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Book Summary: Despite the facts that she is a legitimate child of her father, the kind of Damar, Aerin is looked down upon by others at her father's court because her mother is seen as a witch-woman who enchanted the king into falling in love with her before dying in childbirth. Determined to make a place for herself, Aerin stumbles across a recipe for an ointment that protects the wearer from dragon fire, and after perfecting it she takes to slaying the small dragons plaguing the villages of the kingdom by herself so that others don't have to risk their lives to do so. Everything changes, however, when the Black Dragon, the last of the big dragons in Damar, suddenly appears to wreak havoc. With her father's armies away in the north defending the borders, Aerin once again sets out to single-handedly save the day and prove once and for all that she belongs in her father's kingdom.
APA Reference of the book: McKinley, R. (1987). The hero and the crown. New York: Firebird.
Impressions: Fantasy is one of my favorite genres to read in, so I was excited when I saw this title on the list of Newbery winners. When I started reading it, however, I found that the pacing was a little slow to keep my attention at first. Time seemed to drag on as Aerin kept testing and testing her various attempts at recreating the ointment, but once she met with success and went out to fight her first dragon, the story picked up the pace and was more engaging. Aerin's story of self-discovery as she tries to make a place for herself in her father's kingdom is one that is relatable, although most people today don't discover themselves by slaying dragons, and I was consistently cheering her on as she met with her various successes and failures. While it does struggle with pacing a bit, it is a worthwhile read.
Professional Review: "Gr 7-12-This
splendid high fantasy is a prequel to The
Blue Sword (Greenwillow, 1982). Aerin, the somewhat embarrassing offspring
of the Damarian king and a witch-woman from the demon-haunted North, is snubbed
and mistreated at court until she begins to prove her worth to the realm by
discovering a lost formula for an ointment to protect the skin from dragon fire
and then by singlehandedly killing the dragons that are destroying the kingdom.
Two spine-tingling dragon-killing scenes, with perhaps the most vivid and
realistically described fire-breathers in all fantasy, bring her into near-fatal
confrontation with the hideous Black Dragon, whose severed head later supplies
imaginative surprises and delicious nastiness. Ultimately Aerin is taken in hand,
trained and wooed by a refreshingly unconventional wizard, just in time for her
to stand by her people in their worst crisis. McKinley misses a couple of
dynamic dramatic possibilities with regard to unpleasant relatives who
disappear without getting their just desserts, but no matter. Aerin's story is
still superb, filled with tender moments, satisfying action and sparkling
dialogue, and it is completely independent of the first novel."
Smythers, L. B. & Jones, T. E. (1984). [Review of the book The Hero and the Crown by R. McKinley]. School Library Journal, 31(2), p. 169. Retrieved from: http://www.slj.com/
Library Uses: This book would be good to include in a library display of books in the fantasy genre, specifically books about and including dragons. The librarian can also do a book talk with it to generate interest in the story and characters, which would encourage students to read it.
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