The Silver Bowl by Diane Stanley

From the author's website:  Unwanted at home, Molly goes to work for the king of Westria as a humble scullery maid. She arrives at the castle with no education, no manners, and a very disturbing secret: she sees visions, and those visions always come true. One day, while she’s working in the king’s great hall, young Prince Alaric passes by. Molly finds him unbearably handsome—but also unbearably rude. But what does it really matter? She’ll probably never see him again.

In time Molly is promoted to polishing silver and is given a priceless royal treasure to work on: the king’s great ceremonial hand basin. But there’s something odd about it. The silver warms to her touch, a voice commands her to watch and listen, and then the visions appear. They tell the story of a dreaded curse that has stalked the royal family for years. There have already been deaths; soon there will be more.

As tragedy after tragedy strikes the royal family, Molly can’t help but wonder: will the beautiful Alaric be next? Together with her friends Tobias and Winifred, Molly must protect the prince and destroy the curse. Could a less likely champion be found to save the kingdom of Westria?

From Heather:  I quite liked this charming middle-grade book!  There were a few things that I would have liked expanded on a little bit more (Tobias!!!) but for the most part it was just a fun, easy read. The book starts when Molly is just a young girl.  Her father is a drunk who has too many children to take care of, so as soon as he thinks they are old enough (6 or 7) he kicks them out to be servants somewhere.  So sad!  Molly sees one of the neighbor boys dying in a vision and, sure enough, he ends up dead.  So her dad can't get rid of her fast enough.  And Molly's mother is sick and confined to her room, so she is no help at all.  As Molly is leaving for the castle, she talks to her mother and learns that her mother has visions too, but she doesn't explain why they both have them or where they came from.

So Molly goes to the castle and time passes.  Pretty soon it is years later and she is older and friends with Tobias (whom I LOVE!)  I really wish their friendship had been explored a little bit more.  The silver bowl was interesting and the twist at the end took me completely by surprise! The characters were good, but I would have liked a more detailed story.  Maybe that's just me as an adult talking and not as a middle grade child.  My girls would probably love the story!  :0)

All in all it was a great book, one that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.  AND I understand that it is the first of three books, so that is good too!