Lloyd Alexander was born on this date, January 30, in 1924 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the author of a number of books, mostly for younger readers.  He is best known for The Prydain Chronicles.  The final volume, The High King, won the Newberry Medal in 1969. The Newberry is given for outstanding works of children’s literature.

I read part of The High King when I was a kid, but I didn’t know at the time that the book was the final book in a series.  We’d just moved to Fort Worth, and I was reading through the Newberry winners at the public library. Since The High King had a Newberry sticker on it, I picked it up. I didn’t understand a lot of what was going on in the book and never finished.

A number of years ago, the SFBC published an omnibus edition of The Prydain Chronicles. I bought a copy, but I never got around to reading it.  Has anyone read it, and if so, what did you think of it?

Update: Fletcher Vredenburgh has posted cover art for three different editions of The Prydain Chronicles. Check it out.