Britfield & the Lost Crown Review

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We stopped to get the mail as we were driving out of town to Cee’s latest Mayo appointment and were excited to receive a softcover copy of Britfield & the Lost Crown by C. R. Stewart as a part of the Homeschool Review Crew.

The timing was perfect! With a long car ride ahead of us, Cee started reading right away.

“Mom, this book has a pen mark in it,” said a surprised Cee after only a few seconds.
“Hmm. Let me see,” I said as I reached for the book.
“Honey, that’s the author’s signature. This book is signed by the author.”
“Oh, cool. But the handwriting looks like something Bea might do.”

She wasn’t wrong, but it was funny that that was her reaction to a book signed by the author.

Classified as a middle grade/young adult book, the story follows a pair of children, Tom and Sarah, who escape a terrible British orphanage and are pursued around Britain. The adventure-mystery novel features real-life iconic historical and cultural spots.

For the sake of this review, I asked Cee to help describe the book in order to give others a taste of it. All quotes below are thoughts she shared.

“The rules at the orphanage were strict, so in order to keep from going crazy, the kids would play pranks on the people in charge,” Cee said.

Cee’s favorite character was Sarah because, “She’s funny and adventurous. I like main characters that are girls.” I remember having similar thoughts as a child– it was always easier to relate to books featuring girls. Since Tom is also a main character, though, I can see that this book would be equally appealing to both boys and girls.

So close to finishing!

In fact, after letting Elle read it once we returned home from Mayo, Cee was excited to pass Britfield & the Lost Crown on to a friend, convinced that he would enjoy it as well.

Overall, Cee said that Stewart’s book feels “like a modern time Charles Dickens book, with the kids escaping an orphanage.”

The book includes online access to a 83-page pdf study guide. We skipped over the vocabulary and comprehension questions for each chapter but enjoyed talking through the “Going Deeper” questions listed.

I appreciate that the Going Deeper questions allowed me to talk to Cee in a meaningful way without having read the book myself.

The study guide also includes sections titled “Learn More With Technology” where students can extend their learning of the real places and situations presented in the book with extra research.

With “dabs of humor” sprinkled throughout and a plot like “a river with tons of twists and turns” Cee said, “It was hard to put down!” That’s for sure; Cee finished all 383 pages of the award winning Britfield & the Lost Crown in four hours. She can’t wait until the sequel comes out in 2020.

For middle grade readers who enjoy fantastical adventures, Britfield & the Lost Crown would be an excellent addition to a home library. The audio version is also available on Audible.

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Britfield & the Lost Crown  {Reviews}

 

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