Kevin Crossley-Holland Books In Order

Publication Order of Arthur Trilogy Books

Publication Order of Viking Sagas Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Plays

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Walker Studio Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Kevin Crossley-Holland is a YA fiction and historical romance author. He won the Carnegie Medal in 1985 for Storm. Crossley has written many books for children and adults in classic retellings, poetry, and anthologies.

The Seeing Stone was awarded the Smarties Prize Bronze medal and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award and The Arthur trilogy won worldwide critical acclaim and has been translated into 21 languages.

Crossley has written and presented multiple BBC radio programs. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and for years he held a university post in Minnesota as an endowed chair in the humanities.

He lectures abroad representing the British Council and sometimes leads sessions for teachers and librarians. Crossley offers poetry and prose workshops on some of his novels.

The Norse Myths

The novel looms up through the winter mists, grim, cold, and magnificent. They are fatalist stories of gods who are not only doomed but already know their doom. They are aware of how they’ll die; the only remaining question is when the twilight gods will occur.

Thor will defeat Jormungand while the Midgard serpent, large enough to surround the entire world, staggers backward nine steps and later fall dead, poisoned by the serpent’s venom.

Odin will be murdered by the great wolf Fenrir, and the son of Odin will later kill Fenrir. All have no option but to face their end with courage. Might there rise a message of hope for them before their final day?

Like humans, the Norse gods live in the knowledge and examination of their weakness and mortality. The author serves a well-written and accessible retelling of the stories of Norse mythology introducing the divinity in whom the Vikings believed before the fearsome raiders from the north converted to Christianity.
Kevin provides an easy and direct way for readers to get to know the Norse Pantheon. All the gods, including the arrogant Odin, king of the gods, boast about his conquests, both military and erotic. The thunder god Thor carried a hammer like a working human being and was said to be popular among normal people of the Viking world.

Loki, the trickster god in the course of the myths, goes from a mischief-maker who brings trouble and later resolves it. He is a malignant figure looking forward to bringing destruction for its sake.

The mythic legacy of the Scandinavians involves a series of stories filled with images from Pre-Christian Europe. Humans, beasts, and gods were involved in drinking, strength contesting lusty activities, and schemes grabbing gold.

The Norse Pantheon includes Thor, the thundering powerhouse, and Odin, the most fearsome and wisest of the gods. Their war loves, and adventures take the reader through divine and mortal worlds. Kevin Crossley shows the passion, boundless spirit, and brevity that was in the Norse world.

Crossley-Holland combines scholarship with a strong prose style making myths readily available to curious readers. The gods and goddesses are exciting characters and multifaceted in that they get to be worshipped for multiple reasons.

The author retells the Norse myths with an excellent introduction offering historical and mythological backgrounds as she suggests parallels with myths in different parts of the world. The tales are retold with humor and enthusiasm to make the reader engaged to the end.

The Seeing Stone
The seeing Stone is the debut in the Arthur Trilogy. The story is a captivating, imaginative, and compelling story that tells the story of a 13-year-old boy in England living near the Welsh Border in 1199 and 1200.

Arthur of Caldicot is the son of Sir John and Brother to Serle and Sian. He lives in a castle located on the borderline of Wales and England. He has several friends among the servants, much to his father’s shock. Sometimes he helps with daily tasks delegated to his friends before later his father comes to forbid.
Arthur hasn’t been good with a sword, but he’s excellent when it comes to words and bow. He wants to be a knight, before being betrothed to his cousin Grace. His father’s mysterious friend father Merlin, the wizard, gives him an obsidian stone.

The Stone is almost flat and pure black, bumpy on one side and slick and mirror-like on the other. Arthur is concerned about his elder brother’s spite, his father’s decline to give him an answer concerning becoming squire, his younger brother’s sickness, and his always aching tailbone

In the Stone he is given, Arthur sees the narrative unfold about a legendary young kin Arthur who lived centuries before. His life resembles that of the young Arthur in many ways, making him wonder what his future will look like.

The Stone tells a story with some unique powers that Arthur will soon learn about. He is required to protect the Stone since it’s a secret, or else the Stone will lose its powers. The Stone is said to reveal different things in life to whoever owns it, and now it’s revealing Arthur’s life journey.

Arthur worries so much about his future especially considering that it’s in the hands of his father. His brother often bullies him, making Shim wonder whether he will be needed to marry within his parents’ control.

Arthur also feels his tail bone is increasing in size, something that according to the manorial priest means that he might be a devil, which makes him very worried. Later he comes across an ordinary thirteen-year-old boy trying to find his way in the world while maintaining a good relationship with his friends and the adults in his life.

Throughout the story, the reader learns about life in the 12th century in England, where the rich were stealing from the poor, and the strong took advantage of the weak like orphans and widows because they have no voices.

Two separate worlds are held together to make a fantastic story. There are female characters in the story whose lives are mainly under men’s control, but they gain power and influence in more ways than the male characters. This adds more authenticity and depth to the book serving as a reminder that it’s not only in recent years that women’s rights were propagated

Even though the story of Arthur is and the Sword in the Stone is told in a brief and elementary fashion, the story of Arthur Caldicot is both gripping and fascinating. One will get to know about Arthur’s family where they might end up loving and hating some. For readers who are interested in magic and superstitions, the Seeing Stone is the book for you.