The White Knights is a jolly tale of boyhood adventures whose lessons will reach a heart of any age. Written for boys, this book teaches many values - from kindness to punctuality - but all of them fall under the standard of following the Captain of our hearts.
Three boys on holiday in a sleepy English town ride out, like knights of old, to “redress human wrongs”*. Unlike knights in shining armor, Sir Horace, Sir Cyril, and Sir Percy don’t ride horses or fight dragons - they don’t even have bicycles - but, as they learn from their advisor, Pastor Gilbert, it’s “the spirit of the thing” and not the horse and armor that make a knight.
I would recommend that parents make sure that their child is ready to read this book. Oh, it’s a wonderful, fast read and the vocabulary will be great to stretch anyone’s knowledge of the dictionary, but there are issues that could bother some children. For example, Horace’s mother becomes very ill and, though it’s not a big deal in the story, it could strike a tender spot. Issues like boarding school and parents leaving their kids with relatives to go work as missionaries in China might also be hard for kids to grapple with. (It is pretty clear from the story that it would be better for the parents to be with their children.)
Are there any reasons to absolutely not read this book? Not that I know of. Would I recommend this book to almost anyone? Absolutely. Oh, I doubt that it’s something that non-Christians would understand, but it could be appropriate in some cases.
The airy, frank joy in this book was refreshing. The honest boyishness of our three heroes is thrilling. The gentle, wise manliness of Pastor Gilbert is admirable. Each picture a paragraph brings to mind is beautiful. I think I shall return to this book again and again - for lessons and encouragement.
P.S. As I began to implement some things I had learned, I was reminded that when a person renews a fight, the enemy starts fighting harder too. If you find the same discouraging result; remember - battle scars are marks of battles won; not lost.
Title: The White Knights
Author: W.E. Cule
Setting: Eastgate, England
Main Character: Horace Mackintosh
First Printed: 1919
This Printing: April 2011
Pub: Lamplighter Publishing
Series: Rare Collector’s Series
ISBN: 1-58474-104-X
ISBN13: 978-1-58474-104-6
Chapters: 8
Pages: 185
Pages/Chapter: ~ 23
*Part of the oath sworn by knights of the round table; A Tennyson Dictionary, p 60 (Haskell House Pub., previewed on books.google.com 11/19/12)
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