Avalon High

This article is about the Meg Cabot novel. For the film adaptation, see Avalon High (film). For the St. Paul, Minnesota, high school, see Avalon School.

Avalon High

Author	Meg Cabot
Language	English
Genre	Mystery novel
Publisher	HarperCollins
Publication date	27 December 2005
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	304 pp (1st HB)
ISBN	ISBN 0060755865 (1st HB)
OCLC	60515267
LC Class	PZ7.C11165 Ava 2006

Avalon High is a young adult novel by Meg Cabot, published in 2005. It reached number 3 in The New York Times children's best sellers list in January 2006. A manga sequel called Coronation, Volume one: The Merlin's Prophecy has been released.

Plot

Ellie Harrison has just moved from Minnesota to Annapolis, Maryland while her parents take a year long sabbatical to continue their medieval studies in nearby DC. Her new high school, Avalon High, seems like a typical high school with the stereotypical students: Lance the jock, Jennifer the cheerleader, Marco, the bad boy/desperado, and Will, the senior class president, quarterback, the man every girl wants and all around good guy. But not everyone at Avalon High is who they appear to be, not even Ellie herself.

Eventually, it becomes apparent that Avalon High is a situation where the ancient Arthurian legend is repeating itself. Will, Jennifer, Lance, Marco, and Mr. Morton all correspond to King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, Knight Lancelot, Mordred, and Merlin, respectively. As for Ellie, Mr. Morton and Marco misinterpret her as Elaine, the Lady of Shalott, who, in the legend, falls in love with Lancelot yet commits suicides due to her spurned love.

Ellie finds out that according to common gossip, Will's father, Admiral Wagner sent his best friend, Marco's father, to a dangerous area which resulted in his death and six months later, married his best friend's wife. While relations between Marco and Will were strained, Will believed that Marco was "starting to chill."

Ellie finds out at a party at Will's house that Jennifer and Lance had been seeing each other behind Will's back for months without his knowledge. It also becomes apparent that Marco knew about the relationship and wanted Will to find out. Will eventually finds out about the relationship and says that he is relieved about it.

Ellie mentions to Mr. Morton that Will and Jennifer had broken up and Jennifer was now seeing Lance, which elicited an odd response from him. He mutters that it was "too late, it had started so soon". he tells Ellie that her part in it had ended before it had even begun.

A confused Ellie calls her mother and asks her about the story of King Arthur and finds out some startling connections like the name of Arthur's dog and his boat. She finds out that Will's name is actually Arthur William Wagner. She confronts Mr. Morton about it who tells her Will will eventually die.

Mr. Morton is struck with guilt for abandoning Arthur at his time of need and sets up a meeting between Will's stepmother and Will himself where it is revealed to Will and Marco that Jean, Marco's mother was actually Will's mother as well and had given birth to Will when her husband was stationed overseas and had given Will to his father to look after.

During a storm apparently brought about by the "forces of darkness" Ellie finds Will. Marco who had broken into Admiral Wagner's gun case and taken a gun from it also finds them and threatens to kill Will and Ellie. At the last moment Ellie hands Will a sword. When Will takes it, everything changes. The black clouds roll away, everything seemed brighter. Marco eventually drops the gun down and is arrested by the police that Mr. Morton brings. Mr. Morton realizes that Ellie was not the Lady of Shalott as they had assumed but was the Lady of the Lake, the character who gave Arthur the weapon that he used to defend the realm, who kept his friendship with Lancelot and Guinevere from splintering and who brought him home to Avalon.

Characters

Ellie Harrison: the new student at Avalon High—she moved to Annapolis, Maryland from Minnesota due to her parent's sabbatical. She was the fastest runner on the track team at her old school. She is named for the Lady of Shalott in the Arthurian legend who falls in love with Lancelot yet commits suicide in the end because Lancelot leaves her for Guinevere. Marco makes several references to her name throughout the book, mainly because of what Mr. Morton told him about the legend, calling her "lily maid" and making references to the love of floating that is apparently the only trait that she shares with her namesake. However, despite her namesake, she is really the Lady of the Lake, who presents Arthur with the famed sword, Excalibur. At Annapolis, she feels an attraction to Will Wagner, despite knowing him for a relatively short time. Through her parents' scholar backgrounds, she has a deep understanding of the Medieval Ages and the Arthurian legend, which, as she points out, can cause some problems for her socially. In her World Literature class, she feels slightly embarrassed at times due to her already having read most of the books. After a while, she begins to notice the strange coincidences between the legend and Avalon High. In the movie, her name is changed to Allie Pennington and is played by Brittany Robertson.

Arthur William Wagner: corresponds to King Arthur in the legend and has a slightly disruptive family relationship at home. Will (as most characters call him) has a Border Collie named Cavalier, who corresponds to King Arthur's dog Cavall. His sailboat, the Pride Winn, corresponds to Arthur's Prydwyn. In the movie his name is shortened to just Will Wagner and is played by Gregg Sulkin.

Jennifer Gold: a blond cheerleader who corresponds to Queen Guinevere in the legend. She was originally dating Will (Arthur William Wagner) while cheating on him with Lance, but they broke up when Marco revealed their secret while Will, Ellie, Marco, Jennifer, and Lance were out sailing. Jennifer is described as one of those "perky little blondes who seem to know instinctively what color eyeshadow looks best on them." Although she is a bit of the stereotypical cheerleader, she is also a very nice person, and is very difficult not to like. In the film is played by Molly C. Quinn.

Lance Reynolds: the "jock" who is Will's best friend. He goes behind Will's back to cheat with Jennifer. He seems to have no real intention to hurt Will, like Jennifer, however, he can't seem to deny his attraction to Jennifer. Like Lancelot in the Arthurian legend, Lance is Will's right hand man who betrays Arthur to be with Guinevere. In the film is played by Christopher Tavarez.

Marco Campbell: Will's delinquent stepbrother who happens to be his half-brother. He has been kicked out of school and eventually, it is revealed that he and Will share the same mother. Marco is very jealous of Will, and this brings him to eventually hate him with a passion. He corresponds to Mordred in the Arthurian legend and he seeks to bring Will down through revealing Jennifer's and Lance's betrayal and eventually, attempted murder. In the film is played by Devon Graye.

Mr. Morton: a member of the "Order of the Bear", who believes that the Arthurian legend repeats every generation. He goes undercover as a teacher in Avalon High to guide Will to success, but when he made the near-fatal mistake of telling Marco about the legend, Marco tried to kill him. He corresponds to Merlin in the legend. In the movie, his name is changed to Mr. Moore and is played by Steve Valentine.

Admiral Wagner: He is Will's father and he corresponds to Uther Pendragon in the legend. He seemingly murders his best friend (by sending him into combat where he was killed) and then marries his wife.

Jean Wagner: Jean is Admiral Wagner's wife, who married him 6 months after her husband died in combat. Although originally it was believed that she was merely Will's stepmother, it was later revealed (by Mr. Morton) that she was in actuality Will's birth mother. She corresponds to Igraine in the legend.

Ellie's Parents: professors on sabbatical. Her mother is writing a book on Elaine, the so-called "lily maid" of Astolat, and her father is writing his on the sword that Ellie takes to the park and hands to Will during his face-off with Marco, thus revealing herself as the Lady of the Lake. Ellie's parents care about her despite being an embarrassment at times.

Miscellaneous

The book has twenty nine chapters and each chapter starts with a quote, which relatively relates to the content of the chapter, from Alfred Lord Tennyson's famous poem about Elaine the Lady of Shalott.

no one cares about this stupid book so why are you people wasting your time looking at this site. any one can edit this site just like i did just now

Adaptation

Disney Channel adapted the book as a Disney Channel Original Movie of the same name in 2010. The movie stars Britt Robertson, Gregg Sulkin, Joey Pollari, Devon Graye and Steve Valentine. The movie premiered November 12, 2010. The movie was filmed in New Zealand.

Plot Alteration

In the movie, Ellie (Allie in the film) rather than Will is King Arthur. Rather than Marco, Mr. Morton (Mr. Moore in the film) is Mordred, whereas Miles is Merlin as opposed to Mr. Morton. Marco is a member of the Order of the Bear determined to protect Will. The climax battle scene occurs in the ravine in the book, but occurs in the school theater (which magically becomes a beach) in the movie. Presumably, this is to make the film more unpredictable. Also the students are the reincarnations of the actual characters as oppose to merely corresponding to them. "Allie" is an only child, her brother is no longer a character. Will's father is not trying to make him join the navy. Marco and Will are not revealed as half brothers. Will does not sail and does not have a dog, therefore there are no connections to the names of Arthur's dog and boat. (Will is not Arthur, hence the elimination.) Avalon High's team name is the Knights, not Excalibur. Many scenes were cut out and scene settings were changed to make the movie more appropriate for younger children because the book has violent and some threatening scenes.

External links

• Meg Cabot, Avalon High, HarperCollins, December 27, 2005. ISBN 0-06-075586-5