It was with great anticipation that we began this second book in the Chronicles of Prydain, The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander. This story is a continuation of the one begun in The Book of Three, our first read-aloud of 2014. In The Black Cauldron we get to know all the characters we came to love in book one even better. This time they’ve been given a task–to capture the evil Black Cauldron from Arawn. Once again our hero, Taran the Assistant Pig-Keeper, is on a quest, and this one once again tests his mettle in ways he cannot predict. My girls and I loved the fact that new characters are added in this story, as Gwydion assembles his forces to go after the cauldron. We were able to discuss some literary elements–characterization and foreshadowing–in this story incidentally as we read. (We just knew one of the characters was up to no good, and we were right!) I don’t want to give away much of the plot because this is a very exciting story with lots of action. I do want to point out, though, that this story has several characters that remind me of other literary characters. Whether or not this was intentional on the part of Alexander, I do not know. The most notable (at least to me) of the similarities is a characters named Gwystyl, one of the “fair folk” who begrudgingly helps our heroes on their way. He reminds me so much of my favorite Narnian, Puddleglum. Another thing about this story that I like so much is that it really delves into heart issues–obedience, allegiance, bravery, etc. (A quote I shared here offers a tiny sampling of what I mean.) While the story itself isn’t complicated, certainly it provides much opportunity for discussion. My girls would LOVE to read nothing but this series until we finish it, but we have a few other commitments that prevent us from reading straight through. We definitely give The Black Cauldron a Highly, Highly Recommended and consider it worthy of the 1966 Newbery honor it received. (Square Fish, 1965)
N2 got the whole series of these books after you mentioned them (I’m always on the lookout for a series for these girls!) and fun fact – when we opened them, Travis exclaimed, “Hey, I’ve read these!” That doesn’t happen often with our female bent to stories right now. : ) We are loving book one – I’m thinking we’ll finish it this week and N2 always comments how much the story reminds her of Lord of the Rings so it’s interesting to hear that you find comparisons to other books as well. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, perhaps? Thanks for turning us on to this series – we love them and I’m looking forward to sharing them with the boy down the road as well!
That’s neat that you’re “finally” reading some of T’s childhood favorites! Aren’t these stories wonderful?!?!
I love, love, love this series. My son announced he’d be reading The Book of Three for a book review this year and it made me whoop with joy because I like to read whatever he’s assigned for school along with him. I read it to him when he was maybe five, so it’ll be fun to see him rediscover it and maybe get hooked on the series.
(I read them originally about his age – sixth grade.)
This series caught my eye when Janet reviewed them, so I got them when they were on sale for the Kindle. I put the first one on my TBR challenge for the year and am looking forward to it.