Miss Vesper Holly has the digestive talents of a goat and the mind of a chess master. She is familiar with half a dozen languages and can swear fluently in all of them. She understands the use of a slide rule but prefers doing calculations in her head. She does not hesitate to risk life and limb- mine as well as her own. No doubt she has other qualities as yet undiscovered. I hope not.

That was "the story of a young person going out into the world for the first time and finding the world a very difficult place indeed. He once described it as being educational for him and as "rather like being a visiting uncle who has a marvelous time with his nephews and nieces then goes off leaving the parents to cope with attacks of whooping cough mending socks and blackmailing the kids to straighten up the mess in their rooms. I loved all the world's mythologies; King Arthur was one of my heroes;.

His most famous work is The Chronicles of Prydain a series of five high fantasy novels whose conclusion The High King was awarded the 1969 Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature. National Book Awards in 1971 and 1982.