The First No Stakes Book I Ever Read

Long ago and far away, there was a castle. But not just any castle. This was the grand and glittering Castle Corona. . .

Thus begins Sharon Creech's "Castle Corona." But (spoilers) It was just any castle. Filled with just any queen or king and insolent royal children. And befuddled servants and ministers. Who are all so collectively boring you could see them starring in one of Bert of Sesame Street's "Boring Stories." As in, "Oh wow! The prince just drank a glass of water!"

I know this is a kids' book, but shouldn't even kids' books have stakes for the characters?

This may be the first "no stakes" book I've ever read.

The two orphans have a mean master. But that's about the extent of it. He calls them beetles and they have a dirt floor.

They find a pouch dropped by a king's man/thief and hide it when they should turn it in. But that's about it. Oh, it goes missing at the end, but no stakes, so nobody's really worried about it.

There's a "thief" in the kingdom, and the king and queen worry about that. But they live in an ineffectual bureaucracy where those in charge of counting can't find cows if they hide behind a bush, so no one feels all that concerned about it.

I couldn't find a single relatable character. They all felt like cardboard. And sure, a twist payoff at the end which I didn't see coming because I figured like the rest of the book there wouldn't be anything coming at all.