Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village is a 2007 children's book written by Laura Amy Schlitz. The book was awarded the 2008 Newbery Medal for excellence in children's literature.[1]
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
Instead of the typical narrative structure, the book is constructed of a series of monologues, each spoken by a young member of a medieval village. Each character has a monologue with the exceptions of Petronella and Jacob, and Mariot and Maud, who have dialogues. The book was originally written to be performed by fifth-grade students at the Park School of Baltimore, where Schlitz is a librarian. It contains nineteen monologues and two dialogues, with the characters ranging from a runaway boy to the lord's daughter.[1]
Monologues/Dialogues (in order of appearance)edit
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
Critical receptionedit
According to Kirkus Reviews, "Schlitz takes the breath away with unabashed excellence in every direction."[2] Deirdre F. Baker wrote in The Horn Book Magazine, "Byrd's pristine, elegant pen-and-ink illustrations in opulent colors make the book almost too visually appealing, belying the realistically dirty, stinky conditions described in the text."[3] John Schwartz, in The New York Times, called Schlitz a "talented storyteller" and praised the book for its frank depiction of the Middle Ages.[4] Nina Lindsay, chair of the Newbery Medal committee, called the monologues "superb" and stated that as a whole, they "create a pageant that transports readers to a different time and place."[5]
In 2008, Anita Silvey, author of 100 Best Books for Children, described Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! in a School Library Journal article as one of several recent Newbery winners considered "particularly disappointing" by public librarians. Silvey "criticized the Newbery selections as too difficult for most children."[6][7] Writing for Slate, Erica S. Perl responded to this criticism, saying that while her younger self might not have enjoyed the subject matter or archaic language, her "inner drama geek" would have enjoyed the theatrical elements.[8]
Referencesedit
^ abThompson, Bob. "Children's Book Award Winners Break The Mold." The Washington Post, 2008-01-15, p. C1.
^"GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! by Laura Amy Schlitz, Robert Byrd". Kirkus Reviews. July 15, 2007. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
^Bircher, Katie (June 6, 2013). "Reviews of books by Robert Byrd". The Horn Book Magazine. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
^Schwartz, John (December 16, 2007). "You Are There: 1255". The New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
^"2008 Newbery Medal and Honor Books". American Library Association. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
good, masters, sweet, ladies, voices, from, medieval, village, 2007, children, book, written, laura, schlitz, book, awarded, 2008, newbery, medal, excellence, children, literature, voices, from, medieval, villageauthorlaura, schlitzlanguageenglishpublishedjuly. Good Masters Sweet Ladies Voices from a Medieval Village is a 2007 children s book written by Laura Amy Schlitz The book was awarded the 2008 Newbery Medal for excellence in children s literature 1 Good Masters Sweet Ladies Voices from a Medieval VillageAuthorLaura Amy SchlitzLanguageEnglishPublishedJuly 24 2007 Candlewick PressMedia typePrint Hardcover paperback Pages96AwardsNewbery MedalISBN0 7636 1578 1OCLC53178700Dewey Decimal812 6LC ClassPS3619 C43 C55 2007 Contents 1 Overview 2 Monologues Dialogues in order of appearance 3 Critical reception 4 ReferencesOverview editInstead of the typical narrative structure the book is constructed of a series of monologues each spoken by a young member of a medieval village Each character has a monologue with the exceptions of Petronella and Jacob and Mariot and Maud who have dialogues The book was originally written to be performed by fifth grade students at the Park School of Baltimore where Schlitz is a librarian It contains nineteen monologues and two dialogues with the characters ranging from a runaway boy to the lord s daughter 1 Monologues Dialogues in order of appearance editHugo 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 beggarCritical reception editAccording to Kirkus Reviews Schlitz takes the breath away with unabashed excellence in every direction 2 Deirdre F Baker wrote in The Horn Book Magazine Byrd s pristine elegant pen and ink illustrations in opulent colors make the book almost too visually appealing belying the realistically dirty stinky conditions described in the text 3 John Schwartz in The New York Times called Schlitz a talented storyteller and praised the book for its frank depiction of the Middle Ages 4 Nina Lindsay chair of the Newbery Medal committee called the monologues superb and stated that as a whole they create a pageant that transports readers to a different time and place 5 In 2008 Anita Silvey author of 100 Best Books for Children described Good Masters Sweet Ladies in a School Library Journal article as one of several recent Newbery winners considered particularly disappointing by public librarians Silvey criticized the Newbery selections as too difficult for most children 6 7 Writing for Slate Erica S Perl responded to this criticism saying that while her younger self might not have enjoyed the subject matter or archaic language her inner drama geek would have enjoyed the theatrical elements 8 References edit a b Thompson Bob Children s Book Award Winners Break The Mold The Washington Post 2008 01 15 p C1 GOOD MASTERS SWEET LADIES by Laura Amy Schlitz Robert Byrd Kirkus Reviews July 15 2007 Retrieved January 23 2017 Bircher Katie June 6 2013 Reviews of books by Robert Byrd The Horn Book Magazine Retrieved January 23 2017 Schwartz John December 16 2007 You Are There 1255 The New York Times Retrieved January 23 2017 2008 Newbery Medal and Honor Books American Library Association Retrieved 5 August 2010 Silvey Anita October 1 2008 Has the Newbery Lost Its Way School Library Journal Retrieved June 21 2017 Rich Motoko January 26 2009 The Graveyard Book Wins Newbery Medal The New York Times Retrieved January 23 2017 Perl Erica 19 December 2008 Captain Underpants Doesn t Need a Newbery Medal Slate Retrieved 5 August 2010 nbsp Children s literature portal Awards Preceded byThe Higher Power of Lucky Newbery Medal recipient2008 Succeeded byThe Graveyard Book Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Good Masters Sweet Ladies amp oldid 1194410562, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
