Read Aloud Thursday: The King’s Fifth by Scott O’Dell

Mr. O’Dell’s tale of Coronado and the fictional mapmaker Esteban Sandoval and the search for gold was our first homeschool read aloud of the year. We finished it last Friday. I think the urchins enjoyed the book, and it fit into both the history unit for Karate Kid (12), who’s studying world history from 1492-1900, and the history plan for Betsy-Bee (10), who’s studying Texas history. I assume that the urchins were intrigued with the intrigue in the book because there were many requests for just one more chapter. That’s either a sign that they like the book or that they want to postpone math hour. Whatever . . .

I thought I’d transcribe some snippets of conversation that I had with Betsy-Bee and with Karate Kid about the book. These are the pieces of the conversation I remember:

Mom: Did you like The King’s Fifth?

Betsy-Bee: Yes, I liked some parts a lot. I liked the parts where Esteban was in prison and on trial. Some of the rest of it was blah, blah, blah.

KK: Uhhh, it was a good book.

Mom: Why was Esteban on trial? What was he accused of doing wrong?

Betsy-Bee: He didn’t give the gold to the king, the king’s fifth.

KK: The king’s fifth of the treasure of Cibola. He was later accused of killing Captain Mendoza.

Mom: What did he do with the gold?

Betsy-Bee: He buried it.

Mom: Well, not exactly buried it. He threw it in a sinkhole, kind of like quicksand. Who was your favorite character in the book?

Betsy-Bee: Zia.

KK: Captain Mendoza was cool.

BB; I kind of liked that guy who stole all their stuff.

Mom: You didn’t like Mendoza or that guy (Torres). They were the bad guys.

KK: They weren’t the bad guys!

Mom: They were both thieves, and Mendoza told his dog to kill those two Indians! They were obsessed with gold. I actually liked Father Francisco the best. He was good and not gold-crazy.
So, Zia. Why did you like her?

Betsy-Bee: She was a girl, and she liked the horse with the cool name, Blue Star.

Mom: I think you liked her hat with the bells around the brim. Because you like to dress up in costumes.

BB: No, it would be annoying to have to hear that jingle all the time.

Mom: Would you read another book like this one to yourself?

KK: No, I like it more when you read it to us. Actually, I always like books more when you read them to us.

BB: Sometimes you can read boring books, though.

3 thoughts on “Read Aloud Thursday: The King’s Fifth by Scott O’Dell

  1. Oh, I hopped over here to see what you’ve been up to, and lo and behold, I find myself looking back! 🙂 Thanks, Sherry!

    I love the conversation! I’ve never read this book, but it sounds very exciting.

  2. I hadn’t heard of this one before either. And on a different note – I love the blog name Betsy Bee! Cute!

  3. Pingback: Semicolon » Blog Archive » Semicolon’s Old, New and Ongoing Projects, Part 2

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