone here speaks English. So far. And there's a pool. Having your own pool is a lot of responsibility, it turns out. I mean, every morning you have to check the filters and make sure they aren't all jammed up with leaves or dead moles. There's almost always a frog or two in ours. Usually, if I get out there early enough, they're still alive. So then I have to conduct a frog rescue expedition. The only way you can rescue the frogs is to reach down into the water to pull the filter basket out, so I've ended up touching all sorts of really gross stuff that floats in there, like dead beetles and newts and, a few times, drowned mice. Once there was a snake. It was still alive. I pretty much draw the line at touching anything that is capable of sending paralyzing streams of poison into my veins, so I yelled to my parents that there was a snake in the filter basket. My dad is the one who yelled back, "So? What do you want me to do about it?" "Get it out," I said. "No way," my dad said. "I'm not touching any snake." My parents aren't like other parents. For one thing, other people's parents actually leave the house to go to work. Some of them are gone for as many as forty-five hours a week, I've heard. Not mine. Mine are home all the time. They never leave! They're always in their at-home offices, writing or reading. Practically the only time they come out of their offices is to watch Jeopardy! and then they yell out the answers at each other. No one else's parents know all the answers to Jeopardy! or yell them out if they do. I know, I've been to Nancy's house and seen the evidence for myself. Her parents watch Entertainment Tonight after dinner, like normal people. I don't know any of the answers on Jeopardy! That's why I sort of hate that show. My dad grew up in the Bronx, where there aren't any snakes. He completely hates nature. He totally ignores our cat, Tig. Which of course means that Tig is crazy about him. And if my dad sees a spider, he screams like a girl. Then my mom, who grew up on a ranch in Montana and has no patience for spiders or my dad's screaming, will come in and kill it, even though I've told her a million times that spiders are extremely beneficial to the environment. Of course, I knew better than to tell my mom about the snake in the pool filter, because she'd probably have come out and snapped its head clean off right in front of me. In the end, I found a forked branch, and pulled it out that way. I let it go in the woodsy area behind the house we're renting. Even though the snake didn't turn out to be that scary once I finally got the guts to save it, I kind of hope it doesn't come back. Avalon High . Copyright © by Meg Cabot. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Avalon High by Meg Cabot All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.