36 pages • 1 hour read
Jon ScieszkaKnights of the Kitchen Table
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1991A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
The Book
The Book is an object of power that allows Joe, Sam, and Fred to travel back in time. Its title makes it easy for readers to remember what the book is called. In appearance, The Book is a dark, dark blue that looks almost black, and it has silvery designs and stars on its cover. This gives it an otherworldly, mystical aura that makes it clear from the moment it’s unwrapped that it is special and will do strange things.
The Book represents the concept of magic working in mysterious and uncertain ways. The boys are transported back in time after Fred says it would be cool to see knights for real—though, at that point in the story, none of the boys realize what this will truly entail. Quickly, they realize that experiencing what they see in The Book’s pictures is not at all what they expected. In this way, Scieszka shows how a situation can often be very different from our expectations.
The Book is also a main staple of the Time Warp Trio as a whole. Throughout the series, it provides the avenue for Joe, Sam, and Fred to travel to different places in time. The Book is a metaphysical symbol of the power of storytelling, as well as the ability for stories to transport us—if in a less literal sense than The Book does. The Book contains tales from across history and cultures, which means it ultimately brings together many varied situations for the boys and the reader to experience. In doing so, The Book makes the world and its vast array of cultures seem less daunting, as they can all allegedly fit together in a single volume of text.
The Book’s ability to transport the boys shows how stories can teach us things about people and places we’ve never experienced without us having to physically go anywhere. The Book imparts the lesson that reading is a critical part of understanding others.
Magic
Both actual magic and stage magic appear in Knights of the Kitchen Table. The Book and Merlin wield real magic in different ways, showing how the forces of magic do not just fall under one umbrella. The Book’s singular magical purpose is to initiate time travel. This is only seen when the boys are moving through time, suggesting it can work no other magic and that, in the story world, magical objects are created for a specific purpose. The Book also suggests that Joe’s uncle is more than just a stage magician and that magic exists in the real world to some degree. In contrast, Chapter 8 suggests that Merlin can use magic to accomplish any number of things. Unlike The Book, magic wielded by a person has wider applications, meaning that wielded magic is limited only by the constraints of its caster.
Joe uses stage magic to trick the members of the court into believing that he and his friends are real enchanters. He has no problem tricking the people in King Arthur’s court, showing that he is a performer of sorts. The card trick represents the idea that magic is in the eye of the beholder. The people do not know Joe does not possess magic in the same way Merlin does. They only know that they see him do something incredible. To them, Joe’s accomplishment is as impressive and inexplicable as Merlin’s spells, which makes it a type of magic. The only person who sees through the trick is Merlin, which shows Merlin’s understanding of real magic as well as his ability to spot a fake. This also shows that as impressive as stage magic can be, it only works on those who want to believe what they are seeing.
Arthur’s Court
Arthur’s court encompasses his castle, subjects, and knights. This setting is of critical importance to the story, as well as to the trials that Joe, Fred, and Sam face. The threats the castle faces—namely, Bleob the giant and Smog the dragon—show how much influence Arthur holds, as well as how that influence invites trouble from those who would see it destroyed.
These threats present Joe, Sam, and Fred with puzzles to solve and a means for them to explore The Power of Teamwork. The boys don’t always see what one of them intends when a new puzzle crops up, but they are able to pick up on plans, thus earning them the respect of Arthur and the courtiers. The boys also try to insert themselves into court life by forming relationships with the stable boys and accepting knighthoods, showing how one can adapt to one’s environment, no matter how foreign it seems.
In Arthurian legend and through the events of the novel, the knights are celebrated for their bravery and strength, especially in battle. The ability of the boys to readily defeat the black knight after Arthur’s knights have failed for so long shows how sometimes a different type of strength is needed to solve a problem. As seasoned fighters who have faced such threats before, the knights should be prepared to do battle with Bleob and fend off his stink. That the knights fail so easily is humorous, and becomes even more so when the small, inexperienced boys are left standing in their place. The knights’ failure lets the boys show off their problem-solving skills again, which ultimately brings them completely into Arthur’s court and medieval society. Arthur knights the boys before they are sent home, showing that they have proven themselves as valuable members of his court.
