SOLVED. Boy becomes blind after cliffdiving into a rock, girl tries to help get vision back, something about king arthur. [s]

[HoChing]

Teacher read this book to us back in 5th grade. I think it was about this boy and I think 2 of his friends (one boy one girl i think) who was cliffdiving, but became blind after falling into a rock. The girl tries to help him get his vision back. Somewhere along the line, a ghost boat appears outside in the river/ocean/etc. The boy and the girl go on the boat and it brings them to king arthur's (???) castle. *SPOILERS* And then King Arthur gives him his vision back.

[bookel]

The Sleeping Sword
by Michael Morpurgo
Twelve-year-old Bun Bendle became blind due to a head injury in a diving accident ... King Arthur.
"the discovery of an ancient tomb and a strangely familiar sword changes him forever. This classic book weaves a contemporary tale with Arthurian legend..."

Reviews (contain spoilers)

"Bun Bendle introduces us to his very first story, called The Sleeping Sword, written after he suddenly became blind. Nothing's been the same since Bun dived off a quay and hit his head on a rock. What he can't bear to tell anyone is that as well as his sight, the accident seems to have wiped out parts of his memory. In despair, he contemplates suicide, but the love of his great friend Anna saves him. His friends petition for him to be able to stay on his home island of Bryher in the Scilly Isles, and not be sent away to school. Calling his father in for tea one day, Bun falls through a cavity under the field. His father's tractor rumbling towards him just manages to stop, inches away. The cavity is a tomb, containing an ancient and beautiful sword and shield. Bun is immediately drawn to them, and as he holds the sword, Bedivere, a knight of the Round Table appears and commands him to take it to King Arthur. Taking Anna on his quest, Bun finds a galleon waiting at the quay to them to the king. Bun suddenly remembers their meeting before, told in Arthur, High King of Britain, and Arthur stands before them, a warrior reunited with his shield and his sword, Excalibur. Arthur reveals his purpose; Bun must drive Excalibur back into the stone until it is time for the king to come again. Bun and Anna return to Bryher on the ghost ship, hardly believing what has happened around them. The next morning Bun wakes to find his sight restored, the sword and shield safely in the cavity in the field and Anna totally unaware of the previous night's events. So Bun concludes his story, proud to have written such a long one, and Anna loves it. Bun strolls off to the field towards his father's tractor, and suddenly falls down a cavity. The tractor is rumbling towards him...and he knows everything he's dreamt is about to come true.
Publisher and industry reviews
UK Kirkus review

This novel by Michael Morpurgo marks a return to his beloved Isles of Scilly. Unlike the remarkable Out of the Ashes which was grounded in the horrific realities of the foot-and-mouth epidemic, this is a beautifully written tale in which Morpurgo says he has woven 'a magical fleece of fact and fantasy'. Bun Bendle is tragically blinded in a swimming accident, and the heedless freedom of his earlier life becomes a distant memory as he has to learn how to cope in the dark world he now inhabits. The threat of being sent away from Bryher to a special school for the blind hangs over him until his friends and the other islanders petition his parents to let him stay. But the family finds it hard to cope as his mother gives up work to teach him at home, and there are Braille lessons to be paid for. There seems to be no way out of the financial mire until another accident changes the course of Bun's life for ever. Stumbling into an undiscovered tomb, he finds a sword and shield dating back to the time of King Arthur. As he grips the sword, an incredible power flows into him. Like Arthur's knights, Bun realizes he too has an important quest - to return the sword and the shield to their rightful owner, Arthur himself. Yet there is a dilemma - the items are valuable and the family is desperately short of money. Bun knows what he must do, even though the sword and shield could set up his family for life. This is actually a story within a story. An apparently straightforward tale of a knightly quest turns out to be merely a dream - or is it? The reader is left tantalisingly unsure at the end of the book, as events begin to turn in on themselves and there is a very real possibility of healing. Morpurgo is a superb story-teller, skilfully plaiting together strands of myth and reality to create a glowing tapestry which will mesmerize his young readers. Ages 8 + (Kirkus UK)"

[Andria]

The Sleeping Sword - for the GR link