Read Michael Spradlin's posts on the Penguin Blog. 1191 A.D. The orphan Tristan has joined the Knights Templar as a squire, journeying with Richard the Lionheart on his crusade to free the Holy Land from the Saracens. As defeat looms near, Tristan is entrusted with the most sacred of Christian relics, the Holy Grail. He must return it safely to Britain, but he must also keep it secret, because the Grail’s power will drive men to madness, and even his fellow Knights Templar will kill for it. Tristan teams up with the fiery Robard Hode— returning to his home in Sherwood after serving with the King’s Archers—and Maryam, an equally fierce girl and a member of the dreaded Hashshashin. Together they must escape the Holy Land, dodging bandits, the forces of the Saladin, and unscrupulous knights who will stop at nothing to possess the Grail. Grade 5–9—Spradlin has reworked familiar elements into a fast-paced historical adventure with a touch of fantasy. Taken on as a squire by a well-regarded Templar knight, 14-year-old Tristan goes with King Richard's crusade to the Holy Land. A foundling, he gleans from others, especially from an enemy he makes among the Templars, that his origins are something special. Quickly acquiring sword skills, he participates in a battle at Acre, even coming to the aid of the King. Later on, he is entrusted with the Holy Grail and instructed to take it to Scotland. On his way home he is attacked and later befriended first by one of the King's archers, Robard Hode, and then by a Saracen assassin who turns out to be a maid, Maryam. While the events may test credulity, the first-person narrative carries readers along before dumping Tristan into the Mediterranean Sea for a rather abrupt ending. Although it seems obvious that all will survive, readers may want to wait until the second book is available, promised in fall 2009, before beginning this exciting journey.— Kathleen Isaacs, Towson University, MD Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Left as a baby at a monastery, Tristan has spent the last 14 years working with the gentle monks and pondering his identity. Facts surrounding his arrival there seem to indicate he is of noble birth. Yet even these suspicions in no way prepare him for what’s in store with the arrival of Sir Thomas and a group of Knights Templar on their way to the Holy Land. In short order, Thomas makes Tristan his squire, Tristan makes an enemy of malevolent Sir Hugh, and the warriors, with Tristan now among their ranks, head to the Saracen stronghold of Acre. Let the fighting begin! And so it does, with much of the book’s second half taken up with battles, skirmishes, and ambushes. The deadly action, uncompromising in many of its descriptions, may take center stage, but Spradlin smartly doesn’t neglect story. Tristan is given an immense challenge and responsibility and meets new friends, whose names clever readers will find familiar. The stirring saga ends with a true cliff-hanger, priming fans for the next installment. Grades 5-8. --Ilene Cooper Spradlin has reworked familiar elements into a fast-paced historical adventure with a touch of fantasy....[an] exciting journey. -- School Library Journal Michael P. Spradlin is the author of more than a dozen books for children. He grew up in a small town in Michigan not far from the Indiana border. Surrounded by books in his formative years, he grew up loving to read and imagining himself the hero of numerous epic battles.When not writing, he enjoys reading, traveling, spending time with his family and worrying over the fact that he really should be writing instead of doing other stuff. He lives in Michigan with his wife Kelly, son Michael, daughter Rachel and two dogs Willow and Apollo. 1 Though I am called Tristan, I have no true name of my own. It was Brother Tuck who found me on St. Tristan’s Day, nearly fifteen years ago. He is a kind and gentle man, but a deaf--mute, and unable to even write down for me how I came to be here. The abbot, a much sterner sort, tells me that I was found that August night on the steps of the abbey. A few days old at best, hungry and crying, wrapped in a soiled woolen blanket. I’m told the sound of horses could be heard riding away through the night, but since Brother Tuck was the first to find me, we know not if he saw or even glimpsed the riders. The abbot said that two of the brothers followed the tracks into the woods but soon lost the trail. He also thinks I must be of noble blood. No peasant could afford to own such horses, and it is unlikely a poor farmer would abandon an infant that might one day grow strong enough to help him work the farm. Nor would any illiterate peasant likely be able to write the note that was neatly tucked into the folds of my blanket. On a simple scrap of rolled parchment, wrapped with red ribbon, it read, “Brothers: We bestow onto you this innocent child. His life threatens many. Remind him that he w