The Roundhill
by Dick King-Smith
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While on summer holidays in 1936, fourteen-year-old Evan meets a mysterious girl who bears a striking resemblance to the Alice of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."Tags
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She was an intruder to him at first. After all, the Roundhill is Evan's secret place--the spot he escapes to on school holidays. He doesn't want to share it with a strange girl in such old-fashioned clothes. But Alice has an intriguing way of knowing things--about him, about his house--that he has never told her. Odder still is that the more she talks about herself, the more mysterious she becomes. And how did she get through that locked door? At last Alice leads Evan to a special book and an incredible discovery--and the Roundhill was at the heart of the mystery all along.
A man remembers back to a summer when he was a fourteen and met a girl who only he could see. Unusual for such a story, the narrator discusses his religious / spiritual life and questions.
The Roundhill is an easy to read chapter book about a boy, Evan, who meets a girl, Alice, on his special hill. They become friends, but Alice is mysterious and Evan can never learn much about her. She dresses in an old fashioned way. In the end he learns she is from 1936. It is a good introduction to this kind of fantasy literature.
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233+ Works 23,989 Members
Dick King-Smith was born on March 27, 1922 in Bitten, Gloucestershire, England. Before becoming a full-time author, he was a farmer and a schoolteacher. He served in the Grenadier Guards during World War II and attended Marlborough College in Wiltshire. He has written over 100 children's books including The Fox Busters, The Hodgeheg, and The Sheep show more Pig (aka Babe-The Gallant Pig), which was adapted as the 1995 film Babe. The 1995 TV miniseries The Queen's Nose was also based in one of his books. He was voted Children's Author of the Year at the 1991 British Book Awards. He died on January 4, 2011 at the age of 88. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Roundhill
- Original publication date
- 1999 (Viking Penguin Children's books in Great Britain) (Viking Penguin Children's books in Great Britain); 2000-11 (1st printing in the United States) (1st printing in the United States)
- People/Characters
- Evan Pennington; Alice Hargreaves; CharlesPennington; Barbara Pennington; Horace
- Important places
- the Roundhill
- Dedication
- For Myrle
- First words
- The Roundhill itself was of no great size or height.
- Quotations
- At fourteen, Evan did not think of himself as a religious person. His parents called themselves Christians, though (weddings and funerals apart) they went to church only on Christmas Day. Evan himself had been brought up... (show all) by them to believe in God. It was something they seemed to expect of him, though they did little about it, leaving all that to school assemblies.
But believing in God, Evan found, wasn't all that easy. How on earth did people manage to believe in this---this what? person, thing, idea?---if they could not see him (Him, they said), or it, or whatever? (p. 3)
And if there was one---supposedly a loving, caring God---how come the news each day was so filled with cruelty and famine and war and disaster and death? How could you worship someone, something, that allowed, or perhaps... (show all) was powerless to prevent, such horrors?
I'd like to think there was a God, I really would, he told himself. Perhaps one day I will.
In the meantime, I've got the Roundhill.
(p. 4)
In some respects the old man had changed little from the boy. He still placed his shoes neatly together, lacing the left one first; still paid his respect to magpies; and still had not come to terms with that God in whom he w... (show all)ished he could believe as the probable time of his transfer to that reserved site in the churchyard drew nearer. (p. 80) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.) "Oh," she said, "how lucky you were to have known her."
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- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.79)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 9
