The Erl King's Daughter

By Joan Aiken and Paul Warren

Kimballs Green Junior School’s newest student is more than a little strange—in fact, she might be the feared daughter of the Erl King!

Kevin loves sharing the stories his grandmother used to tell him about trolls and witches with his school friends. His favorite tale is about a scary spook named the Erl King who rides on a black horse at night. But when a new student, Nora Scull, arrives at Kimballs Green elementary school, Kevin begins to wonder if maybe the stories are true. Skinny as a broom and with dark, stringy hair, Nora never laughs, but she’s always watching and listening. She also steals and makes Kevin do all sorts of bad things. Who is Nora, and what will Kevin have to do to save himself—and his school?
 
This ebook features illustrations by Paul Warren and a personal history of Joan Aiken including rare images from the author’s estate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Dec 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504020893

Joan Aiken

Joan Aiken was born in Rye, Sussex in 1924, daughter of the American poet Conrad Aiken, and started writing herself at the age of five. Since the 1960s she wrote full time and published over 100 books. Best known for her children’s books such as The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Midnight is a Place, she also wrote extensively for adults and published many contemporary and historical novels, including sequels to novels by Jane Austen. In 1968 she won the Guardian Children’s book prize for Whispering Mountain, followed by an Edgar Allan Poe award for Night Fall in 1972, and was awarded an MBE for her services to children’s literature in 1999. Joan Aiken died in 2004.

Book preview

The Erl King’s Daughter

Joan Aiken

Illustrated by Paul Warren

These things happened to my younger brother Kevin when I had my broken leg. If I hadn’t been in the hospital, maybe I could have helped him.

While I was away from home, Aunt Ada came to look after Kev—and Aunt Ada’s about as useful as last week’s newspaper. She’s thin, and forgets everything you tell her; she has a whiny voice and a runny nose. And does embroidery.

Well. Just after I broke my leg, a new girl, Nora Scull, turned up in Kev’s class at our school, that’s Green Elementary School. Kev told me about her.

Kev’s good at telling stories. He got the knack from our Gran. Gran came from Europe when she was little, with her Gran, who knew endless tales about trolls and gnomes and witches. Our Gran passed them on to Kev, and he told them to the kids at school.

Kev is little and pale and scrawny. He can’t run fast, for he gets breathless, so he does more watching and thinking than other people. He knows lots of words. He reads all the labels on boxes, and tells stories better than I can; I always seem to get the end part at the beginning, or forget the middle.