Park, Linda Sue.
ARCHER'S QUEST
New York : Clarion Books, 2006
IL 5-8, RL 5.3
ISBN 0618596313

(2 booktalks)

Imagine sitting in your bedroom when an arrow barely misses your head!  What would you think?  And when you turn around, a young man who is dressed really strange is standing in your room aiming another arrow at you?  For twelve-year-old Kevin, the whole thing is really frightening and yet he knows that he must try to figure out what is going on.  The stranger is Chu-mong, the legendary ruler of ancient Korea!  And the last thing he remembers is riding on a tiger through his kingdom.  Together, they try to figure out what happened to bring The Archer to modern day New York.  And more importantly, how to get him back!

Booktalk #2

If an armed stranger suddenly appeared in your bedroom late one afternoon after school, what would you do? Scream? Flee? Or, dial 911?

A normal Monday afternoon this was not. This was bigger than the usual figuring out what to write for his social studies homework or having his math-genius father eye his math homework ever so carefully. Here was a man, who appeared out of nowhere, in Kevin's bedroom, dressed in white baggy pants with long black silky hair carrying a quiver of arrows and a bow, announcing he lost his balance and fell off his tiger.  What tiger?  Who was this man? And, how did he get in Kevin's bedroom?

Kevin realized the stranger, who he decided to call Archie, was not from New York or anywhere close to his neighborhood.  Listening and observing the man in his twenties, Kevin knew that Archie wasn't even from his time, when Archie claimed he never saw glass before.  That is, of course, after he sent an arrow through the next door neighbor's shattering window!

After a quick visit to his parents' friend and museum expert on Ancient royal Korean history, Professor Lee, Kevin knew he had two major problems. First, he knew that the strange man with him was somehow, Koh Chu-mong, leader and king of the Korea nation from ancient times.  Second, he had to get Koh Chu-mong or Archie home to Korea and figure out how.  But worse yet, how could he get Archie home without his parents or Professor Lee finding out?  The latter could prove especially tricky, since Professor Lee was already suspicious.  Read this Nutmeg book to find out how Kevin uses his wits with a little bit of luck to get Archie home.