Good books for young kids? -- myArmoury.com

Chad Arnow · myArmoury Team

My son is showing an interest in "knights in shining armour" (I guess in kids books, you can't have knights unless their armour shines Happy

).

What are good books on knights and/or arms & armour that are appropriate for a 6-7 year old?

Thanks!

Joel Chesser · Posted: Sun 01 Sep, 2013 8:39 am Post subject:

I remember liking a book called "The Knight and the Dragon" by Tomie Depaola when i was a kid.

Chad Arnow · myArmoury Team

Joel,
Thanks! I'm also interested in non-fiction books that could teach him more than some of the fiction books he's seen (that include 40 pound helmet references...).

Joel Chesser · Posted: Sun 01 Sep, 2013 10:42 am Post subject:

I have one of the DK Eyewitness books on Arms and Armor, that would be really fun for a a kid that age. Lots of good pictures, and little blurbs to read. They other books in the same series covering a variety of topics including knights, castles, vikings, medieval life, and more.

Scott Hrouda · Posted: Sun 01 Sep, 2013 6:41 pm Post subject:

Check out Knights & Castles by Miranda Smith. An inexpensive and fun book for little ones.

ISBN: 0753462281

Jason Daub · Posted: Sun 01 Sep, 2013 6:44 pm Post subject:

Definitely try Oakeshott's "A Knight...." series, my two older children (9&7) love them.

Roger Hooper · Posted: Sun 01 Sep, 2013 7:43 pm Post subject:

The Illustrated Book Of Knights by Jack Coggins. This was a key book for me when I was seven. It is filled with wonderful illustrations, in color and black and white. The writing may be just a little complex for a seven year old, but he will get the gist of it. Or you can read it to him and he'll look at the pictures. This book was written in 1957, so it may be a little outdated (bad on weapon weights) but I still highly recommend it as an introductory book on the subject.

Joel N · Posted: Mon 02 Sep, 2013 12:07 am Post subject:

A non-fiction book I have come across is In the Time of Knights by Shelley Tanaka. It seemed to try to correct some bad info out there, in a kid friendly way.
As far as fiction goes, my favorite in childhood was St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges.

Ian Hutchison · Posted: Mon 02 Sep, 2013 1:33 am Post subject:

'The Making of a Knight: How Sir James Earned His Armor ' by Patrick O'Brian looks inteesting.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Making-Knight-James...pd_sim_b_3

Colt Reeves · Posted: Mon 02 Sep, 2013 2:04 am Post subject:

I don't remember the exact title, but I do remember my mother reading a King Arthur book to me and my siblings that I was particularly fond of. She also got us a Eyewitness book entitled "Knight" and another called "Arms and Armor", both of which I have on my shelf still and have some nice pictures of various implements.

So... Yeah, my mother can't complain too much about my sword collection, she started the whole mess in the first place. Wink

Tobias Capwell · Posted: Tue 03 Sep, 2013 1:06 am Post subject:

Knights by John Howe is a good one... Very well-researched, thoughful imaginings of William Marshal, Richard the Lionheart, etc, as well as some nice pop-up visualisations of the famous myths- St George wears fourteenth-century armour, complete with an arming chain on his helm, stuff like that.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Knights-John-Howe/dp/0531094561

Speaking of St George, I quite like this one as well- the armour is a bit made up but the visual style of the book is really interesting, very Breugel-esque.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saint-George-Dragon-G...the+dragon

TC

Robert B. Marks · Posted: Wed 04 Sep, 2013 7:37 am Post subject:

I'm afraid I'm going to do something dreadful, and recommend a work of fiction...even worse, I'm going to recommend one that has 15 and even 30 lbs. swords!

But in all seriousness, there is far more to a knight than the arms and armour, so how can one possibly pass up on T.H. White's The Once and Future King? If nothing else, the first two parts should be fine for kids (even if the end does get a bit on the bleak side).

Greg Ballantyne · Posted: Thu 05 Sep, 2013 6:06 pm Post subject:

The Dark Age legends, King Arthur, Robin Hood, etc..... are available in so many versions and were the start for me 50 years ago with my fascination with the legendary times, weaponry, honor, and values of these past cultures. There is no substitute, in my opinion..... at the age of 6-7 I was a voracious reader of all of that sort of thing I could get my hands on, a insatiable fascination that continues to this day. I didn't get to The Once and Future King until I was a little older.... Marion Zimmer Bradley tells these tales very well also, The Mists of Avalon has always been a favorite of mine as well. In my case the assumption that I would have been better off with a "child's" book at that age would have been an inaccurate one indeed. But my mother had taught me to read at the age of 4, not all children get that....