The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp by Rick Yancey

I gave this book a rating of four out of five. Alfred Kropp's parents are killed, and he goes to live with his uncle. His uncle is a night watchman for a large company. A stranger appears and offers the uncle one million dollars to "return" his sword from the company's owner. Turns out, the stranger is lying, and the sword is the most powerful weapon in the world. Alfred discovers that the sword once belonged King Arthur and is being protected by descendants of his knights. Most of the knights are slaughtered in an ambush, so Alfred accompanies Bennacio, the last of the knights, to try to retrieve the sword. They travel over to England, escaping several attempts to kill them, and Alfred finds out that he has some secrets in his own past. He must recover the sword and protect the world from being destroyed by its power.

An interesting mental picture for me in this book is Alfred being the biggest kid in his class, but he's the one being bullied. However, I like underdog stories, and he wins out in the end. The conflict and plot held my interest, and there were action scenes to keep things interesting. Endings aren't always happy, but you can always look forward to the sequel Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Soloman.