The Outlaws of Sherwood

by Robin McKinley

When I was in elementary my friends and I would spend our days playing make-believe. We would go to someone’s house and run around, pretending to be whoever we wanted. My house was often chosen as the stomping ground because it was well shaded in the afternoon, had several good climbing trees, and plentiful sticks. The majority of the time we pretended to be part of Robin Hood’s merry men, only we were the traditional Robin, we played Robin McKinley’s version, THE OUTLAWS OF SHERWOOD. One of the big reasons behind this was the fact that there are some awesome heroines. (Though I actually played the character Much most of the time. I always liked him the best.)

In THE OUTLAWS OF SHERWOOD, Robin isn’t necessarily an outlaw by choice. As he is headed to the fair to be with Marian and Much he encounters a group of foresters. They challenge him to an archery contest. Unlike many of the other versions, Robin isn’t that good of a shot. He is a fletcher by trade, but that doesn’t mean he can hit what he is aiming at. He actually wins and the other foresters aren’t happy. When Robin tries to defend himself he accidentally kills one of them and is branded an outlaw. From there his band grows. There are the favorite, familiar characters, but as I mentioned earlier, the females are strong and competent.

I was the only one of my friends to actually have read THE OUTLAWS OF SHERWOOD. Though I read it as a child, it is a pretty heavy book. I wouldn’t recommend for an audience that young. It has a few slower bits, but part of that is because it goes into the political side of things including the Crusades. Whenever I see this book I have such fond memories of running around the back yard using the trimmed apple branches as swords and quarterstaffs as we acted out the story.