Pagan's Crusade (Pagan Chronicles) - Tapa dura

Desperate and looking for work, sixteen-year-old Pagan Kidrouk finds a new life as an assistant to Lord Roland de Bram of the Templar Knights, but when a powerful army begins to march on Jerusalem, Pagan must make an important decision while his Lord must decide who he can trust. 12,000 first printing.

Catherine Jinks is a medieval scholar and author of young adult books - a background that is evident in this first of four stories about Pagan Kidrouk. Catherine Jinks’s books have garnered numerous awards, including the prestigious Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year. Pagan grew out of a university course Catherine Jinks took about the Crusades, and her fascination with the real Order of the Templar. She was also heavily influenced by British comedies like MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. She didn’t expect, however, that she would end up writing four books about Templar squire Pagan Kidrouk. "He was such a strong character," she explains, "that he sprang into my head fully formed, and wouldn’t go away until I’d worked out his entire life span. He’s certainly the strongest character I’ve ever written about. The cutest, too, I think."

Peter de Sève, who created the striking die-cut cover for PAGAN'S CRUSADE, is a NEW YORKER cartoonist and the Oscar-nominated designer of animated characters for the feature film ICE AGE.