His Majesty's Elephant

Judith Tarr, Tarr. Harcourt Children's Books, $23 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-15-200737-9

Sparkling and witty, Tarr's (the Hound and the Falcon trilogy) latest phantasmagory takes readers back to the Middle Ages and the court of Charlemagne as it never was (but probably should have been). Charlemagne's daughter, Rowan, teams up with Kerrec, a Breton boy with magical powers, and an equally magical elephant named Abul Abbas, a gift to the emperor from his friend, the Caliph Haroun al-Rashid. Together, this unlikely trio struggles to thwart a supernatural plot against the ruler's life. Tarr fills this novel with memorable heroes, dastardly villains and spine-tingling sorcery. Not to be missed by lovers of historical fiction and fantasy. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)

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