Knights and Castles

by Seymour Simon

Provides an introduction to the medieval castle, its layout, and the lifestyle of its defenders.

Genres: Picture Books, History

40 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Seymour Simon, whom the NY Times called "the dean of [children's science:] writers," is the author of more than 250 highly acclaimed science books (many of which have been named Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children by the National Science Teachers Association).

Seymour Simon uses his website, SeymourSimon.com, to provide free downloads of a wealth of materials for educators, homeschoolers and parents to use with his books, including 4-page Teacher Guides for all 26 of his Collins/Smithsonian photo essay books. The site provides multiple resources for kids writing book reports or wanting to explore the online Science Dictionary, and also features the Seymour Science blog highlighting current science news. Educators and families are encouraged to sign up to receive the monthly newsletter from SeymourSimon.com to stay abreast of the latest materials that Seymour Simon is introducing to enrich the reading experience.

He taught science and creative writing in elementary and secondary schools and was chair of the science department at a junior high school in the New York City public school system before leaving to become a full-time writer. "I haven't really given up teaching," he says, "and I suppose I never will, not as long as I keep writing and talking to kids around the country and the world."

Seymour Simon is also a creator and the author of a series of 3D books and a series of Glow-in-the-Dark Books for Scholastic Book Clubs, a series of leveled SEEMORE READERS for Chronicle Books, and the EINSTEIN ANDERSON, SCIENCE DETECTIVE series of fiction books. His books encourage children to enjoy the world around them through learning and discovery, and by making science fun. He has introduced tens of millions of children to a staggering array of subjects; one prominent science education specialist described Simon's books as "extraordinary examples of expository prose."

Seymour Simon has been honored with many awards for his work, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Lifetime Achievement Award for his lasting contribution to children's science literature; the New York State Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature; the Hope S. Dean Memorial Award from the Boston Public Library for his contribution to children's science literature; The Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for Non-fiction; the Jeremiah Ludington Award for his outstanding contribution to children's nonfiction; the Empire State Award for excellence in literature for young people; and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Forum on Children's Science Books.

In a recent interview Simon was asked if he ever thinks of retiring. "I seem to be working faster and harder than ever. I absolutely don't feel any urge to sit back and look at what I've done. The only things that I'm thinking about are things I'd like to do in the future. I'm planning and doing and continuing to write. It's what I love to do. I remember a story about an anthropologist going to talk to a tribe and he asked them what was their word for "work." Their response was they have no word for work. Everybody does the things that they do in their life. I love that response. I don't differentiate between work and play. Everything I do is something that I enjoy doing - the writing, the research and everything else."

Seymour Simon writes and photographs nature from his hilltop home in Columbia County in upstate New York, where he lives with his wife Liz Nealon.

You can follow Seymour on Facebook and on Twitter, as well as on his website, which offers free, downloadable Teacher Guides to his books for educators, parents and homeschoolers, as well as the popular Seymour Science Daily Blo

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

So yes, the lack of a bibliography in Seymour Simon’s 2006 illustrated chapter book Knights and Castles does once again rather majorly annoy and frustrate me (and well, at the very least, the end pages of Knights and Castles should definitely be featuring a selection of relevant websites to consult). Because in my opinion and also according to general academics, in particular suggestions for further study and reading would certainly greatly increase both the teaching and learning values of Knights and Castles (and in particular because Seymour Simon’s featured textual information on knights, on Medieval armour and battles and on the castles knights and other noblemen and women tended to call home in the Middle Ages is by necessity simple in style and contents and might thus make interested young readers or listeners hungry for and desirous of more in-depth and nuanced facts and details).

But while I do think that Knights and Castles provides a simply penned and at the same time sufficiently educational general introduction to knighthood, Mediaeval practices of war and information about life in a Mediaeval castle (with bright accompanying photographs and suitable for child readers from about the ages of seven to nine, but yes, that beyond the latter age group, Seymour Simon’s text might well and indeed become just a trifle too lacking in depth and on the surface), I also cannot really recommend Knights and Castles without some problematic personal reservations. For aside from the non inclusion of bibliographic materials (and as already mentioned above), I also do think that even with Seymour Simon wanting to keep his text simple and uncomplicated, that for example the horses knights rode into battle during the Middle Ages often did not survive, were regularly fatally and horribly injured by lances, crossbows etc., in my humble opinion, this definitely should have been mentioned in Knights and Castles, as well as the author equally pointing out that while the nobility feasted in their great castle halls, the lives of their servants, of their feudal peasants, of simple men at arms, cooks and other castle labourers were generally harsh, mired in poverty and want and as such often woefully short.

And furthermore, even though knights were generally speaking of noble birth and that knighthood itself was also considered something to strive for, to achieve as a positive, well and personally speaking, I also believe that in Knights and Castles, Seymour Simon truly is textually just a wee bit too inherently optimistic and cheering regarding both knighthood and Mediaeval warfare, that Simon rather tends to ignore the human costs, namely that Mediaeval battles left many many knights grievously injured or dead, and indeed, that an injured knight or even a decommissioned knight returning to his home castle post hostilities, after a given war had ended, was sadly and unfortunately often destined to subsist in poverty and without compensation and support from his overlords, from his kings etc., and yes, that so called robber barons in fact were often knights being forced into a life of crime, into highway robbery in order to make ends meet (all less than stellar aspects of knighthood and the Middle Ages in general, and their general omission in Knights and Castles does make me consider Seymour Simon’s text just a bit too positively and glorifyingly penned with regard to knighthood, castles and Mediaeval life, and to tell the truth, I actually do also think that my three star rating for Knights and Castles is me being rather generous).

[What April's Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple, beginner level information on castles and knights.

[Rion · Rating 5 out of 5]

it’s about knights ?? and it gave me free trading cards of course I’m giving the children’s book that I read half awake in eight minutes five stars