You Wouldn't Want to Work on a Medieval Cathedral!

by Fiona Macdonald, David Salariya (Creator), David Antram (Illustrator)

This interactive series will enthrall young and reluctant readers (Ages 8-12) by making them part of the story, Invites readers to become the main character. Each book uses humorous illustrations to depict the sometimes dark and horrific side of life during important eras in history.

Genres: History, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens, Medieval History, Medieval

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Fiona Macdonald studied history at Cambridge University and at the University of East Anglia. She has taught in schools, adult education and university, and is the author of numerous books for children on historical topics.

Reviews

[Rama Ramaswamy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book belongs to a set of books, which, I'm assuming was devised on the lines of the Horrible Histories franchise. I picked up this set for my daughter as I thought would be a good and light introduction to historical stories with all their blood and gore and quirky data. This was the first book we picked to read, which has the narrator living in the 1370s and takes us through the life of the people involved in building cathedrals, the Cathedral involved here, being the Canterbury Cathedral.

I liked the book especially because it does a good job of introducing to the child of today the difficulties brought about then by the absence of basic necessities like transport, building materials and equipments, modern engineering skills and tools, schools and colleges etc. There was a point where my 8 year old was completely bewildered as to how they ever got any work done!

Also, the book covers a very important point when it asks and answers the question 'why would anyone want to be a Cathedral builder all their life when they can't even see it completed in their lifetime?' It's thinking into the future and imagining how centuries later, your labour of love is still standing, attracting admiration and recognition! Indeed, not all work you do is for yourself!

The book is a winner, it has my daughter and me reaching for the 2nd book. Having said that, the content could've been a little better. I don't know if even a 10 year old can read it without someone for guidance.

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love cathedrals but there are not many in America. Thankfully, there are gorgeous cathedrals in the oldest city in the US, St. Augustine, Florida built by the Spanish when they first colonized here before Andrew Jackson took Florida. I wish there were more churches in the beautiful cathedral style with pointed and Angel steeples. We see the different parts of a cathedral such as the saints, gargolyes, arches, pillars, etc.
This book provides a lot of information about the different jobs in guilds like the deviser, quarryman, woodworkers, mason, woodcarver, roofer, glazier, and bell-makers. Young apprentices study and serve for seven years under a master and then graduate as a journeyman that can be employed anywhere. We are shown some of the struggles that journeyman can have after they graduate and how he can be promoted in higher ranks.
Notable figures like Edward "the black prince" (he wore black armor or shield), Chaucer, and king Henry II are mentioned in this book.
The most famous cathedrals from oldest to newest are: St. Mark's in Venice, Italy; Speyer, in Germany; Duomo in Pisa, Italy, Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain; Notre Dame de Paris in France, and lastly Durham Cathedral in Durham, England. The italian being the oldest and the English being the newest.

[Marcus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice followup to reading William Golding's The Spire. The monumental task of building a cathedral is laid bare and most novices will learn something.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Names of various cathedrals, lots of definitions on architecture, various jobs/skills, how apprenticeships worked, the hardships of life, climbing up the ladder, etc.

Good start up book for kids looking into entrepreneurship who may also enjoy building stuff....give them ideas for other opportunities outside of architecture if they so chose...

[River · Rating 5 out of 5]

The facts and evolution of cathedrals really helped bring to life the differences in building castles and cathedrals for my children. As always with this series, this book was filled with humor and interesting facts! We loved this!

[Kelly Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is amazing how long it took to build cathedrals and how long they have stood the test of time.

[S.A. Krishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four Point Two stars
Lovely informative book for older children
The book explains in depth about how cathedrals are built and what it took to build one in the medieval time. Funny trivia facts and good informative book for older children.

[Sherrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a fun and informative series for kids of all ages. The books offer fun facts about history that will get kids excited about learning.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a picture book for older children with cartoonish illustrations. This would be great with children who are sightseeing among the cathedrals of Europe.

[Cameron Gruetzner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this with the kids, they said it helped them realize exactly how harsh the work was as well as some vocabulary words that were included in our Middle Ages Art unit.

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

nice religious book about the building of cathedrials!