Britfield & the Lost Crown (review)

The saying goes that you should not judge a book by its cover but I have to admit  Britfield & the Lost Crown‘s cover drew me in right away. We received the 383 page soft cover version of Britfield & the Lost Crown for this review and I was immediately impressed by the colorful engaging art that made you want to find out more about the hot air balloon adventure that was portrayed on the cover.

Britfield & the Lost Crown is the first book in a planned series by C. R. Stewart. The book features the story of Tom and Sarah and their many adventures. The story, set-in modern-day England,  features an orphanage located in a medieval castle.  The children in the orphanage are treated very poorly, forced to work hard, and given unreasonable discipline. Tom and Sarah are two of the children in the orphanage and the other children helped them to escape in hopes that they can find help for all of them.

Before they left the orphanage, one of the children found Tom’s secret file and note with the word “Britfield”. As Tom and Sarah are on their quest to escape (hence the hot air balloon on the front cover) and get help they also begin discovering more about what Britfield might be and Tom’s possible history.  I won’t share the ending but I will say that while some of our questions were answered it was a cliffhanger and my son is a bit sad that he has to wait for the next volume to be published. He was ready to have me order it so he could find out what happens next.

In addition to this fun fictional story, there is a great downloadable study guide that was created to accompany the book. This eight-week guide would be great with a single student or a group of students (like a co-op or classroom setting). This guide includes comprehension questions, vocabulary activities, and even history and geography questions to help students learn more about England.

My thirteen-year-old son read this book upon its arrival. I asked him to rate the book on a scale of 1-10 and in typical thirteen-year-old boy fashion he couldn’t just give me a simple number. He said it was a 9.999. He recommended it for children ages 9 and older. There are a few scary or intense parts when the children are mistreated in the orphanage but no other questionable content. I asked him his favorite part and he described the ending, but I don’t want to give it away so I will let you read it for yourself!

If you are looking a new series to excite your middle grades reader or if you love mystery and adventure, this is a series you should check out. In addition to the soft cover version that we received they do have it available on kindle and audiobook. You don’t have to take our word for it, make sure to click on the graphic below and check out all of the other Crew Reviews and then get your copy of Britfield & the Lost Crown.

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