Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village

I feared this would be a dry and boring bit of historical fiction, but a series of monologues and dialogues weave interconnected vignettes that give an engaging cross-section portrait of life for children in a medieval village.

We're not only educated as to what types of jobs and roles the kids would have in their village, but drawn into the drama of how they might have felt about their lot in life and what they did when they were unhappy about it.

Winner of the 2008 Newbery Medal, “Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!” is a middle-grade collection of 21 short monologues and dialogues -- poetry and prose -- written in the voices of kids in and around a 1255 English manor.

Each child is tagged with a role in the manor’s society or trades (for example, the Lord’s daughter, the miller’s son), but each also illustrates what it’s like to conquer a fear, or lose a parent, or be an outcast, or be heavy with responsibility ... or feel the first stirrings of romance. The stories pulse with tension and emotion, and build beautifully as the various characters sometimes echo one other, sometimes contrast. Robert Byrd's illustrations enhance the narratives, and the author uses footnotes and show more intermissions to supply bits of medieval history; she also provides a 54-item bibliography.

A terrific book, highly recommended. I read a library copy but wish I’d bought it so I could re-read these tender vignettes. show less

A collection of short one-person plays featuring characters between ten and fifteen years old, who live in or near a thirteenth-century English manor.

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.

I realized recently that I've gotten out of touch with children's books in recent years, so I decided my new project would be reading the Newbery Medal and Honor Books in reverse order, starting with this year's winners. After just the first book, I knew this had been a good idea.

The author teaches in what sounds like a really neat school, where the kids were studying the Middle Ages. She wrote these dramatic monologues (a few are parallel monologues for two actors) featuring the young inhabitants of a medieval village, so that each child could be the star of a playlet. The book also includes sidenotes and occasional two-page essays on aspects of medieval life. Schlitz doesn't sugarcoat some of the more repellent features of the Middle show more Ages, but her characters have a universality that would help young readers and actors see what they and the medieval young people have in common. This was a really good choice for the medal, and different when compared to the usual novel or occasional non-fiction title. Although, in theory, illustrations are not considered as part of the judging process (there's the Caldecott Medal for that), Robert Byrd's illustrations are an integral part of this book and have a lovely medieval feel to them. I would recommend this for teachers, home-schoolers, and anyone old or young who's interested in the period. show less

This collection of monologues (and a couple of dialogues) introduces readers to medieval life, from the son of a knight, to the daughter of a villein who tends his hounds. It's a fantastic educational tool, meant to be used in a classroom setting. I can see why it won the Newbery when it first came out -- the writing is terrific, and the last line of the last monologue is just perfection. I'd love to direct a group of children presenting this. Recommended to those who have an interest in the medieval, particularly if they enjoy books like The Inquisitor's Tale or The Midwife's Apprentice.

Written for a group of middle school students with both verse and expository passages, these Canterbury Tales for ‘tweens beg to be read aloud! Schlitz’s characters, from all social strata, exude personality as well as reflect their station in medieval society. Chaucer would approve!

The book opens with Byrd’s illustration of the Medieval manor and places the characters in the scene. Byrd’s illustrations strengthen the setting and add humor to the story.

What do you do if every child wants to have a starring role in the school play? If you are Laura Schlitz, you write nineteen monologues and two dialogues set in a medieval village, so that everyone gets a strong character to develop. The series of miniature plays is historically accurate and effective read silently or aloud. The voices of the characters, aged eleven to fifteen, come through clearly, as does the time period, without overly ornate language. Byrd’s manuscript-like illustrations add to the historical feel, while helpful side notes explain words and concepts that readers may be unfamiliar with. Short historical notes (one to two pages) are interspersed with the plays and give readers further information about topics within show more the plays, such as the three-field crop rotation system and falconry. A valuable addition to school and public libraries, stronger readers might want to read the entire book, while less able readers could be given single monologues to develop. Class plays could be performed from the book, but students might also write their own medieval monologue, or continue the story of a character from the book. A strong bibliography is given at the end of the book, though some sources may be better for teachers than for students. Strongly recommended. show less