Ages 9-12

The Silver Crown (Aladdin Fantasy)
by Robert C. O’Brien.

Like many little girls, Ellen Carroll likes to pretend she is a queen and she spends many hours in a wooded park near her home holding court and ruling over her imaginary kingdom. All the grown-ups in Ellen’s life pretend to believe her, except for her Aunt Sarah. Aunt Sarah knows the secret: she isn’t pretending. Ellen really is a queen.

When Ellen wakes up on her tenth birthday to find a silver crown on her pillow, she isn’t really surprised. For a real queen, it’s the perfect gift. Slipping out of the house while the rest of the family sleeps, she takes it to the park, to play. Wearing the crown makes Ellen feel - different. Smarter. Able to think more clearly. Is it a magic crown? And did Aunt Sarah send it to her?

Soon she hears sirens and smells smoke. When she goes to investigate, she discovers that her house has burned to the ground and there is no sign of her family. Although onlookers tell her no one could have gotten out of the house alive, she senses something odd is going on. Kindly bystanders keep offering to help her, but each one ends up trying to take captive her instead, and soon she can’t trust anyone.

When she overhears that something called the Hieronymus Machine wants her and her crown in its power, she decides to head for Aunt Sarah’s house in Kentucky. She’ll believe her and maybe she’ll be able to help. But it’s a long way for a ten-year-old to travel alone, even if she is a queen. Will the followers of the machine catch her before she gets there? Will Aunt Sarah really be able to help? And why does the Hieronymus Machine want Ellen’s crown so desperately? Read the book and find out. You won’t be disappointed.

-Betty Winslow

Betty Winslow is a writer and school librarian from Bowling Green, Ohio.   Her writing has appeared in many places, among them FamilyFun, Christian Library Journal, Guideposts, Writer's Digest, and six anthologies (so far).