Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz

As is often the case with Newbery Award winners (in my opinion), this book has great literary value, but won't appeal to kids, at least not as pleasure reading. I quite enjoyed the book, but Laura (age 11) took one look at it, and said, "That looks boring!"

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! was written by a librarian to accompany a unit on the middle ages at her school. The kids were doing all sorts of projects, and she wanted to contribute something they could perform. The result was a series of mostly monologues, each one by a different resident of a medieval village. My favorite pieces in the book, though, were the 2 pieces that were intended for 2 actors.

Reading this book was one thing, seeing it performed would be another altogether. I think my daughter would have a different opinion entirely if she took the book in the vein in which it was intended, that of performance art.

Other reviews:
the hidden side of the leaf

5 comments:

Debi said...

Wow, this sounds really different, but in a fun way. I'm not sure, but I think my daughter might really like this one.

Somer said...

You'll have to let me know if Annie likes it!

Shelley said...

Your comment about Newbery winners is so true! I have heard great things about this one (from adults!)

Maw Books said...

I wasn't anticipating enjoying this book because the cover looked so boring! I certainly wouldn't have given it a chance as a kid. I ended up enjoying it but it wasn't the best Newbery I've read.

Dewey said...

I find it so curious that a book written to help teachers teach a certain topic ended up a Newbery winner!