Dance of the Stones

Marie St. Onge-Davidson is president of the Essential English Centre in
Ottawa.

In Book 1, The White Horse Talisman (2001), Chantel and her brother
Adam, while visiting their cousins Holly and Owen in Britain, are drawn
into a fantasy adventure. After sighting a shooting star, which awakens
Equus—the mythical Great White Horse carved in the British down—the
cousins, guided by Equus’s friends, the Wise Ones (Myrddin, Ava, and
The Lady), set out to help Equus find his mate and a lost magical
talisman. But just as Equus has awakened, so has the Dark Being, an evil
dragon who is determined to defeat them.

In Book 2, Dance of the Stones, the four children are drawn into their
second adventure. This time they need to find Ava’s circlet, which was
buried long ago in the ancient Stone Circle of Avebury. With Ava’s
assistance and guidance, Owen begins the quest. But the Dark Being
lingers nearby, swirling her vortex of despair and destruction, and the
children are further endangered by an evil wraith who hides beneath the
stones in the circle. When Equus challenges the Dark Being and Ava is
injured, the children find themselves on their own. They must discover
the ritual that is needed to release the circlet, or their world may be
destroyed.

The classic theme of good versus evil is nicely played out in these
magical tales, which are filled with Celtic legend and old English
folklore. The storylines are woven around some interesting English
heritage, which is clarified at the end of each book in an author’s
note. Each book also includes a map, and in each corner of the map is
one of the magical tools belonging to a Wise One (Equus’s talisman,
Ava’s circlet, Myrddin’s staff, and The Lady’s necklace). The next
books in the series will undoubtedly follow the children on more quests
through mystical England as they try to find the remaining magical
tools. Highly recommended.