The End of Time (Crispin Series #3)

by Avi

Overview

As long as I could keep myself out of bondage, I’d be true to Bear’s teaching. And so it was that beyond all else, I was determined to keep my freedom.

After the death of their beloved mentor, Bear, Crispin and Troth are more desperate than ever, wandering the desolate French countryside, where they don’t speak the language and know no one. The only hope they cling to is that somehow they can reach Iceland, where Bear had said there were no kings or lords, and where they can live in freedom. Crispin is determined to fulfill this dream, both for himself and to honor Bear’s memory. But the road to liberty is filled with danger, betrayal, and loss. Crispin must decide for himself what freedom really means—and how high a price he is willing to pay for it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061740831
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/13/2011
Series:	Crispin Series , #3
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	364,130
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	690L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Avi is the award-winning author of more than eighty-two books for young readers, ranging from animal fantasy to gripping historical fiction, picture books to young adult novels. Crispin: The Cross of Lead won the Newbery Medal, and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and Nothing but the Truth were awarded Newbery Honors. He is also the author of the popular Poppy series. Avi lives in Denver, Colorado. Visit him online at avi-writer.com.

Date of Birth:

December 23, 1937

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Education:

University of Wisconsin; M.A. in Library Science from Columbia University, 1964

Website:

http://www.avi-writer.com

Editorial Reviews

Along with plenty of action and adventure, this displays a solid emotional base. The combination will make fans eager for the final installment.

Booklist (starred review)

This final volume in the Crispin trilogy showcases the same strengths as the earlier books: brisk, suspenseful narrative with effortlessly interwoven details of medieval life and provocative questions of ethics and morality. Another rousing page-turner.

The Horn Book

Praise for CRISPIN: AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD: Child Magazine Best Book of the Year A Book Sense Winter Children’s Pick National Parenting Publication Honors Award Winner “A must purchase.

KLIATT(starred review)

The action is nonstop and danger is around every corner. The first-person voice lends a sense of urgency to the novel, and Avi’s writing style is as elegant and engaging as ever. — School Library Journal

This final volume in the Crispin trilogy showcases the same strengths as the earlier books: brisk, suspenseful narrative with effortlessly interwoven details of medieval life and provocative questions of ethics and morality. Another rousing page-turner. — The Horn Book

Praise for CRISPIN: AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD: Child Magazine Best Book of the Year A Book Sense Winter Children’s Pick National Parenting Publication Honors Award Winner “A must purchase.” — KLIATT(starred review)

“This moving, history-packed adventure leaves Crispin on the edge of the world and readers on the edge of their seats. Super storytelling.” — Kirkus Reviews(starred review)

“Along with plenty of action and adventure, this displays a solid emotional base. The combination will make fans eager for the final installment.” — Booklist (starred review)

“Readers will devour this story and eagerly anticipate the conclusion of Crispin’s adventures.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

Praise for CRIPSIN: CROSS OF LEAD: John Newbery Medal Winner ALA Notable Children’s Book New York Times Best Seller Publishers Weekly Best Seller A Seattle Times Book of the Year “Avi’s plot is engineered for maximum thrills, with twists, turns, and treachery aplenty . . . A page-turner to delight Avi’s fans, it will leave readers hoping for a sequel.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“. . . a page-turner from beginning to end . . . [A] meticulously crafted story, full of adventure, mystery, and action.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

From the Publisher

"Along with plenty of action and adventure, this displays a solid emotional base. The combination will make fans eager for the final installment."

Booklist

Avi guides his hero toward a final, very satisfying destiny in this wonderfully realized conclusion to the Crispin trilogy. With Bear, their mentor and protector, dead, Crispin and the disfigured girl Troth wearily wander the French countryside. Finding refuge at a convent, the two ultimately make the wrenching decision to part when Troth decides to stay with the Sisters, comforted that she'll never again be shunned for her appearance and having accepted her own destiny as a healer. Bereft of his only friend, Crispin eventually falls in with a band of traveling musicians, who, he finds out in increasingly suspenseful scenes, are murderous thieves who hold a terrified boy in thrall. The story of how he and the child, Owen, escape their clutches makes for a heart-stopping read. As in the other titles in the saga, characters and setting are expertly rendered. The ending is almost unbearably intense and leads to a deeply moving final scene in which Crispin learns that Bear will always be with him. Thrilling and beautifully wrought. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews