Britfield & the Lost Crown (A REVIEW)

I thoroughly enjoyed traveling all around the United Kingdom with two orphans Tom and Sarah,  learning a little bit of history, and seeing great scenery while reading Britfield & the Lost Crown by C.R. Stewart. This book is not only adventurous with a little mystery, but it could also be a great springboard for a unit study on England. All kinds of historical facts, people, places, and things mentioned throughout this book that I wanted to learn more about as I read. It's a fast-paced thrill ride that's great to read on its own too!

My copy of the book. I also received a bookmark to match!

For this book, I received the physical copy which was a softcover book about an inch thick with a full-color picture on the front that really draws you in. The feeling of the book is nice too, kind of a matte/velvet feel, with embossed letters for the title. There are 386 pages in total including a few pages about the author and a little blurb about the next book coming in 2020 (which I am now excited to read too).

A view of some of the first few pages inside. I was excited to see little maps of the places visited in this book.

To go along with this book is a great study guide. As I said earlier this book is a great springboard for many topics, and this study guide could help with that. For each chapter it has comprehension questions, digging deeper questions, vocabulary, and something to look up with technology (the computer, a device, etc.) to find out more information. I wish we'd had time to do this book as a read-aloud and used the study guide together (before this review). I would highly recommend this as a read-aloud or a listen (it's available on audible too) with your kids. There are some intense parts, and some gunfire so maybe not too young. Older elementary and above, I'd say.

There is an 8-week study guide for Britfield & the Lost Crown.

So, what exactly is this book about? Here is my short synopsis:

The children of Weatherly orphanage are treated terribly. They aren't allowed to do any normal "kid" things such as reading or learning, and they are practically starving. They have to work instead of play, and if rules are broken the punishments are very harsh. Tom dreams of escaping, and he finally finds his chance to do so. He takes his best friend with him, Sarah. With the help of fellow orphans and a helpful adult who worked at the orphanage they were able to escape, their destination: a train to London. Just before they escaped Tom also learned that his parents might still be alive, so they were also hoping to find them, but all they had was a piece of paper with one word on it.

After they escaped a detective was sent after them, and he stayed on their tail pretty closely, but with a lot of luck and a hot air balloon, they were able to get some distance and time that allowed them to get further away as they tried to figure out what to do next. There were many adventures around England as they ran for their lives and tried to outsmart the detective and his police force. As they were making their way to London they found many people to help including a few professors who also had some information about the name written on the piece of paper. That name was a key to Tom's past, but it also meant danger along the way. Soon more people were after them, and they thought all hope was lost several times. In the end, they found allies in unexpected places, and made it to London and beyond. They also figured out the mystery of the name on the paper and hopefully finding Tom's parents who are possibly in hiding.

The Britfield website.

I really enjoyed this book, and plan to read it to my kids this school year. I think my boys will really enjoy the adventure in this story. If you're curious about Britfield & the Lost Crown and want to see more about what the book is about the website is pretty fun to look at. It has some great pictures of locations from the book as well as more about the author. I think it's a fun website to visit and explore around. It gives some insight and visual to the book both before and after reading.

Also, you can check out what others on the crew review had to say about this book by clicking on the banner below.