About this item
Step back to an English village in 1255, where life plays out in dramatic vignettes illuminating twenty-two unforgettable characters.Maidens, monks, and millers' sons - in these pages, readers will meet them all. There's Hugo, the lord's nephew, forced to prove his manhood by hunting a wild boar; sharp-tongued Nelly, who supports her family by selling live eels; and the peasant's daughter, Mogg, who gets a clever lesson in how to save a cow from a greedy landlord. There's also mud-slinging Barbary (and her noble victim) ; Jack, the compassionate half-wit; Alice, the singing shepherdess; and many more. With a deep appreciation for the period and a grand affection for both characters and audience, Laura Amy Schlitz creates twenty-two riveting portraits and linguistic gems equally suited to silent reading or performance. Illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings by Robert Byrd - inspired by the Munich-Nuremberg manuscript, an illuminated poem from thirteenth-century Germany - this witty, historically accurate, and utterly human collection forms an exquisite bridge to the people and places of medieval England.
About the Author
Laura Amy Schlitz is the author of the 2008 Newbery Medal-winning GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! VOICES FROM A MEDIEVAL VILLAGE, illustrated by Robert Byrd, and the 2013 Newbery Honor book SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS. She is also the author of A DROWNED MAIDEN'S HAIR: A MELODRAMA; THE NIGHT FAIRY; THE HERO SCHLIEMANN: THE DREAMER WHO DUG FOR TROY; and THE BEARSKINNER: A STORY OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM, a retelling illustrated by Max Grafe. Her newest novel, THE HIRED GIRL, traces the story of a farm girl who escapes her hard scrabble life in 1911 rural Pennsylvania, and journeys from the muck of the chicken coop to the comforts of a society household in Baltimore (Electricity! Carpet sweepers! Sending out the laundry!) , taking readers on an exploration of feminism and housework; religion and literature; love and loyalty. Schlitz's latest book, PRINCESS CORA AND THE CROCODILE, is brilliantly illustrated by Brian Floca. This beginning chapter book describes the life of an over-conscientious princess and her uninhibited reptile alter-ego. Schlitz lives in Baltimore, where she is a lower school librarian at the Park School.
