Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
Voices from a Medieval Village
Author: Laura Amy Schlitz
Illustrator: Robert Byrd
Interest Level:
6-8
Grade Level Equivalent:
7.6
Age:
11-13
Genre:
Drama, Historical Fiction
Subject:
Middle Ages, European History
Step back to an English village in 1255, where life plays out in dramatic vignettes illuminating twenty-two unforgettable characters.
Maidens, monks, and millers’ sons — in these pages, readers will meet them all. There’ s Hugo, the lord’ s nephew, forced to prove his manhood by hunting a wild boar; sharp-tongued Nelly, who supports her family by selling live eels; and the peasant’ s daughter, Mogg, who gets a clever lesson in how to save a cow from a greedy landlord. There’ s also mud-slinging Barbary (and her noble victim); Jack, the compassionate half-wit; Alice, the singing shepherdess; and many more.
With a deep appreciation for the period and a grand affection for both characters and audience, Laura Amy Schlitz creates twenty-two riveting portraits and linguistic gems equally suited to silent reading or performance. Illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings by Robert Byrd — inspired by the Munich-Nuremberg manuscript, an illuminated poem from thirteenth-century Germany — this witty, historically accurate, and utterly human collection forms an exquisite bridge to the people and places of medieval England.
2008 Newbery Medal Winner
