Baltimore school librarian, storyteller, and playwright Laura Amy Schlitz has a passion for history. When her fifth grade students were studying the Middle Ages, she set to writing 17 short monologues to stage so each child could have a decent part to memorize. It evolved into this powerful 2008 Newbery Medal winner, a collection of 23 gorgeous narratives, some rhyming, some free verse, told by the children, ages 10 to 15, living in and near an English feudal manor in 1255. There's Taggot the blacksmith's daughter, shoeing a horse for Hugo, Sir Steven's dazzling nephew; Alice the shepherdess who sings to her favorite sheep Jilly to keep her from dying after birthing a stillborn lamb; Jack, the half-wit, who is a secret friend to despised Otho, the miller’s son; and Thomas the doctor's son, who is learning his father's trade. ("A healthy man is careless with a bill— / You have to make them pay when they are ill.") Each character’s monologue reveals more of the intersecting lives of the children, and evokes the sights and the smells of the times, including the muck and the fleas. A running glossary in the margins defines difficult words and concepts. Interspersed throughout are double page spreads—"A Little Background"—on more complex matters including medieval pilgrimage, the Crusades, and Jews in Medieval Society. Delicate ink and watercolor illustrations give the book the priceless feel of an illuminated manuscript.

This would be a fine book to use with a children’s theater group, as it’s meant to be read aloud. Other outstanding award-winning titles that give a realistic feel for medieval life in England include Avi's Crispin: The Cross of Lead and three treasures by Karen Cushman: Catherine, Called Birdy, The Midwife's Apprentice, and Matilda Bone.

Themes: MIDDLE AGES. MONOLOGUES. NEWBERY MEDAL. PLAYS. POETRY—SINGLE AUTHOR. POINT OF VIEW.