The Silver Crown facts for kids
First edition
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| Author | Robert C. O'Brien |
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| Illustrator | Dale Payson |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's science fiction |
| Published | 1968 (Atheneum Books) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 274 (first edition) |
| OCLC | 437126 |
The Silver Crown is an exciting science-fiction book for young readers, written by Robert C. O'Brien. It was his very first novel, published in 1968. The story follows a young girl named Ellen Carroll as she goes on an unexpected and dangerous adventure.
Contents
The Mysterious Crown and a Dangerous Journey
The story begins on Ellen Carroll's tenth birthday. She wakes up to find a strange, shiny silver crown in her bedroom. This discovery kicks off a series of events that seem totally unrelated at first.
- Later that same morning, while Ellen is at the park, her house burns down.
- She also sees a terrible crime happen.
Suddenly, Ellen is all alone. With her family gone, she decides to travel to Kentucky to find her Aunt Sarah. She tries to hitchhike, hoping to get there safely.
Escaping Danger and Finding an Ally
Ellen's journey is far from easy. She faces many dangers on her way to Kentucky:
- She manages to escape from someone who tries to kidnap her.
- She is chased through thick woods.
- Luckily, she finds a friend and helper in an 8-year-old boy named Otto.
Together, Ellen and Otto trek through the mountains. They are constantly being hunted by mysterious, dangerous men.
The Black Castle and the Hieronymus Machine
Their adventure leads them to a dark, old castle hidden deep in the forest. Inside, Ellen discovers a strange, ancient machine called the Hieronymus Machine.
- This machine is mind-controlling people.
- It turns them into people who start fires and commit crimes for a secret purpose.
- The machine needs two special crowns to work: a black one and a silver one.
It seems that only Ellen has the power to activate the silver crown, which is the more powerful of the two. Ellen realizes how dangerous the Hieronymus Machine is. Even though she feels tempted by the idea of becoming a queen, she decides the machine must be destroyed.
The Hieronymus Machine: Fact vs. Fiction
The name "Hieronymus" in the book comes from St. Jerome, a real historical figure. In the book's made-up history, some of his followers supposedly got involved in secret, magical studies. They built the Hieronymus Machine many centuries ago in a monastery in Spain.
However, this is just part of the story. There is no real history to support this idea. There was a real American inventor named Thomas Galen Hieronymus. He built a machine in 1949, which he also called a "Hieronymus machine." This is the same year the device is discovered in the novel. But his machine was very different. It was said to detect energy from living things, not control minds.
