Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
by Laura Amy Schlitz
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Book Summary Information
Author: Laura Amy SchlitzBrand: Books
Illustrator: Robert Byrd
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-12-23
ISBN: 0763643327
Number of pages: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Book Reviews of Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
Book Review: life with with no running water, no diapers, no Advil, no birth control...
Summary: 5 Stars
This recent award-winner breaks new ground in children's literature. It presents a series of dramatic monologues, each in the voice of a 13th-century village inhabitant. Twenty-three characters speak, some in verse and some in prose, describing their lives, their woes, and their dreams. The author explains in the foreword that she wrote the pieces to accompany a module on the Middle Ages, and chose monologues instead of a traditional play so each student could have equal time on stage. One can almost hear the minstrel music in the background.
Most of the characters have familiar labels (falconer's son, beggar), but some are odd (a "sniggler" is an eel-catcher). The author breaks up the monologues with cogent explanations of concepts like falconry, the Crusades, the three-field system, and pilgrimage. The only thing she fails to explain adequately is the feudal system itself.
It's an excellent introduction to the feel of medieval times for young and old readers alike. By allowing the characters to speak of their concerns and realities, the author gets underneath the names and dates, kings and wars that so often make up history lessons. She captures the way the church calendar of saints permeated society, and also the painful realities of medieval life: physical toil and hardship (life-threatening childbirth), hunger (one character gratefully eats food meant for dogs), and filth (countless fleas and body lice). The author notes the "desperate poverty" experienced by most people, and tells without shrinking the foul means by which leather is created. These gross details can be played up for students, who will inevitably find them intriguing.
Any middle and secondary school student interested in the gritty reality of life in medieval times would appreciate this book. Teachers could use it as a launch point for a creative writing component of history studies by asking students to imagine living in a world with no running water, no diapers, no Advil, no birth control. This book also primes students for a study of medieval manuscripts and for reading The Canterbury Tales.
Illustrations are by Robert Byrd, who took his inspiration from illuminated manuscripts. He gets the lines and flat perspective right, but his colors aren't nearly as rich as those found in the originals. The long bibliography contains works for both young and adult readers.
Summary of Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
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.
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