Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village

These books arrived in EXCELLENT condition, and very timely at that.
Good service is still the word of the day.
Thanks.

When a book appears on the same Newbery Award shelf as: The Island of the Blue Dolphins, Julie of the Wolves, Number the Stars, Dear Mr. Henshaw, Sounder and and other classics, one sits up and takes notice because it means the best in children's literature. This recent addition to the honour roll, made up of narrative poems reminiscent of The Canterbury Tales, gives the young reader a real sense of what daily life was like in the Middle Ages.

A few of the monologues deal with complex topics which may require some adult guidance to guarantee comprehension. For example, in the story told by Simon, the Knight's son, the Crusades are mentioned, which are a key to understanding his story. To familiarize the young reader with this intricate historical episode, the book provides a two page summary of the Crusades crammed with many facts and more in the margins. These summaries have been inserted beside the half-dozen selections dealing with the more difficult topics, but may serve to further confuse the reader with fact overload. Topics like the Christian attitudes toward the Jews, Pilgrimages, the Crusades, and Feudal customs, call for some direct teaching and/or guided research to assure comprehension. In short, they will need to be explained to most children. The majority of the narratives, however, can be read independently. The stories in this fine piece of historical fiction are the right stuff for engaging reader's theatre.

Winner of the 2008 Newberry Medal, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! was actually written to be performed. Laura Amy Schlitz has written here a series of interconnected monologues and dialogues which, taken together, depict the life of kids of all kinds in a medieval village. There's the Falconer's Son, the Blacksmith's Daughter, the runaway villein, the Young Lord, The Pilgrim and The Sniggler, all of whom help complete the picture.

The reviewers have covered it all, but such a truly great book deserves ongoing praise. How nice to see that this jewel of a book won the Newbery! Standing ovation from this reader.

A wonderful book from a wonderful person. This is especially good for lower- and middle-schoolers. Quite usable for in-school performances.