Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From A Medieval Village

Schlitz, Laura Amy. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From A Medieval Village. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2007.

How do you get 8-12 year-olds to read about medieval history? Do what Laura Amy Schlitz did and write a book about all kinds of interesting people who lived in a medieval village during the Middle Ages. Be sure to make all the inhabitants the same age as the kids who will be reading the book; that way they will identify with the characters and want to keep reading. Include a well-rounded cast such as Drogo the tanner’s apprentice, Simon the knight’s son, Mogg the villein’s daughter(tell them they will have to read the book to find out what a villein is), Mariot and Maud the glassblower’s daughters, and Nelly the sniggler (again-if they want to know what a sniggler is they will have to read the book). Give them some lively poetry that vividly describes life in a medieval village.

"Fleas in the pottage bowl,

Fleas in the bread,

Bloodsucking fleas

In the blankets of our beds,"

Add all kinds of interesting and factual asides about life in the Middle Ages like; "Pottage is a sort of stew. Poor people just threw whatever they had into the pot and hoped for the best" and put them in the margins so they do not interrupt the flow of the combination poetry, prose, and free verse soliloquies of the characters. Oh, and don't forget to have enough characters so the whole class can perform it as a play if they want to. Be sure to get someone like Robert Byrd to add a two-page-spread aerial map of “A Medieval Manor England, 1255” and some colorful, realistic, yet middle ages-ish ink and watercolor illustrations that will add visually to each character’s story. Do all this and you should have a book that no kid will be able to put down. Who knows; you might even win the Newbery.

MY LIBRARIAN IS A CAMEL: HOW BOOKS ARE BROUGHT TO CHILDREN AROUND THE WORLD by Margriet Ruurs

Ruurs, Margriet. My Librarian Is a Camel: How Books Are Brought to Children Around the World. Honesdale: Boyds Mills Press, 2005.

But that's just in Kenya where the librarian is a camel. In various parts of Australia and two regions of Azerbaijan the librarian is a big truck. In remote areas of Canada the postman is the librarian. In England a wheelbarrow delivers books to people at the beach. In Finland books are brought by boat. Indonesia has floating libraries that bring books to villages along the rivers. Horses and motorcycles are the librarians in Mongolia. Children in Pakistan have books delivered by a double-decker bus named Storyteller. In Papua New Guinea some villages have no roads or schools, but a four-wheel drive truck still manages to bring boxes of books deep enough into the jungle that they can be carried on villagers shoulders the rest of the way. Peruvians and Zimbabwans gets their books delivered by donkey cart, and in Thailand the librarian is an elephant. Author Margriet Ruurs devotes a two-page spread to each country included; using a blend of text and large colorful photographs to demonstrate what wonders can be accomplished when the desire to provide and read books is involved. One look at the cover photograph of a boy sitting on a camel, comfortably wedged between the camel's humps, engrossed in a book; and children ages 7 to 10 will want to look at this captivating compilation over and over.

THE POET SLAVE OF CUBA by Margarita Engle

Engle, Margarita. The Poet Slave of Cuba: a Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2006.



Born a slave in 1797 Cuba, Juan Francisco Manzano can neither read nor write. He can however, from a very young age, memorize and recite anything and everything he hears. His talents amaze the upper class ladies whom he calls the ghosts,

"The ghostly ladies masked and hidden

inside their casings of eggshell-and-rice powder

so no one can tell

if they are dark too."

he becomes the pet of his owner Dona Beatriz; accompanying her to the theatre and parties. He entertains the nobility with his recitations, secretly teaches himself to read and write, and begins to write his own poetry. Granted his freedom when Dona Beatriz dies, his freedom is snatched away by another noble woman, La Marquesa De Prado Ameno, who despises Juan for his gifts and tortures him in an attempt to silence him.

" I have to tell the overseers to teach

the same lessons

over and over

locking his ankles in the stocks

tying him to a cross like Jesus.

Or tying him to a ladder laid out on the ground

face down, mouth down

so he cannot speak

except to count his own lashes out loud."

Winner of the 2008 Pura Belpre medal for narrative The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano tells the timeless tale of the power of poetry to sustain and the human spirit's triumph over evil. Despite cruelty and injustice, Juan Manzano's belief in the power of kindness shines through Margarita Engle's free verse. The story of Juan's life flows down the pages, soft and smooth, while, courtesy of illustrator Sean Qualls black-and-white sketches, the faces of his torturers hover hauntingly in the background. Teens 6th grade and up will be inspired by the story of Juan Manzano and, perhaps, think to treat their fellow humans just a little better in his memory.

CHARLOTTE'S WEB by E. B. White

White, E.B. Charlotte's Web. New York: HarperCollins, 1952.

"Where's Papa going with that ax?" With this statement eight-year-old Fern Arable saves Wilbur the pig's life. Happy to be alive, living in the barn, eating slops, and talking with the geese, the sheep, Templeton the rat, and Fern; Wilbur soon learns his life is again in danger; as he is to be the main course for Christmas dinner. Fern cannot save him this time, but Charlotte can. Charlotte A. Cavatica, the web-spinning, blood-drinking spider who becomes Wilbur's best friend and, like Fern, saves Wilbur's life. First published in 1952 Charlotte's Web was one of my favorite books as a child. Although I have not read it for 30 years, Charotte is still one of my favorite heroines. Charlotte, with her bravery, kindness, intelligence, and determination to save Wilbur, is the reason I appreciate spiders. Garth Williams pencil illustrations of farm life and E.B. White's slow-paced, bucolic writing evoke a less-hurried, uncomplicated era when there was time to swing on a rope hung from the barn loft and friendship could develop between a spider and a pig.

THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT by Beatrix Potter

Potter, Beatrix. The Tale of Peter Rabbit. London: Penguin, 1992.


Peter and his sisters Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail "lived with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big fir-tree." Taking up her basket and umbrella as she set out for the baker's one morning Mother Rabbit instructs Peter and his sisters to go "into the fields or down the lane" but not into Mr. McGregor's garden. Tragedy, she warns them, had befallen their Father in Mr. McGregor's garden; at the hands of Mr. McGregor himself. Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail hurried down the lane to pick blackberries, but Peter, "who was very naughty," headed straight for Mr. McGregor's garden. Peter enjoys himself immensely until, coming "round the end of a cucumber frame, whom should he meet but Mr. McGregor!" And so begins what is to be the most terrifying day of Peter's life. First published in 1902 Beatrix Potter's tale of the naughty bunny who does not listen to his Mother still has the ability to charm. Her gentle prose takes us from the terror and excitement of Peter's desperate attempts to escape Mr. McGregor, to his complete exhaustion and he flops down "on the nice soft sand on the floor of the rabbit-hole." Miss Potter's pen and ink, hand-tinted illustrations capture Peter's mischevious intent as well as his terror. This cautionary tale of what happens when you do not listen to your Mother still has the ability to resonate with children today.

LIBRARY LION by Michelle Knudsen

Knudson, Michelle. Library Lion. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2006.

The public library is, as we all know, a place where everyone-err everything- is welcomed so long as the rules are followed. Imagine, however, that one day a lion walked up the steps of the library and, "wandered all around the library. He sniffed the card catalog. He rubbed his head against the new book collection. Then he padded over to the story corner and went to sleep. No one was sure what to do. There weren't any rules about lions in the library." There are not any rules about a lion at story hour either and this lion is a lover of stories who protests with a loud and sustained roar when story hour ends. Unfortunately for the lion, roaring in the library IS against the rules. Told he must leave if he cannot be quite, the children beg the librarian to give the lion the chance to return the next day and follow the rules. Will the lion be able to follow the rules? Can he refrain from roaring when story hour ends? Will he, despite the consequences, do the right thing when tragedy strikes? Readers from preschool through second-grade will identify with the helpful, story-loving lion as he does his best to follow all the rules while exploring the library. Watching him pad softly through Kevin Hawkes warm and funny acrylic and pencil illustrations will make us all wish for a library lion of our own; to help us reach the top shelves and rest our backs against as we thumb drowsily through the lastest edition of Cricket magazine.