Taliesin: A Bloomsbury Reader: Grey Book Band

By Maggie Pearson

Book Band: Grey - Ideal for ages 8+

A magical retelling of the story of the legendary Welsh bard Taliesin, perfect for fans of The Wizards of Once and The Firework Maker's Daughter.

On the most magical day of the year, the unluckiest man in the whole of Wales finds a baby floating in the river. But Taliesin is no ordinary baby – not only can he talk, but he is also a magician, prophet, poet and trickster. As the years pass, Taliesin transforms the lives of all he meets, for better or worse...

This enchanting version of a Welsh myth from Maggie Pearson has intricate black-and-white illustrations by David Wyatt and is perfect for children who are developing as readers.

The Bloomsbury Readers series is packed with book-banded stories to get children reading independently in Key Stage 2 by award-winning authors like double Carnegie Medal winner Geraldine McCaughrean and Waterstones Prize winner Patrice Lawrence. With engaging illustrations and online guided reading notes written by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), this series is ideal for home and school. For more information visit www.bloomsburyreaders.com.

'Any list that brings together such a quality line up of authors is going to be welcomed … Bloomsbury Readers are aimed squarely at children in Key Stage 2 and designed to support them as they start reading independently and while they continue to gain confidence and understanding.' Books for Keeps

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Feb 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781472967640

Maggie Pearson

Maggie Pearson has held a variety of jobs including being a barmaid, librarian and freelance journalist, and she now pursues a career as a highly successful children's writer. Her first novel, Owl Light, was short-listed for the WH Smith Mind-Boggling Books Award and her more recent Shadow of the Beast was long-listed for the Carnegie Medal. Maggie is a lover of books, cryptic crosswords, going to the theatre and foreign travel.

Book preview

Contents

The Coming of Taliesin

The Witch’s Brew

Once in a Thousand Years

The Battle of the Bards

The Power of Taliesin

For the seers, sages and storytellers of the future.

Blessed be.

CHAPTER ONE

The Coming of Taliesin

Long ago and far away, alone on an empty ocean under a sunless sky, a small leather bag bobbed up and down on the waves. Sometimes the bag gave a twitch, like a kick from something inside it. Sometimes it changed its lumpy shape into a different shape entirely (but still just as lumpy) – as if that something inside was making itself more comfortable.

Now and again came the echo of a sound that was neither quite the shushing of the waves nor yet the whispering of the wind, though there was something in it of both. It was as if the bag was quietly singing to itself.

Time passed. Wind and waves and tide carried the little bag shorewards towards a river’s mouth where a man sat fishing.

It wasn’t that the man liked fishing. Nor was he a fisherman by trade. He was Elphin, cousin to the King and lord of all the lands around, though you’d never have known it to look at him. His clothes were patched, his hair looked as if he’d fallen through a hedge and the horse cropping the grass beside him was the sorriest-looking creature that ever went on four legs.

Lord Elphin was the unluckiest man in the whole of Wales. The sort who never gets asked on picnics, because if he goes along it’s bound to rain. What was worse, his bad luck seemed to be catching. There hadn’t been one good harvest since his father’s time.

Then someone had a bright idea.

It was said that if someone set their nets across the river’s mouth on May Day Eve they were bound to have good luck. There was talk of people who’d caught a hundred pounds’ worth of fish – brought to them by the incoming tide, without them lifting a finger! – all in that one night.

I’m not a fisherman, protested Elphin. I’m cousin to the King! Though he had to admit a hundred pounds would come in handy for fixing the castle roof.

No one else was