Bun Bendle is blind. He became blind in a diving accident two years before the beginning of the book, and it has changed his life completely. It is freedom he misses most - freedom to muck about with his friends on the Scilly Isles where they live. He has learned to write stories by putting them on tape, and he listens to talking books too - particularly to stories about King Arthur. The book is made up mainly of a long story that Bun has taped - a story about his diving accident, his feelings about being blind, and his growing friendship with Anna, an older teenager with whom he can talk. Towards the end of the story-within-a-story, Anna and Bun share a magical adventure involving King Arthur and the sword Excalibur, and afterwards Bun finds he can see. In reality, of course, he can't, but he has learned to feel that fate plays a hand in everything and there is hope. Unfortunately, the end ot the real book is ambiguous. Bun's story threatens to become all too real, and we cannot be sure if he will survive. Bun's emotions ring true, and blind and partially-sighted children will identify strongly with his feelings. Morpurgo seems to understand very well what it is like to lose one's sight. Foreman's delicate black and white illustrations are evocative both of myth and reality, and the large-ish print makes the reading of the 118 pages an easy task. The ending will need a lot of discussion - a major flaw in an otherwise fine book.