Britfield & the Lost Crown by C.R. Stewart Review

My family loves books and we are always excited to explore new series. The latest book Britfield & the Lost Crown I received as an audio book from Audible. Britfield & the Lost Crown by C.R. Stewart is also available as a physical book and an e-book.

Who is this for? Britfield & the Lost Crown is for anyone who loves a great adventure novel and history-particularly English history. This is a YA book and is appropriate for that age range. For younger kids you may need to look at it first due to some of the scary scenarios.

For this book my 16 year old struggling reader enjoyed listening to this audible book. The timing was perfect as she was feeling a bit under the weather with her joints flaring up and she could lay on the couch riveted to the story.

About Britfield & the Lost Crown

Our story begins in an orphanage in England by the name of Weatherly. Tom has been at a deplorable orphanage for six dreadful years. Weatherly is a dreary place without much hope for the kids who are unfortunate enough to live there. The orphanage owners, the Grievous are living well off with the funds they get from the government to run the place. The kids have to work extremely hard from sun up to sun down with just enough of food to get by daily. The kids have all formed a special bond and look out for one another like sharing extra food and even sharing books they snatch from the Grievous’s home. They get in trouble just for talking and even if they dare try to have fun-so much for childhood.

Tom finds out that his parents might be alive. He has to escape Weatherly to find them. Tom doesn’t want to leave his best friend Sarah behind. With the help of the kids in the orphanage and the kind cook. Tom is given one clue with the word “Britfield” on it. Tom and Sarah commandeer an air balloon to escape away from the place.

Their escape isn’t easy as they have Scotland Yard and England’s police pursuing hot on their tale.

They met and befriend a professior who helps him discover some clues about the mysteries word Britfield. He discovers that a child of two years of age disappeared and was from the royal family and has never been found. Could Tom actually be that missing two year old boy from the royal family? If so is Tom and Sarah’s life is in more danger then he could have imagined? 

Tom and Sarah find themselves in one precarious and dangerous situation after another as they try to avoid the police, Detective Gowerstone, and another unknown whom they don't even know is an enemy yet. 

The most intriguing part is the location. You can see the places like Oxford University, Windsor Castle, London, and Canterbury in your mind with the descriptions in the book. The details of the country side and the city draw you into the story even more!

This story ends with a huge cliff hanger making you eager for the next book in the series. You just can’t wait to find out what is next for our main character’s Tom and Sarah.

The Audible Book

The voices are rich with each character having their own distinct voice. It was easy to follow the story. We could pause easily as needed and pick up where we left off. 

The Audio book on my tablet

 The books running time is 9 hours and 25 minutes long. I was able to easily download the book to my tablet.

Britfield & the Lost Crown Study Guide

We didn’t use the 83 page Study Guide. The Study Guide is a PDF format and laid out for eight weeks. The Study Guide will cover each chapter of the Britfield & the Lost Crown book.

The Study Guide is laid out with four sections.

The Vocabulary section has a variety of exercises

Vocabulary:

Each chapter has a different exercise. You have multiple choice exercises, matching the word to the correct answers, fill in the blank, crosswords, word banks, word searches, and choosing the best synonym. Some of the activities you have you look up the definition in the dictionary. 

There is enough to appeal to all learning styles while learning new words. 

Some of the words are: meticulously, oratory, jettison, stupefy, cobalt, and saunter. 

As you can see it has a nice mixer of words. I love when books have a good mixture of great vocabulary.

Comprehension Worksheet

Comprehension:

Taken from each chapter you can answer the questions from what you just read. This is a good way to see if they are grasping what they read.

Some questions are:

Where is the birthplace of Winston Churchhill, according to Hainsworth? Or When the police arrive again, where do Tom, Sarah, and Hainsworth hide?

Going Deeper questions

Going Deeper:

This section is a bit more challenging but, also has a good variety of questions about the story. Some of them you can draw a picture to relate your thoughts. 

Some of the questions are?

Compare and contrast the characters of Mrs. Grievous and Mr. Picketers. How are they similar?

How are they different? What about each character makes him/her important to the story? Compare and contrast the characters of Mrs. Grievous and Mr. Picketers. How are they similar? 

Draw a picture of one of the following:

a. Detective Gowerstone

b. Tom and Sarah resting under the oak tree

c. The inside of Wilbury’s house

d. The orphans huddled together at Weatherly talking about the escape

e. Tom and Sarah in the swamp with the police following them

A lot of ways to go deeper in this study with some research assignments

Learning More with Technology:

This is a way to have your kids do some research on the internet to answer the questions.  You also have lots of map skill exercises to locate places in the story.

Don’t worry if you don’t know the answer to the questions because the Study Guide does have an answer key. 

You can find more information about the resources at https://www.britfieldinstitute.org/resources/

On the website you click on the city to find out more information

The Britfield & the Lost Crown Website 

The website is amazing. A homeschool mom's paradise of information! It has tons of pictures to look up. You can see pictures and maps of Tom and Sarah’s journey. Not only that you could find out more about England and it’s rich history.

Full colored photos of places throughout

Maps of the different locations to explore

 Our Final Thoughts:

My daughter said, “This was a great book. I loved the friendship of Tom and Sarah.” “They look out for one another and are brave.” “I also enjoy hearing the details in the book about England.” She is looking forward to book two in the series. She wasn’t too happy with the end cliff hanger because she didn’t want the story to end.

 

Nothing better than a good book on a bad day!

This was a great story that captured your attention quickly and the adventure kept you riveted while listening to the book. There are several scary moments and the characters do not show respect to some of the authorities in the story. You may want to look over the book yourself if you see this as an issue for your family. I personally was okay with the content in the story. The only drawback is my son wants the physical book to read. He didn’t listen to much of the audio book but he heard enough to want to read the story himself. That is actually a good problem to have! He loves physical books. I know what to add to our reading list for him this year.

Like I mentioned earlier my daughter and I were able to listen to the book when she was having a few bad days with her arthritis being flared up and she could lay on the couch listening to the story.

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialBritfield/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritfieldWorld
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialbritfield/

Don’t forget to click on the graphic below. Some of the Homeschool Review Crew received e books, physical books, and like me an audio book. I’m just 1 out of 75 who reviewed Britfield & the Lost Crown.