A King in a Court of Fools (2011) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

• Thomas Ryan: Tom is a much younger version of the anti-hero from Four Years from Home. He is the one around whom the book is centered. He is a stubborn, driven, yet idealistic kid with a strong sense of right and wrong.
• Harry Ryan: Harry is the youngest of the Ryans. It is through his eyes that we learn the story as he looks back on the events of his childhood.
• Katherine: Add a description of this character.
• Mary
• Sam
• Bonnie Shoedel
• Frankie Marx
• Andrew Jackson Taylor
• Tom Braithwaite
• Tommy
• Derrick Jonathan Sims
• Greg Finnerty
• Wayne Brubacher
• Bobby Fey
• Caswell
• Catherine
• Debbie Greer
• Mr. Aj
• Martha
• Conner Road
• Mrs. Baxter
• Bob Cassidy
• Grandma
• Granddad Ryan
• Helen
• Bill Finnerty
• Sister Concepta
• Dan Ryan
• Gary
• Ellie Mae Sims

Quotes edit see section history

• “There are three places you never want to be caught dead: at the Isaly’s without a quarter, downwind when Big Bob is farting, and anywhere near Sister Concepta’s office.”

  The Book of Tom

• “She was a robot Sister with super powers that the nuns gotten from the Sears catalog. When her robot eyes looked around the room, I knew she was there for me.”

  Harry

• “We had lost a friend; one who held us up without ever complaining that we were too heavy; one who never let us down because it was too tired or said it just didn’t feel like it anymore — a good friend.”

  Harry

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• There are some things in life that can be understood fully only by comparison to their opposite. Some call that conceptual polarity. For example, can one really know what truth is without also knowing what it is to lie?

  Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers

• Kids ride a roller coaster of emotions. One minute they are crying from a skinned knee, the next they are laughing and playing again, doing exactly what gave them the skinned knee in the first place. They can go from love to hate and back to love again in a single sentence. They argue, they fight, they share, they play, and one little thing, one act of unkindness is made up for and forgotten in an instant, and never spoken of or thought of again. It’s not until people get older that we let the bad things begin to pile up and become harder to push out of the way.

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• The Greek philosopher Plato thought that anything that comes to be comes from its opposite. Thus, good comes from evil and therefore cannot exist without it.

  Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Pink Lady
• Isaly
• Pittsburgh

First Sentence edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Larry Enright (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Notes for Parents edit see section history

This book has been read and enjoyed by 6th graders on up. The group of 4th graders found it a bit too complex. It also appeals to the adult crowd as a nostalgia piece and puts emphasis on family values and the importance of good moral character.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Comic