Good masters! Sweet ladies! Voices from a medieval village

Review by New York Times Review

CAMELOT, it's not. Lowdy, for example, hates the fleas. The girl is not troubled by the lice "raising families in my hair" and doesn't really mind having to scrape the maggots off the cheese. But she helps her father, a varlet, tend the lord's dogs, and fleas are one of the occupational hazards. So she prays for relief: I itch in the cathedral When I pray upon my knees: God, You saved us from damnation; Now save us from the fleas! For the young people of Laura Amy Schlitz's new book, "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From a Medieval Village," life tends to be nasty, brutish and short. But young readers are also likely to find it engaging, affecting and occasionally giggle-worthy. Schlitz, whose first novel, "A Drowned Maiden's Hair," was warmly received last year, wrote "Good Masters" for her students at the Park School in Baltimore, where she is a librarian. They were studying the Middle Ages, with catapult experiments, herbology and manuscript illustration. In an introduction, she says she wrote the book because "I wanted them to have something to perform." In 19 monologues and two dialogues from youngsters of the village, set off by woodcuttish illustrations by Robert Byrd, the book serves up the year 1255 - lice, maggots and all. It's easy to imagine youngsters, especially those of a mordant stripe, taking these dark verses to heart and preparing their own classroom presentations. From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!" Schlitz is a talented storyteller. Her language is forceful, and learning slips in on the sly. She explains crop rotation through a boy who must plow the family fields after his father's death and who confesses puzzlement over the concept of a field laying fallow. "I don't know why the fields have the right to rest when people don't" The village is a fascinating place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there. "Aledrunk" fathers beat their families, and children beat each other. The lord controls the local economy so utterly that his subjects must grind their grain at the local miller, who takes the lord's cut and then subtracts his own, blending in chalk dust to make up the weight of the stolen flour. Otho, the miller's son, learns his father's ways, and his attitude as well. "It's hunger, want and wickedness/that makes the world go 'round," he says. His ambition is to grow up to be as wicked as dear old Dad, because that is the way of the world, a circle, like the miller's wheel, "and the wheel goes on forever." Another rogue's son plays his part in his father's holycures scams, tricking people into giving alms. He, too, asks God for aid: "Send us more fools," he asks, and "look after your foxes/as well as your sheep." It is bracing to see the Middle Ages without the rosy gloss many historical novels insist on bringing to the period. (Brief, easy-to-read footnotes and a bibliography give us some of Schlitz's sources for her gritty portrait of daily medieval life.) This village stinks of dung and is sharp with the bitterness of poverty, wickedness and loss. But there are flashes of goodness and warmth as well. The mother of a girl named Mogg saves the family's beloved cow from the clutches of a lord through cleverness born of desperation. Jack, Mogg's half-wit brother, shows kindness to the hated Otho after the miller's son takes a beating, and they cry together. The pathetic scene, and Jack's belief that Otho shows his friendship by no longer joining in the other boys' taunts of "Lack-a-wit/Numb-skull/Mooncalf/Fool," could even bring a lump to a grown-up's throat. John Schwartz, a reporter at The Times, writes about science and technology.

Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]

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Review by Booklist Review

*Starred Review* The author of A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama (2006), Schlitz turns to a completely different kind of storytelling here. Using a series of interconnected monologues and dialogues featuring young people living in and around an English manor in 1255, she offers first-person character sketches that build upon each other to create a finer understanding of medieval life. The book was inspired by the necessity of creating a play suitable for a classroom where no one wanted a small part. Each of the 23 characters (between 10 and 15 years old) has a distinct personality and a societal role revealed not by recitation of facts but by revelation of memories, intentions, and attitudes. Sometimes in prose and more often in one of several verse forms, the writing varies nicely from one entry to the next. Historical notes appear in the vertical margins, and some double-page spreads carry short essays on topics related to individual narratives, such as falconry, the Crusades, and Jews in medieval society. Although often the characters' specific concerns are very much of their time, their outlooks and emotional states will be familiar to young people today. Reminiscent of medieval art, Byrd's lively ink drawings, tinted with watercolors, are a handsome addition to this well-designed book. This unusually fine collection of related monologues and dialogues promises to be a rewarding choice for performance or for reading aloud in the classroom.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2007 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Schlitz (The Hero Schliemann ) wrote these 22 brief monologues to be performed by students at the school where she is a librarian; here, bolstered by lively asides and unobtrusive notes, and illuminated by Byrd's (Leonardo, Beautiful Dreamer) stunningly atmospheric watercolors, they bring to life a prototypical English village in 1255. Adopting both prose and verse, the speakers, all young, range from the half-wit to the lord's daughter, who explains her privileged status as the will of God. The doctor's son shows off his skills ("Ordinary sores/ Will heal with comfrey, or the white of an egg,/ An eel skin takes the cramping from a leg"); a runaway villein (whose life belongs to the lord of his manor) hopes for freedom after a year and a day in the village, if only he can calculate the passage of time; an eel-catcher describes her rough infancy: her "starving poor [father] took me up to drown in a bucket of water." (He relents at the sight of her "wee fingers" grasping at the sides of the bucket.) Byrd, basing his work on a 13th-century German manuscript, supplies the first page of each speaker's text with a tone-on-tone patterned border overset with a square miniature. Larger watercolors, some with more intricate borders, accompany explanatory text for added verve. The artist does not channel a medieval style; rather, he mutes his palette and angles some lines to hint at the period, but his use of cross-hatching and his mostly realistic renderings specifically welcome a contemporary readership. Ages 10-up. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-8-Couplets, blank verse, and prose bring children living in a medieval village in 1255 to life in this Newbery Medal-winning book (Candlewick, 2007) by Laura Amy Schlitz. Schlitz created these monologues for 23 characters, ranging in age between 10 and 15, to be performed by the students at the school where she is the librarian. A full cast of narrators do an exceptional job of distinguishing the different characters: the nephew of the Lord, a half-wit, a shepherdess, the blacksmith's daughter, a runaway villain, and others. Along the way, the host steps in and provides more in-depth explanations about topics such as pilgrimages, crusades, falconry, feudal land laws, and Jews in medieval society. The language is lyrical and the separate stories mesh to provide a rich picture of medieval life. Listeners will be drawn in and sympathize with the many different points of view that are offered. Robert Byrd's watercolor-tinted ink drawings add to the telling and will give teachers ideas for costumes. Youngsters who enjoy historical fiction will be enchanted. Drama, social studies, and English teachers will find multiple uses for this audio version. This performance breathes life into the print version and should be considered an essential purchase.-Tricia Melgaard, Centennial Middle School, Broken Arrow, OK (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Horn Book Review

(Intermediate) Schlitz gives teachers a refreshing option for enhancing the study of the European Middle Ages: here are seventeen monologues and two dialogues that collectively create a portrait of life on an English manor in 1255. A plowboy, a knight's son, and a sniggler (eel-catcher), among other boys and girls ages ten to fifteen, say their pieces. Rhythm and style vary to suit each role, from breathless, thrusting phrases as a knight's son describes a boar hunt to the lighthearted rhyming of a shamelessly dishonest miller boy. Schlitz conveys information about class, attitudes, and social practices through the monologues, footnote-like sidebars, and six spreads titled ""A Little Background"" that offer fuller explanations of farming practices, the Crusades, falconry, and more. Schlitz acknowledges some of the nastier aspects of this oft-romanticized period (such as its persecution of Jews), but in gentle, moderate language. Byrd's pristine, elegant pen-and-ink illustrations in opulent colors make the book almost too visually appealing, belying the realistically dirty, stinky conditions described in the text. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Schlitz takes the breath away with unabashed excellence in every direction. This wonderfully designed and produced volume contains 17 monologues for readers ten to 15, each in the voice of a character from an English town in 1255. Some are in verse; some in prose; all are interconnected. The language is rich, sinewy, romantic and plainspoken. Readers will immediately cotton to Taggot, the blacksmith's daughter, who is big and strong and plain, and is undone by the sprig of hawthorn a lord's nephew leaves on her anvil. Isobel the lord's daughter doesn't understand why the peasants throw mud at her silks, but readers will: Barbary, exhausted from caring for the baby twins with her stepmother who is pregnant again, flings the muck in frustration. Two sisters speak in tandem, as do a Jew and a Christian, who marvel in parallel at their joy in skipping stones on water. Double-page spreads called "A little background" offer lively information about falconry, The Crusades, pilgrimages and the like. Byrd's watercolor-and-ink pictures add lovely texture and evoke medieval illustration without aping it. Brilliant in every way. (foreword, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-15) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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NELLY THE SNIGGLER I was born lucky. Nay, not born lucky, as you shall hear - but lucky soon after and ever after. My father and mother were starving poor, and dreaded another mouth to feed. When my father saw I was a girl-child, he took me up to drown in a bucket of water. But here's the lucky part - and 'tis pure sooth. I didn't drown, babe though I was. I took hold with my wee fingers and held to the side of the bucket (1). And my mother wept, and my father's heart went soft, and he could no more drown me than himself-and they named me Nelly, for Queen Eleanor (2). And their luck changed. First my uncle died of the scurvy and we got his pigs. Then the nuns at the abbey hired us to catch eels - and we've been sniggling ever since (3). Do you see these eels? Fresher than the day they were born - and fat as priests. I know where their burrows are, and I know what they like for bait. And as for frogs - I've been catching frogs since I was two years old; there's not a frog in Christendom jumps fast enough to get away from me - and I can swim as fast as any boy - and better than Drogo, the tanner! Do you know Drogo, the tanner's apprentice? I can't point him out to you, because he'd see me. He's always staring at me. Many's the time I've seen him peel off his hose to show me his legs - as if every frog I've ever put into a pie didn't have better legs than his! We had a brawl last summer. I said 'twas the fault of the tanners that the river stank, and he said 'twas the fishmongers. Which is pure folly: 'tis surely God's will that fish should rot in the water, but the beasts should rot on the land. I put out my tongue, and by Saint Peter (4), he pushed me right off the wharf into the water. And then, poor fool, he thought I would drown - I, who couldn't drown when I was three hours old! He splashed in after me, and I dove down deep and grabbed his foot - and I ducked him three times, and serve him right. Only then I had to drag him out of the water - because it turns out, he can't swim! So I suppose you could say I saved his life. He's never forgotten it. He watches me all the time - and shows off his legs. But I don't speak to him; I want nothing to do with him and his legs. I pretend I don't even know his name - and every day I walk past the tannery, just so he can see me not looking his way. **************** 1. Newborn babies have strong fngers and an instinct to hold on. The story about a baby catching hold of the bucket in which her father meant to drown her is true. The original plucky newborn was a woman named Liafburga, who lived around 700 a.d. (G.G. Coulton, The Medieval Village) 2 Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) was a legend in her own time. 3 A sniggler is a person who catches eels by dangling bait into their holes in the riverbank. Frogs and eels were desirable sources of protein during the Middle Ages. 4 Saint Peter was the patron saint of fishermen. DROGO, THE TANNER'S APPRENTICE I don't mind the stink- I grew up with it, being the son of a butcher. Dead things stink; that's the will of God, and tanners (1) make good money. I don't mind the work- digging the pits grinding the oak bark smearing the hides with dung. Work is work. I like bread in my belly and ale in my cup. I do mind the jeering of Nelly the sniggler- her tongue could scrape the hair off a hide! And I mind the townsmen nattering on, saying we foul the waters (2). By Saint Bartholomew (3), think'st thou a man can make leather without filth? Alum, lime, oak galls, urine, ashes, tallow, and stale beer- these are the tools of my trade. Would you warm your hands in leather gloves? Saddle or bridle your horse? Do you dance to the sound of the bagpipes, or lace up the cords of your armor? What about the bellows, heating the forge? It's leather - stinking leather! Do you want good shoes or don't you? So be it. Now, let me get on with my scraper and dung. You hold your nostrils - and hold your tongue. **************** 1 A tanner is someone who cures animal hides to make leather. 2 Polluted waters are not just a contemporary problem. Almost everything that tanners used was poisonous. People like fishermen and brewers, who needed the rivers to be clean, were always at war with the tanners. 3 Saint Bartholomew, who was skinned to death, was the patron saint of tanners. The logic of this is macabre, but not unique. Saint Sebastian, who was shot full of arrows, is the patron saint of archers; Saint Laurence, who was roasted alive, is the patron saint of cooks. We won't even talk about what happened to Saint Erasmus - it's too disgusting. ___________ Excerpted from Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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