Laura Amy Schlitz

2008 Newbery Medal Winner

A series of monologues in prose and various kinds of verse both rhyming and not that represent the voices of different young people living on the lands of a lord in medieval times. Throughout, the historical details are interesting and draw the reader in.

I really enjoyed some of the monologues and I started out thinking I would give the book four stars, but there was just something off about the way that the author treated Christianity over the course of the book.

The uncomfortable feeling started as soon as Alice The Shepherdess adapted a hymn to the Virgin Mary to be about her sheep instead. I have to admit that sometimes I'll sing satirical modern hymns about my cat or my husband, so I may be a hypocrite for saying this, but in the book's context it just didn't seem like something that a medieval girl would do.

There were also other more subtle things that bothered me. I can't deny that a lot of people do horribly evil things in the name of Christianity which I don't believe Jesus would have ever condoned, such as the Crusades, but I felt like some of the author's word choice when discussing these topics gave away some prejudices toward Christianity. For example, when she's writing about the Crusades, she tries to throw the people a bone by saying, "...the Crusades were an unholy muddle of political motives, greed, savage brutality, and religious fervor." She is trying to scatter the blame there and say that the root cause was not wholly religious, but in doing so lumps religion as a whole in with "political motives," "greed," and "savage brutality."

Earlier in the book in her discussion of medieval pilgrimages, she writes concerning faith healing that "medieval people did not share our need to understand the world scientifically." This may be true about medieval people, but the entire passage sets up an erroneous assumption that people of faith cannot also be scientific. As a modern Protestant, I am skeptical about healings from the supposed pieces of saints' bodies or places where they've been and so forth, so her skepticism on that point doesn't bother me. What does bother me is that she sets up that stereotypical dichotomy between faith and science against which modern thinking Christians have to fight in order to be taken as intelligent people. If I get sick, I'll go to the doctor, but I'll also pray for healing. Those things can exist side by side.

Further on in the book, she discusses the persecution of the Jews by the Christians, and wraps up the whole thing with a monologue by a beggar who cheats some foolish religious hopefuls out of their money by selling them fake holy water.

Now again, I want to reiterate that I know a lot of religious people in every age of history have behaved in a lot of unchristlike ways (including me sometimes). But it's not Jesus' fault that people are doofs. Books like this perpetuate a simplistic view of religion, that it is either evil or harmlessly quaint--in essence an oxymoron. The book has some fun monologues, but I would highly encourage anybody who is actually interested in the religious aspect of medieval times to look elsewhere for a more balanced and scholarly treatment.… (more)

Much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I only read it because of the Newbery club, but anyone studying the Middle Ages would do well to read this. Heck, read it as a companion to other Newbery books like [b:Adam of the Road|164255|Adam of the Road|Elizabeth Janet Gray|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348558311l/164255._SX50_.jpg|452487]. Or, read it just because it's interesting, all the little dramas. And of course remember that it's designed to be very easy to teach, if you have a classroom.… (more)