Anno's Medieval World

by Mitsumasa Anno

Discusses how medieval people viewed the world before it was widely understood and accepted that the world is round and rotates around the sun.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Medieval, History, Medieval History, Science, Astronomy

49 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

His name is written as 安野光雅 in Japanese.

Mitsumasa Anno (born March 20, 1926) was a Japanese illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for picture books with few or no words. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1984 for his "lasting contribution to children's literature".

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this. An Anno book with text! But while the illustrations were very good, the story was terribly boring, not because of the subject matter, but just because he gets it so wrong: most people thought the world was flat, religion is mostly superstitious and science-denying, but then science saved us! Now we're not dumb or cruel anymore! Yay! Yawn.

It wasn't a waste of time to read it to Kate, though, because it provided an opportunity to talk about these ideas.

The author's note and chronology were interesting.

I'm writing on Book 8 of Milton's Paradise Lost at the moment (lots on astronomy at the beginning).

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading Anno books since my early childhood. But this was one I didn't know, and more surprising than that - it had text! My Anno books never had actual words in them...

As Anno says in his afterword, the title could well have been "How people living in the era of the Ptolemaic Theory saw their world". And I see why this one probably couldn't be done without some text. (My main feeling after reading through it the first time was "oh, if I knew more ancient history, I'm sure I'd see even more in this." Then I flipped the book over and re-read it, this time pretty much ignoring the text.)

The "Anno-figure" (if you've read his more common books you'll know what I mean) makes only one real appearance in this book, which is almost as odd as the text. In fact, he appears on the page where I finally noticed what was going on with the background - very clever. He then appears on the last few pages.

It's a beautifully drawn book. Everything made to look quite aged, and the pages just before and just after the endpapers are done beautifully subtly: at the beginning of the book, an angel is swinging the sun around the Earth: at the end, she now swings the Earth around the sun. I kind of wished there was more variety in the illuminated borders, but that's just because I wanted more designs to copy :-)

[Eyehavenofilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is decorated with Medieval type watercolors, so tiny but effective in expressing the tiny mindset of the people living at this tiome. The fera that surrounded them in their everyday lives ranged from, witches, the plague and falling off the end of the world.
When the world was flat ( oh yes it was common knowlwdge) one didnt necessarily want to inlist in any sailing venture.
But when tavelers can back from foreign lands describing riding on Camels or roofs made of gold, they were likly chased out of tone as either liars or possessed.
But these horrible rumour persisted and samples of food and materials started showing up, people began to wonder what was really out there, and how can we have it too. There was more to the world than the humble mans mind could imagine.
This is a cautionary tale, still relavent today, and if presented wisely it is a great lesson for us all.... we dont know weverything... and we arent even half a smart as were think we are!

[Terra Van Dorst · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mooi boek, geprobeerd om voor te lezen aan een kindje van drie, dat werkte niet helemaal. Gaat uit van een gedachtegoed waar ik zelf niet veel over weet, dus kan het haar dan ook niet (anders) uitleggen.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Explores how people in the Medieval world believed the earth was flat. It is accompanied by Mitsumasa Anno's illustrations. The illustrations are beautiful but the text is so so.

[Congetta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book as much as others. I wasn't even sure that I understood at first what the point of the book was. Reading the author's notes after helped, but I think it would have been more enjoyable if that was presented first. Though I was able to guess the people he was referring to while reading due to my partial knowledge of scientists, I don't think that this is a book most children would enjoy. There didn't seem to be a cohesive thread through the book and frankly it was too abstract and obscure to understand unless you were familiar with the people and time of history.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Rainbow: Rumpelstiltskin

This book had a really interesting beginning - talking of the everyday views of medieval folks - the mystery of the world (similar to stories we've read about the Winter Solstice.) But it branches off from there describing how ideas about the shape of the earth and position of sun/moon/earth changed over time. That was not really what I was expecting and I felt that part of the book was not well written - very choppy and repetitive. The illustrations we detailed and very interesting and beautiful, of course.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really close to a 5, because it was such a unique take on astronomy. Bringing in history and what it was like for the medieval people to accept new ideas is such a novel approach and Owen was instantly sucked in (me too!).

[Illey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was enjoyable. It really shows how people thought throughout time and how that affected one another. I wouod recommend this for higher grade levels, such as 4th or 5th grade.