I picked this book up at the last library book sale mostly because the cover and title had mucho potential. It turned out to be a really sweet little book that reminds me a lot of The Secret Garden or Noel Streatfeild's books. It's an enjoyable read, with likable characters and a plot full of interesting medieval life.

Adam of the Road is a very well-written children's historical fiction novel; I didn't notice any historical inaccuracies that couldn't be reasonably explained away (unlike in Lake of Skulls) and there weren't any anachronisms that I could spot (not even language!). The story itself is pretty typical 1940's children's tale: optimistic, upbeat despite all the hardships the protagonist faces, and with a happy family-related ending.

One of my favorite cliches in children's books is how the protagonist always seems to run into these fantastically nice people who want to help them accomplish whatever it is the protagonist wants to do. Need to cross a river? Take my seat, young sir! Lost your dog and father? Come travel with me on my dime and we'll search for them together-- and I won't even ask you for anything in return! It's very sweet and optimistic, and I like that.

There are a few baddies, of course, including one minstrel who steals Adam's dog and another group who resort to theft in order to feed themselves, but they're never any really big threat to Adam himself. Instead, I think they're more used as a moral, uh, thingy, prodding Adam further along on his path to be a Good Person, etc.

I'm not surprised that Adam of the Road won a Newbery Medal. It's wonderful! If you (or a kid you know) like historical fiction, especially children's historical fiction, check out Adam of the Road

[Originally published at birdbrainbb.net] ( )

"A road's a kind of holy thing..."

Adam of the Road is a 1942 Newbery Honor book, and tells the story of a young boy in thirteenth-century England. While travelling with his minstrel father Roger, Adam becomes separated from Roger and from his beloved dog Nick, and spends the rest of the story searching for them. His adventures give the reader a taste of a wide variety of professions and lifestyles in medieval England. We follow Adam as he sings in great houses, works as a farmer's boy, falls in with the wrong kind of minstrels, is robbed by bandits, visits St. Giles's Fair, watches a mystery play, sees life at the University, and more.

Twining his experiences together are Adam's songs and tales that he tells as a minstrel. He wants to be a minstrel like his father, and learns one of his father's primary lessons as he travels: he must learn to fit his song to his audience. Along the way he also starts maturing as a person.

This is a somewhat sanitized version of the Middle Ages. Gray mentions how Adam's father Roger avoids all the rude and crass fabliaux that characterized many minstrels of the time, instead preferring the French romances about courtly love and heroism. As he travels, Adam finds that people are generally kind and even the poorest will take you in for a meal and bandage up your head after you fall. I did like how Adam never does get his harp back the last time, and has to learn to play the bagpipes instead (which is hardly ideal for a minstrel who plays to accompany himself singing).

For the most part, the crueler aspects of medieval life are muted. There was a moment when Adam wonders if a noblewoman destined for an arranged marriage wants to marry the knight her father has chosen, and another boy says that she's just a girl and has to obey. Adam compares this to the tales of courtly love and honor paid to ladies in the romances, and wonders how the two ideas can coexist. But it is just a passing thought and never takes over the story (as in some agenda-driven tales). Perhaps it is not so much that the medieval world was idealized, but that we are seeing it through the eyes of an eleven-year-old boy. He probably wouldn't understand all the crass or harsher parts of life, and so for him they did not exist.

There are several loose ends left at the story's conclusion. We never get back to Jill and John Ferryman. What happens to Agnes and Margery? Why doesn't Jankin get a better comeuppance? What is Squire Simon's fate, and is Emilie happy in her arranged marriage? I guess this is true to life... we touch so many people in passing and never learn what becomes of them in later life.

This is a well-written story and I recommend it. ( )

I checked this book out from the library, not remembering until the middle of the book that I had actually read it before about a year earlier. It is possible I didn't read it carefully, but my impression was that it simply wasn't a memorable book. Not a book I'd make required reading, but certainly a good one to have on a bookshelf. for an interested child.

Adam is the son of a minstrel, and a proud son at that. When his father picks him up from a boarding school, he learns what being a minstrel is really all about. There are several adventures big and small, including having his best companion, a red spaniel named Nick, stolen; then losing his father. Along the way, Adam learns why the road is considered a minstrel's only true home. He also discovers that it is the only true path for him.

What I really liked about this book was that Adam holds on to that childlike belief in the goodness of the world no matter what happens to him. He meets some dastardly characters but he spends more time thinking about those he meets that are good and kind. Also, it is told from Adam's perspective in just the way a child looks at the world. What I mean is that he sees people with flaws, like his father gambling his earnings away in one night, but he doesn't judge them. He still admires his father but he sees firsthand why it is said that cards are the minstrel's downfall. The reader feels certain that Adam, as well as his remorseful father, has learned a valuable lesson that he will never forget.

Unfortunately, the story didn't feel like a must-read. It was good but not fantastic. It would work well for a child studying about that time period or might appeal to a child that dreams about going out on his own but it was not one I will likely read again because of a low interest level.

http://educatingpetunia.blogspot.com/... ( )