What do you think?
Rate this book
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From a Medieval Village
A medieval village is more than just lords and ladies. In this particular village there are also Nelly the Sniggler, Edgar the Falconer's son, Mogg--daughter of the town villein, and the town's resident half-wit. 2 sound discs (1 hr., 15 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in. Unabridged. Hugo, the Lord's nephew -- Taggot, the blacksmith's daughter -- Will, the plowboy -- Alice, the shepherdess -- Thomas, the doctor's son -- Constance, the pilgrim -- Mogg, the villein's daughter -- Otho, the miller's son -- Jack, the half-wit -- Simon, the knight's son -- Edgar, the falconer's son -- Isobel, the lord's daughter -- Barbary, the mud slinger -- Jacob Ben Salomon, the moneylender's son and Petronella, the merchant's daughter -- Lowdy, the varlet's child -- Pask, the runaway -- Piers, the glassblower's apprentice -- Mariot and Maud, the glassblower's daughters -- Nelly, the sniggler -- Drogo, the tanner's apprentice -- Giles, the beggar.
Audio CD
First published July 24, 2007
87 people are currently reading
7226 people want to read
About the author
Laura Amy Schlitz
20 books518 followersLaura Amy Schlitz is an American author of children's literature. She is a librarian and storyteller at The Park School in Brooklandville, Maryland.
She received the 2008 Newbery Medal for her children's book entitled Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village,[1] and the 2013 Newbery Honor for her children's book, Splendors and Glooms.[2] She also won the 2016 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, the 2016 National Jewish Book Award, and the Sydney Taylor Book Award for her young adult book, The Hired Girl. Her other published books are The Hero Schliemann: The Dreamer Who Dug For Troy (2006), A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama (2006), which won a Cybils Award that year, The Bearskinner: A Tale of the Brothers Grimm (2007), The Night Fairy (2010).
Schlitz attended Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, and graduated in 1977.
She received the 2008 Newbery Medal for her children's book entitled Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village,[1] and the 2013 Newbery Honor for her children's book, Splendors and Glooms.[2] She also won the 2016 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, the 2016 National Jewish Book Award, and the Sydney Taylor Book Award for her young adult book, The Hired Girl. Her other published books are The Hero Schliemann: The Dreamer Who Dug For Troy (2006), A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama (2006), which won a Cybils Award that year, The Bearskinner: A Tale of the Brothers Grimm (2007), The Night Fairy (2010).
Schlitz attended Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, and graduated in 1977.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,160 reviews
September 1, 2021
this was a lot more fun that i thought it would be. it's written to be performed by children, as a series of monologues, mostly, so everyone gets a nice part and no one has to be the tree or the rock or anything. so if you have 17 or so kids (jen, i'm looking at you), you can perform this in the privacy of your own home or take to the streets and entertain the whole neighborhood. i actually learned a few things about daily life in medieval times, and selected a part for myself (barbary, the mud slinger), should an 8-year-old become ill or stage-frighted. fingers crossed for stardom...
come to my blog!
come to my blog! 
January 27, 2008
I'll probably get comments from strangers on this, demanding I explain myself.
I don't think this should have gotten the Newbery medal.
I know I've ranted about the Newbery committee in the past, how they pick feel-good books with more emotional growth than plot development. And I know that the Newbery medal is for excellence in writing in children's books, not for engrossing material that kids will eat up with spoons. But they consistently choose books with more adult appeal than kid-appeal, books that well-meaning adults praise as "brilliant" or "insightful" while the intended audience (kids) is bored silly, and this is another of those books.
It's a good book, well-researched and presented in an engaging manner. The monologues and dialogues are a good way to introduce kids to medieval history. This isn't a book kids are going to stumble on and pick up as a pleasure read. It practically has "SCHOOL" written all over it. I think it's an excellent book to have in a school curriculum, and when the kids encounter it in history class, they'll really enjoy it. It is fairly dynamic, not the usual boring presentation of facts.
The writing is mostly okay--inconsistencies in style can be chalked up to different characters having different voices, but it's still jarring to have five or six voices in a row be in virtually indistinguishable verse, then switch to prose for one, then to rhyming verse. The sections in verse are a little clumsy; a stanza or two will be in a strict, regular iambic quadrameter, and then there's a line that's too short or too long, or stressed or unstressed in all the wrong places. It wouldn't trip the ear if not for the regularity of the rhythm preceding it.
Overall impressions: great book for school unit on medieval history. Excellent choice for facilitating class discussions, or for sparking an interest in further research in motivated students. Few kids will pick this up on their own, and for the ones that do, the uneven writing will discourage several from finishing.
3.5 stars, if I could.
I don't think this should have gotten the Newbery medal.
I know I've ranted about the Newbery committee in the past, how they pick feel-good books with more emotional growth than plot development. And I know that the Newbery medal is for excellence in writing in children's books, not for engrossing material that kids will eat up with spoons. But they consistently choose books with more adult appeal than kid-appeal, books that well-meaning adults praise as "brilliant" or "insightful" while the intended audience (kids) is bored silly, and this is another of those books.
It's a good book, well-researched and presented in an engaging manner. The monologues and dialogues are a good way to introduce kids to medieval history. This isn't a book kids are going to stumble on and pick up as a pleasure read. It practically has "SCHOOL" written all over it. I think it's an excellent book to have in a school curriculum, and when the kids encounter it in history class, they'll really enjoy it. It is fairly dynamic, not the usual boring presentation of facts.
The writing is mostly okay--inconsistencies in style can be chalked up to different characters having different voices, but it's still jarring to have five or six voices in a row be in virtually indistinguishable verse, then switch to prose for one, then to rhyming verse. The sections in verse are a little clumsy; a stanza or two will be in a strict, regular iambic quadrameter, and then there's a line that's too short or too long, or stressed or unstressed in all the wrong places. It wouldn't trip the ear if not for the regularity of the rhythm preceding it.
Overall impressions: great book for school unit on medieval history. Excellent choice for facilitating class discussions, or for sparking an interest in further research in motivated students. Few kids will pick this up on their own, and for the ones that do, the uneven writing will discourage several from finishing.
3.5 stars, if I could.
April 24, 2017
A nice play for Middle School students reflecting on different aspects of the Middle Ages. Diverse angles of medieval society are adequately shown and leave enough room for interpretation and in-depth studies.
Good background information between the acts clarifies the context for young readers.
Enjoyable read and perfect basis for school performances and dramatised, interactive history classes.
Good background information between the acts clarifies the context for young readers.
Enjoyable read and perfect basis for school performances and dramatised, interactive history classes.
February 24, 2013
Good lord! Sweet jesus!
The seventeen short skits of varying quality herein were created for school children...well specifically for one of those private schools with "The" before its name. You know, the ritzy titzy kind were it's a-okay if little Johnny skips his other classes for the rest of the day because he refuses to leave off the catapult-esque contraption he's working on for Ms. Schlitz's project on the Middle Ages. And when he fires rocks at the girls and breaks a window he is not suspended or even given the slightest reprimand. Yes, the kind of school I wished I'd gone to... (sad Jay face)
Because the skits were created to be performed by students, the characters telling their tales are generally - though not entirely - young. There's plenty of sons and daughters of tradesmen, craftsmen, farmers, minor lords, and beggars, or barring that, they tend to be apprentices. The knowledge imparted, such as crop rotation, is the sparest summary of the basic sort of stuff you'd learn in an introductory history course for the time period. I have no complaints about this and only mention it so you're aware that Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! was created for the pre-highschool age. For instance, one skit does touch - and in a quite touching way - on the hardships of motherhood amongst the poorer classes but without delving into the graphic details of childbirth.
And now here are the complaints...
So apparently Medieval folk were very poetic. Even peasants were writing rhyming verse? Some of these lowly, uneducated folk can really string together some clever lines! Ridiculous. Another issue is that Schlitz (every time I write that I swear I can smell godawful stale beer) cheats. In order to make a point or relay information, she occasionally puts words into the mouths of people who'd never say them. It's especially noticeable in the upper class characters who essentially call themselves thieves, saying that they know they are cheating the peasants, when it's very likely they thought nothing of the kind, but rather that they were doing their duty as befit their rank. Taxation, for instance, was their right. Without that money how could they govern? It was the way of things and so why would they think any other way?
Aside from such complaints and my tepid 3 star rating, this is good for what it is. If you have a dozen or more kids you need to put on a play for or have a junior-high aged child you're home-schooling, this just might be what you're looking for.
The seventeen short skits of varying quality herein were created for school children...well specifically for one of those private schools with "The" before its name. You know, the ritzy titzy kind were it's a-okay if little Johnny skips his other classes for the rest of the day because he refuses to leave off the catapult-esque contraption he's working on for Ms. Schlitz's project on the Middle Ages. And when he fires rocks at the girls and breaks a window he is not suspended or even given the slightest reprimand. Yes, the kind of school I wished I'd gone to... (sad Jay face)
Because the skits were created to be performed by students, the characters telling their tales are generally - though not entirely - young. There's plenty of sons and daughters of tradesmen, craftsmen, farmers, minor lords, and beggars, or barring that, they tend to be apprentices. The knowledge imparted, such as crop rotation, is the sparest summary of the basic sort of stuff you'd learn in an introductory history course for the time period. I have no complaints about this and only mention it so you're aware that Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! was created for the pre-highschool age. For instance, one skit does touch - and in a quite touching way - on the hardships of motherhood amongst the poorer classes but without delving into the graphic details of childbirth.
And now here are the complaints...
So apparently Medieval folk were very poetic. Even peasants were writing rhyming verse? Some of these lowly, uneducated folk can really string together some clever lines! Ridiculous. Another issue is that Schlitz (every time I write that I swear I can smell godawful stale beer) cheats. In order to make a point or relay information, she occasionally puts words into the mouths of people who'd never say them. It's especially noticeable in the upper class characters who essentially call themselves thieves, saying that they know they are cheating the peasants, when it's very likely they thought nothing of the kind, but rather that they were doing their duty as befit their rank. Taxation, for instance, was their right. Without that money how could they govern? It was the way of things and so why would they think any other way?
Aside from such complaints and my tepid 3 star rating, this is good for what it is. If you have a dozen or more kids you need to put on a play for or have a junior-high aged child you're home-schooling, this just might be what you're looking for.
September 4, 2018
Okay, I admit it: When this won the Newbery I was SHOCKED. It's a what . . . ? About . . . what? I thought it was more of a textbook, and could not understand what the big deal was.
Aaaand now I do. Although, yes, the ideal use of it would be to assign parts to students and have them perform the pieces, you can actually read it straight through (as I did) and get a wonderful view of the social structure of a medieval village. Everyone from the lord's son to a beggar talks about their life, and it's fascinating. And beautiful. Poems, songs, stream of consciousness . . . there's even a couple of almost duets! Just lovely! And the book is fully illustrated, with a bibliography, footnotes, and several historical notes about the Crusades, falconry, etc.
Aaaand now I do. Although, yes, the ideal use of it would be to assign parts to students and have them perform the pieces, you can actually read it straight through (as I did) and get a wonderful view of the social structure of a medieval village. Everyone from the lord's son to a beggar talks about their life, and it's fascinating. And beautiful. Poems, songs, stream of consciousness . . . there's even a couple of almost duets! Just lovely! And the book is fully illustrated, with a bibliography, footnotes, and several historical notes about the Crusades, falconry, etc.
April 8, 2017
Do you chuckle at Chaucer? Have a secret compulsion to read Karen Cushman, even though you're all grown up?
If so, I think you'll relish every one of these diverse characters from medieval times.
If so, I think you'll relish every one of these diverse characters from medieval times.
September 16, 2008
It is not often that I find myself truly torn about a book's accolades. I find, however, that this is is true with Schlitz's 2008 Newbery winner, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
The book has numerous strengths. The art is reminiscent of medieval woodcuttings, and it is their simplicity that gives the collection of soliloquies a folksy, charming touch. It is not just the drawings that give the book its power. Schlitz has a wonderful sense of humor, as evidenced by the particularly amusing soliloquies of Lowdy (the varlet's child) and Mogg (the villein's daughter); additionally, the emotional range she expresses in verse is astounding. The story of Alice (the shepherdess) is a powerful ode to the connection humans feel to animals, and Schlitz masterfully captures the dueling waves of jealousy and guilt Barbary (the mudslinger) experiences. Furthermore, the historical notes peppered throughout the book are thoroughly intriguing and masterfully researched. (Librarians have a tendency toward exemplary research skills, and I applaud Schlitz for keeping the spirit alive.)
There are pitfalls, however, primarily in Schlitz's verse. Oftentimes her rhyming schemes are forced and jumbled, resulting in awkward phrasing that trips up the reader. The story of the aforementioned Lowdy, though amusing, is plagued by this problem as is the herky-jerky singsong of Otho (the miller's son). Additionally, Schlitz's ambition often gets the best of her, particularly in her dialogues, which come off as artsy and pretentious. It is hard to care about characters when their narratives overlap in convoluted and uneven tones that bury a message rather than bring it to light. Though well-intentioned, some of the monologues come across as preachy and bombastic in their language - certainly nothing that would attract children.
Which brings me to my final point, one that I'm sure is not novel in its criticism. Though it certainly has literary merit, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! is hardly deserving of the Newbery Medal, especially in a year that produced The Invention of Hugo Cabret and The Wednesday Wars. While Newbery Medals are not always awarded to books toward which children will clamor, they are awarded for strong writing. Schlitz, to some degree, has failed on both accounts. Yes, some of her monologues are excellent (and they're all well-researched), but they're not always well-written. In fact, some of them come across as being dashed off in a matter of minutes - I'm looking at YOU, Jack (the half-wit) and Piers (the glassblower).
This book is a hard sell for children, even those interested in medieval history. It would be a wonderful resource for history teachers to use in order to bring their subject to life, but a book that has great (or any) appeal to children? No, not at all.
The book has numerous strengths. The art is reminiscent of medieval woodcuttings, and it is their simplicity that gives the collection of soliloquies a folksy, charming touch. It is not just the drawings that give the book its power. Schlitz has a wonderful sense of humor, as evidenced by the particularly amusing soliloquies of Lowdy (the varlet's child) and Mogg (the villein's daughter); additionally, the emotional range she expresses in verse is astounding. The story of Alice (the shepherdess) is a powerful ode to the connection humans feel to animals, and Schlitz masterfully captures the dueling waves of jealousy and guilt Barbary (the mudslinger) experiences. Furthermore, the historical notes peppered throughout the book are thoroughly intriguing and masterfully researched. (Librarians have a tendency toward exemplary research skills, and I applaud Schlitz for keeping the spirit alive.)
There are pitfalls, however, primarily in Schlitz's verse. Oftentimes her rhyming schemes are forced and jumbled, resulting in awkward phrasing that trips up the reader. The story of the aforementioned Lowdy, though amusing, is plagued by this problem as is the herky-jerky singsong of Otho (the miller's son). Additionally, Schlitz's ambition often gets the best of her, particularly in her dialogues, which come off as artsy and pretentious. It is hard to care about characters when their narratives overlap in convoluted and uneven tones that bury a message rather than bring it to light. Though well-intentioned, some of the monologues come across as preachy and bombastic in their language - certainly nothing that would attract children.
Which brings me to my final point, one that I'm sure is not novel in its criticism. Though it certainly has literary merit, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! is hardly deserving of the Newbery Medal, especially in a year that produced The Invention of Hugo Cabret and The Wednesday Wars. While Newbery Medals are not always awarded to books toward which children will clamor, they are awarded for strong writing. Schlitz, to some degree, has failed on both accounts. Yes, some of her monologues are excellent (and they're all well-researched), but they're not always well-written. In fact, some of them come across as being dashed off in a matter of minutes - I'm looking at YOU, Jack (the half-wit) and Piers (the glassblower).
This book is a hard sell for children, even those interested in medieval history. It would be a wonderful resource for history teachers to use in order to bring their subject to life, but a book that has great (or any) appeal to children? No, not at all.
August 3, 2012
Here's the Newbery winner. It's a 4 star book. But what kid is going to WANT to read it?
Don't get me wrong. I'd have read it. But I was heavily into Eleanor of Aquitaine, Robin Hood and medieval history (still am) and lapped up anything I could get on the subject.
Most kids weren't and aren't on my wavelength.
It's a beautifully designed book. It's well researched--her period details are spot on. But I'm not sure about the language--I don't think there are clear differences between the vocabulary of the tutored knight's son and the girl whose father raises the knight's dogs--and the changes from rhyme to blank verse to simple dialog are distracting if you're reading this straight.
In sum, an excellent piece of non-fiction that will be used in schools, one that will be bought be a lot of libraries and kept on the shelf for a long time in libraries simply because it has that gold medal on the jacket. But I weep considering how many terrific novels that kids would read and LOVE got passed over for this admirable work.
Don't get me wrong. I'd have read it. But I was heavily into Eleanor of Aquitaine, Robin Hood and medieval history (still am) and lapped up anything I could get on the subject.
Most kids weren't and aren't on my wavelength.
It's a beautifully designed book. It's well researched--her period details are spot on. But I'm not sure about the language--I don't think there are clear differences between the vocabulary of the tutored knight's son and the girl whose father raises the knight's dogs--and the changes from rhyme to blank verse to simple dialog are distracting if you're reading this straight.
In sum, an excellent piece of non-fiction that will be used in schools, one that will be bought be a lot of libraries and kept on the shelf for a long time in libraries simply because it has that gold medal on the jacket. But I weep considering how many terrific novels that kids would read and LOVE got passed over for this admirable work.
January 17, 2008
Well this certainly deserved the Newbery Medal! Schlitz did a beautiful job of making the individual voices in the monologues and two dialogues sound true. Reading them all gives you a picture of what life was like for various classes of people in medieval times. The dialogues reminded me of Paul Fleischman's Joyful Noise, where sometimes the 2 people spoke together and sometimes they spoke alone. I like the concept of the book (monologues where every actor gets to be the star) and hope she writes more. Highly recommended!
March 27, 2019
Did I literally just purchase this book because the author happened to be on Wikipedia’s list of famous people with my birthday? Yes. Did it disappoint? No.
November 19, 2024
Excellent. Newbery Medal (2008)
September 7, 2025
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.
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.
April 16, 2012
First things first -- I listened to Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! as an audiobook. I'm trying to give audiobooks more of a try, and this one seemed like a good candidate, given that it's a set of dramatic monologues (and two dialogues), written specifically for performance. This proved to be a good choice. The cast (Christina Moore and several others) is excellent, and the production and incidental music is tasteful and professional. If you have the opportunity, I'd highly recommend giving it a listen.
As for the book itself, it's quite good at what it does. Laura Amy Schlitz wrote it to be performed by students in her class who were learning about the Middle Ages, and the brief dramatic pieces put a human face (or faces) on a time and place that's more than a little foreign to a modern reader. It's excellently researched, with extra notes where applicable, and the way that several of the stories intersect, with specific events narrated from the points of view of more than one character involved, is a nice touch.
It was something of a controversial Newbery choice, however, and looking back on it with four years of perspective, I remain unconvinced it was the right one. Several excellent books were published that year, the best of which aimed for something both more universal and more personal. Schlitz stated up front that her reason for creating the book in the first place was to avoid putting on a school play that only starred one or two children, and the result of that when taken as a whole is that it's pure tableau; there's no central character or group of characters to hold one's focus. It's egalitarian, and it allows for a broad survey of what was going on historically, but the structure makes the book somewhat difficult to engage with emotionally. The work fulfils its own ambitions, but it doesn't transcend them.
As for the book itself, it's quite good at what it does. Laura Amy Schlitz wrote it to be performed by students in her class who were learning about the Middle Ages, and the brief dramatic pieces put a human face (or faces) on a time and place that's more than a little foreign to a modern reader. It's excellently researched, with extra notes where applicable, and the way that several of the stories intersect, with specific events narrated from the points of view of more than one character involved, is a nice touch.
It was something of a controversial Newbery choice, however, and looking back on it with four years of perspective, I remain unconvinced it was the right one. Several excellent books were published that year, the best of which aimed for something both more universal and more personal. Schlitz stated up front that her reason for creating the book in the first place was to avoid putting on a school play that only starred one or two children, and the result of that when taken as a whole is that it's pure tableau; there's no central character or group of characters to hold one's focus. It's egalitarian, and it allows for a broad survey of what was going on historically, but the structure makes the book somewhat difficult to engage with emotionally. The work fulfils its own ambitions, but it doesn't transcend them.
February 11, 2021
Delightful.
About the text.
Short poetic speeches and dialogues tell the general life realities of people of the manor and its village. These speeches/dialogues can be read and presented. All the speeches and dialogues are told from the perspective of young adults. Within the text in the side bars I would like to have seen that men were adults at 12 and women when they bled. With short lifespans, adulthood and adult decisions came early.
About the art.
The colors all had grey undertones, indicating that the images are from times past. Several prints of different sizes for each speech/dialogue. These prints help the young readers to visualize some aspects of life in the Middle Ages.
The text and art together might help spark young reader's interest to someday read stories of The Canterbury Tales, another set of speeches/dialogues about a parade of people of the Middle Ages.
About the text.
Short poetic speeches and dialogues tell the general life realities of people of the manor and its village. These speeches/dialogues can be read and presented. All the speeches and dialogues are told from the perspective of young adults. Within the text in the side bars I would like to have seen that men were adults at 12 and women when they bled. With short lifespans, adulthood and adult decisions came early.
About the art.
The colors all had grey undertones, indicating that the images are from times past. Several prints of different sizes for each speech/dialogue. These prints help the young readers to visualize some aspects of life in the Middle Ages.
The text and art together might help spark young reader's interest to someday read stories of The Canterbury Tales, another set of speeches/dialogues about a parade of people of the Middle Ages.
June 11, 2025
I might not have chosen this to win the 2008 Newbery Medal (my vote would have gone to Edward's Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan), but Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village should not be missed. It's educational, interesting, and emotionally substantive. It's not overly long, either, and contains plenty of Robert Byrd's attractive illustrations. I recommend this book for anyone passionate about quality literature.
March 31, 2017
My favorite children's book of the year (so far).
Seventeen monologues from young people in an English village about 1255. This is about as perfect a volume as could be. It is lovely, its research is solid, Laura Amy Schlitz writes like an angel, teachers all over the country will be weeping with joy and relief, and librarians will love it. Not only that, I think the kids will, too. Fabulous.
Seventeen monologues from young people in an English village about 1255. This is about as perfect a volume as could be. It is lovely, its research is solid, Laura Amy Schlitz writes like an angel, teachers all over the country will be weeping with joy and relief, and librarians will love it. Not only that, I think the kids will, too. Fabulous.
February 26, 2023
This was entertaining and yet felt as though it was lacking something? Perhaps more character depth or backstory maybe? Not sure. But it was still a good little book and I still love the title and subject matter so 4.5 ⭐.
February 24, 2023
Won the Newbery Medal in 2007.
Written by Laura Amy Schlitz, a librarian, storyteller and playwright. She wanted to give middle school kids a resource to help them study the Middle Ages.
Twenty two short portraits in story and pictures, some rhyme, some dialogue, show what it was like to be a kid in those times. Wonderful side notes explain some words and customs.
Excellent detailed illustrations by Robert Byrd.
I read one a day and had a fine time while learning a great deal.
Written by Laura Amy Schlitz, a librarian, storyteller and playwright. She wanted to give middle school kids a resource to help them study the Middle Ages.
Twenty two short portraits in story and pictures, some rhyme, some dialogue, show what it was like to be a kid in those times. Wonderful side notes explain some words and customs.
Excellent detailed illustrations by Robert Byrd.
I read one a day and had a fine time while learning a great deal.
September 18, 2024
I thought it was very interesting that what Schlitz wrote to be used in a classroom was so good that it won a Newbery Award.
I enjoyed the book very much, but it will never be a favorite. Even though I do enjoy historical fiction set in the middle ages, I do like something a little more cohesive plot-wise, such as Adam of the Road or The Door in the Wall. However, I can see these monologues as a great learning experience for the children, as they can learn a bit about the middle ages, and develop some empathy for the characters as well.
I enjoyed the book very much, but it will never be a favorite. Even though I do enjoy historical fiction set in the middle ages, I do like something a little more cohesive plot-wise, such as Adam of the Road or The Door in the Wall. However, I can see these monologues as a great learning experience for the children, as they can learn a bit about the middle ages, and develop some empathy for the characters as well.
January 12, 2014
Loved it! At first, you wonder why it won the Newbery, considering it's not a story and a it's a series of monologues and two dialogues. But the monologues differ immensely from each other and are just plain imaginative and very, very accurate of the time. Some are witty, some are sad, some are poignant, it's just a pleasure to read them. And the two dialogues are even better. I like the historical notes and the footnotes, and I don't like the illustrations, but I guess they really do enhance the experience with their medieval charm. I would love to hear some of these performed.
January 25, 2022
There isn't much of a story here, and I wish it was longer. But Shlitz's craft is impeccable: she switches between forms of poetry and prose, and it's an amazingly effective way to create different voices.
This isn't much more than a ten-minute read, but it's a good one.
This isn't much more than a ten-minute read, but it's a good one.
Read
April 26, 2021Sigh
This is why I hate school
I hate acting yet I’m supposed to act out my character, Constance the pilgrim 😒
This is why I hate school
I hate acting yet I’m supposed to act out my character, Constance the pilgrim 😒
February 5, 2018
I love this book so much!!! It's one of my favorite books of medieval times. There is so much childhood simplicity to this book but it's educational all together. There are different stories, poems and characters if one chose to create a play of medieval times with a group of people.
March 5, 2019
This book was brilliantly conceived and written.
April 27, 2008
The author of this delightful children's book, Laura Amy Schlitz, is a school librarian. She wrote this 2008 Newbery Award winner for a group of her students who were studying the Middle Ages. Her desire was to provide enough short plays so that each of the 17 children in each class could share equally in the performance and demonstration of this period of history.
And, boy, do the Middle Ages come alive in these plays!
Set in a medieval manor in England in 1255, these unforgettable and interconnected stories immediately and tightly grab hold of the reader's attention, and they won't let go until the last page! Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village contains 17 monologues and 2 dialogues, and each one cleverly relates the perspective of medieval children as they live out their lives (according to their social class) during the Middle Ages.
We are proud of Hugo, the lord's nephew, as he masters a significant rite of passage by killing his first boar. We relate to Taggot (the blacksmith's daughter) as she worries about what most girls worry about- boys! We mourn with the plowboy as he poignantly remembers his dead father. And, Otho (the miller's son) poetically illustrates for the reader the lengths to which people went in order to survive...
"For every man's a sinner,
And he wants his neighbor's grain.
The peasant moves the boundary stone
And steals the lord's demesne (dim-MAIN)
The miller steals the flour,
And the baker steals the bread.
We're hypocrites and liars-
And we all get fed."
Some of these strikingly dramatic portraits of medieval life are true stories! Alice, the shepherdess, restores to health a beloved sheep by singing to it all night. Nelly uses her strong, newborn fingers to grasp to the side of the bucket when her desperately poor and starving father tries to drown her. (The author includes references to the real accounts of these experiences.)
Political dilemmas, such as class distinction and religious intolerance, are highlighted through the perspectives of these children. The monologues also beautifully illustrate the children's regret and dishonesty as they struggle to understand survival in their culture.
Interspersed throughout the monologues and dialogues are short essays that explain traditions (like the medieval pilgrimage), ways of life (such as the three-field system), popular sports (like falconry), and other significant pieces of medieval life (such as the treatment of Jewish people). In one of these essays, the author points out with irony how the Crusades- a series of battles in which "Christians" were asked to free the Holy City (Palestine, now Israel) from all Islamic peoples- were an "unholy muddle of political motives, greed, savage brutality, and religious fervor." Yet the term "crusader" today is generally used to refer to people who are considered to be doing something noble.
I would highly recommend Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! to older children (the author intended her characters to be between 10-15 years old), especially as they strive to understand more about real life in a medieval village. This book is bound to have a lasting effect on their understanding of life in the Middle Ages.
It certainly did for me.
And, boy, do the Middle Ages come alive in these plays!
Set in a medieval manor in England in 1255, these unforgettable and interconnected stories immediately and tightly grab hold of the reader's attention, and they won't let go until the last page! Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village contains 17 monologues and 2 dialogues, and each one cleverly relates the perspective of medieval children as they live out their lives (according to their social class) during the Middle Ages.
We are proud of Hugo, the lord's nephew, as he masters a significant rite of passage by killing his first boar. We relate to Taggot (the blacksmith's daughter) as she worries about what most girls worry about- boys! We mourn with the plowboy as he poignantly remembers his dead father. And, Otho (the miller's son) poetically illustrates for the reader the lengths to which people went in order to survive...
"For every man's a sinner,
And he wants his neighbor's grain.
The peasant moves the boundary stone
And steals the lord's demesne (dim-MAIN)
The miller steals the flour,
And the baker steals the bread.
We're hypocrites and liars-
And we all get fed."
Some of these strikingly dramatic portraits of medieval life are true stories! Alice, the shepherdess, restores to health a beloved sheep by singing to it all night. Nelly uses her strong, newborn fingers to grasp to the side of the bucket when her desperately poor and starving father tries to drown her. (The author includes references to the real accounts of these experiences.)
Political dilemmas, such as class distinction and religious intolerance, are highlighted through the perspectives of these children. The monologues also beautifully illustrate the children's regret and dishonesty as they struggle to understand survival in their culture.
Interspersed throughout the monologues and dialogues are short essays that explain traditions (like the medieval pilgrimage), ways of life (such as the three-field system), popular sports (like falconry), and other significant pieces of medieval life (such as the treatment of Jewish people). In one of these essays, the author points out with irony how the Crusades- a series of battles in which "Christians" were asked to free the Holy City (Palestine, now Israel) from all Islamic peoples- were an "unholy muddle of political motives, greed, savage brutality, and religious fervor." Yet the term "crusader" today is generally used to refer to people who are considered to be doing something noble.
I would highly recommend Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! to older children (the author intended her characters to be between 10-15 years old), especially as they strive to understand more about real life in a medieval village. This book is bound to have a lasting effect on their understanding of life in the Middle Ages.
It certainly did for me.
March 8, 2015
This book is broken down into a series of vignettes, each depicting the life of a person in the medieval times era of history. These are told in first person and are a brief moment in the life of a wide array of characters from this time period. Some examples include; Isobel, the Lord's daughter, Jack, the half-wit or Piers, the glassblower's apprentice. This book does a good job at showing what life was like during Medieval times, and how it varied greatly based on your position and role in society without seeming like an informative book. It was also nice that it represented another country, which is sometimes difficult to find when looking for historical fiction.
The reason for my three star rating is that while I enjoyed it, I think this book may be difficult for students to grasp, or that students may lose interest. Even I had somewhat of a difficult time maintaining full concentration due to the wording and content. I picked this book because our 6th graders study the Medieval Times period at school. I think this could be used, but with a great deal of teacher support and discussion. It could also be utilized as a "jigsaw" where each classmate reads and carefully studies one on the characters and reports back to share their information. The unique writing style could also be a topic for study in prose and verse.
The reason for my three star rating is that while I enjoyed it, I think this book may be difficult for students to grasp, or that students may lose interest. Even I had somewhat of a difficult time maintaining full concentration due to the wording and content. I picked this book because our 6th graders study the Medieval Times period at school. I think this could be used, but with a great deal of teacher support and discussion. It could also be utilized as a "jigsaw" where each classmate reads and carefully studies one on the characters and reports back to share their information. The unique writing style could also be a topic for study in prose and verse.
November 12, 2008
As a medieval historian and a mother, I'm constantly searching for books that talk about the middle ages in an accessible yet accurate way. Sure, there are lots of cute books out there about knights, and even some really good non-fiction for older kids (Usborne does it best). But this book completely deserves the Newberry Medal it got. The poetry is beautiful, the stories she tells for each character in the manor whom she profiles is moving, and the details are meticulously correct and add a level of realism that is blended in so skillfully, the readers won't even necessarily notice that they're learning something. I cannot say enough good things about this book, but it's not for anyone under the age of a very advanced 6 year old, preferably a 3rd or 4th grader who's starting to get into history. But the next time I have to teach an intro to the middle ages course at college, this book is going straight onto the syllabus.
January 4, 2011
The context in which this book was written is charming enough: a school librarian wrote a series of monologues and dialogues for fifth graders to perform as a play, so that they could all be the stars. In practice, I found it pretty painful to read. It took me several tries, but I finally got through it. Some reviews claim that it is better listened to, or seen as a play, but performances I found on YouTube didn't add to my enjoyment.
It may be that I don't have much of a taste for stories written in verse. Or history class. It just seems a bit too... crafted, as though it was created as an example of what a modern school activity is supposed to look like, illustrated by a distinguished teacher of illustration. I can look at it and tell that it is intended to be fun, to trick you into learning things that are boring but good for you. This obvious crafting made it kind of soulless, and distanced me further from the stories it had to tell.
It may be that I don't have much of a taste for stories written in verse. Or history class. It just seems a bit too... crafted, as though it was created as an example of what a modern school activity is supposed to look like, illustrated by a distinguished teacher of illustration. I can look at it and tell that it is intended to be fun, to trick you into learning things that are boring but good for you. This obvious crafting made it kind of soulless, and distanced me further from the stories it had to tell.
June 24, 2012
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. Laura Amy Schlitz wrote these short one-person plays for 7th graders at her private Baltimore middle school. The book begins with a short introduction and a map of the medieval village that includes each character.
I liked the feel of each play -- there's a subtle rhythm and some rhyming to many of the plays but they read more like dialog. The plays also overlap just enough to give insight to other characters. Schlitz also includes a few factual sections to provide information about the Crusades, falconry, and agriculture, among other topic.
If you teach middle school students about medieval life or history, this book is a great way to add some literature and an authentic feel to a unit of study. The text and concepts are difficult for elementary students, though some of the plays and concepts could be adapted for instructional use.
I liked the feel of each play -- there's a subtle rhythm and some rhyming to many of the plays but they read more like dialog. The plays also overlap just enough to give insight to other characters. Schlitz also includes a few factual sections to provide information about the Crusades, falconry, and agriculture, among other topic.
If you teach middle school students about medieval life or history, this book is a great way to add some literature and an authentic feel to a unit of study. The text and concepts are difficult for elementary students, though some of the plays and concepts could be adapted for instructional use.
February 3, 2019
This year’s Newbery winner. Loved it.
The book was written in the form of short monologues, with characters representing many of the traditional people of medieval times. The author uses the sidebars to explain here and there words and expressions that children might not know. She also interjects a few pages of informational text to explain some of the key features of the times.
Loved it!
The book was written in the form of short monologues, with characters representing many of the traditional people of medieval times. The author uses the sidebars to explain here and there words and expressions that children might not know. She also interjects a few pages of informational text to explain some of the key features of the times.
Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,160 reviews