Tassie and the Black Baron

Medieval times coincide with the present in this slapstick time-slip adventure. Tassie and her family are on an outing to Huffington Castle. There’s nothing out of the ordinary in this, for they often go on excursions to what her mum calls places of interest. But this time they’ve invited the neighbour from the tumbledown house next door, who immediately makes friends with Tassie. An affable old lady with a benevolent expression and twinkly eyes, she’s soon known as ‘Gramma’. But Gramma is not what she seems as Tassie soon discovers. She has an important role to play at the Castle, which is to ensure that History ‘behaves itself’ – and for this she needs Tassie’s help. Reverting to the Middle Ages, she drags Tassie along with her and together they become involved in an outrageous adventure involving a weedy prince, a haughty princess with a comical command of English, a bullying baron and a ragtag band of urchins. And then there’s Tassie’s dad, not one to hold his tongue, who, situated in the present, becomes embroiled in the adventure, making matters so much worse. The story is entertaining, with a plot that becomes more and more uproarious as plans unravel and people from the present and the past collide. This is an outlandish story, sure to be relished by young readers.