The King's Fifth
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| Author | Scott O'Dell |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Children's literature |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Released | September 1966 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 272 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-395-06963-7 (hardcover), ISBN 0-440-94538-0 (paperback) |
The King's Fifth is a book by Scott O'Dell, and is written in a style that will easily be followed by children.
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[edit] Plot summary
Writing from his prison cell in San Juan de Ulúa, young Estéban de Sandoval is charged with stealing the King's Fifth of the treasure he and his companions found. He describes his adventures as a mapmaker with Coronado in the New World of the 16th century; with a band of young Spaniards, he struck out in search of the Seven Golden Cities of Cibola. Their guide on this dangerous journey was a young Native American girl, Zia, and only she escapes the corrupting effects of greed.
[edit] Characters
- Estéban de Sandoval, map-maker to the expedition
- Zia, a Native American guide
- Mendoza, aristocrat in search of gold
- Father Francisco, priest to the expedition
[edit] Adaptations
The book was the inspiration for the anime cartoon series, The Mysterious Cities of Gold. The characters take their names from the book, the high-level quest is the same, and the "golden lake" scene from the book is also present in the cartoon, but the similarities end there. The cartoon is also set in South America, whereas the expedition in the book is around California, North America.
[edit] Matching characters
- Esteban, Child of the Sun, searching for his long-lost father
- Zia, an Incan girl, searching for her home village
- Mendoza, wily navigator on the ship to the New World
- Father Francisco, raised Esteban in a Spanish monastery
- Sancho and Pedro, comedy duo with very similar names to the name of the ship in the book, the Santa Pedro.
The book is also a slight influence in the Time Machine book "Quest for the Cities of Gold," as the reader meets Esteban at different points.
[edit] Awards
- Newbery Honor Book, 1967
- Federal Republic of Germany Jugendbuchpreis, 1970
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