Children's Books
Arthurian juvenile and young adult literature takes many forms—storybooks, picturebooks, chapter books, pop-up books—all of which capture the magic and adventure of Camelot. A particularly popular subject in this literature is the story of the pulling the sword from the stone, in which the young Arthur appears to lack prospects for greatness but displays an innate nobility that proves him to be superior to those of seemingly higher birth. The message is clear: by emulating chivalric values, any young person can be a hero.
King Arthur’s Camelot: A Pop-Up Castle and Four Storybooks (1993). Adapted by Lisa Rojany and illustrated by László Bátki.
Emma Gelders Sterne and Barbara Lindsay. King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1962). Illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren.
Hudson Talbott. King Arthur: The Sword in the Stone (1991). Written and illustrated by Hudson Talbott. Inscribed “To Alan Lupack— / With my best wishes and / hopes that this makes it into your / Arthurian library— / Hudson Talbott.”
Carol Heyer. Merlin Saves Arthur from the Black Knight. An original painting of a two-page illustration in Heyer’s Excalibur.
Carol Heyer, reteller and illustrator. Excalibur (1991).
Matt Phelan. Knights vs. Dinosaurs (2018).
The Legend of King Arthur and the Round Table (1986).
An open page of The Legend of King Arthur and the Round Table featuring Lancelot fighting a dragon.