Homeschool Happenings: Britfield & the Lost Crown ~ A Review

Britfield & the Lost Crown, written by C.R. Stewart is a fantastic children's book about an orphan boy named Tom and his daring adventures to find the truth about who he really is. This fiction book is 386 pages in length. The book can be ordered in softcover, hardback, audiobook, as well as e-book. The book is geared for the middle school/young adult audience. With that said, after reading it myself I personally would recommend it for the upper elementary grade levels as well. The first in a five-book series, Britfield presents a real-world children can relate to with accurate geography, history, architecture, and culture. Just an FYI, each Britfield Story will be followed by a major motion picuture (2021).

Young Tom has spent most of his life at Weatherly Orphanage. Life at Weatherly is cruel and harsh. Children are known by numbers and are made to follow strict guidelines. Anyone deviating from them are punished severely by the Orphanages overseers Speckle, Brewster, and Sludge. The owners of Weatherly the Grievouses are wicked. Tom's one friend at Weatherly is a girl by the name of Sarah. The children have a secret book exchange going on and they all take turns escaping the orphanage, running across the lawn to the Grievouses house to their library to get a book. They all love to read and this is the only way that they have the opportunity to read. Well, they are found out and Speckle has a hunch who it is. He interrogates Tom and Sarah the likely culprits. While interrogating Tom Mr. Grievous gives Tom some pretty important information about his parent's. THEY ARE ALIVE! They tell Tom he has two day to tell them about who snuck into his house or he would never find out what was in the file. Sarah refuses to tell and therefore gets locked in the attic. Patrick, on of the older orphans, agrees to sneak into the office and find the file. He scribbled something down. Tom and Sarah made a daring plan to escape. With the help from all of the other children at the orphanage they were able to escape, barely! Soon police and a private detective, Detective Gowerstone was on the case. Detective Gowerstone was a legend. His specialty was in missing children and runaway orphans. He had never failed a case, except for one. Trying to escape Yorkshire, UK, Tom and Sarah first tried to take the train but police and a suspicious gentleman made the kids run. They ran into a marshy field and came upon a hot air balloon. They jumped in and before they could think, they took off! Soon there were up in the air navigating how to control the balloon. Their adventures would take them to Oxford University, Christ Church, Windsor Palace, Richmond, London, St. James, St. Paul's, and Canterbury. At Oxford University they meet a college student Oliver who becomes a wonderful help to them. They then meet Professor Hainsworth who truly plays a huge roll in getting them the help they need as well as coming with them on their journey. Dr. Beagleswick, at King's College, just might hold the missing link. What does the word BRITFIELD have to do with Tom? The twists and turns truly keep you wanting to read and not want to put the book down. Those that you think are your allies just might be your enemies. Likewise, those that you have been running from just might be your friends and protectors. Their adventures finally take them to Dover where something most wonderful happens!

My 11-year-old daughter said, "I really like this book. It is very realistic. Tom and Sarah orphans. The orphanage is run by the Grievouses who are very mean and selfish. Children who try to run away never make it out. That is until Tom and Sarah do. There adventures take them all over the place in a hot air balloon. Along the way they meet some very interesting people. Some of those people help them and some are out to get them. Danger is always right around the corner."

83 page pdf Study Guide

Each of the eight weeks begins with a list of Vocabulary Words with various activities such as fill in the blanks, word finds, choose the best synonym to go with the sentence, what do you think the word means and then look it up in the dictionary, matching, etc. There are Comprehension Questions and Going Deeper Questions. The last section is Learning More with Technology. For example, "The speed of vehicles on the ground (like cars and trains) is measured in 'miles per hour' (mph), while the speed of aircraft is measured in 'knots' (kt). Use an outline search engine to find out why aircraft speed is measured in knots."

You can go to the website and click on the different locations

(Yorkshire, The Midlands, Oxford, Windsor, Richmond, London, and Canterbury)

and see maps, amazing photographs, and images of all of the places talked about in the book.

This book is fantastic and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great read. I read the book in a day and could not put it down. I loved how the author incorporated history and realistic places into the book. His use of imagery is fantastic. My daughter cannot wait to read the next book in the series. I cannot wait to read the next book too, lol. Be sure to check out the website and what other reviewers had to say.