Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz

Good Masters!  Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz

Set in the year 1255, Good Master! Sweet Ladies!, takes a close look at the young people who lived and sustained a medieval village.  There are 19 monologues and two dialogues which represent various voices and social strata in the community.  The lord's nephew and daughter, the moneylender's son, the blacksmith's daughter, the plowboy, the runaway, the sniggler and more.  After a set of monologues that intersect, there is a section called A Little Background where Schlitz shares the facts and history behind an aspect of the medieval village.

Laura Amy Schlitz wrote the series of plays in Good Masters!  Sweet Ladies! for a class of students who were studying the Middle Ages.  The verse is well written and can be performed, read aloud or read silently based on your preference. There are footnotes throughout the text to explain terms and the way of life 800 years ago.

This is an enjoyable book that creates a historical connection between then and now.  We have changed a lot since the Middle Ages but then again, some things remain unchanged like classism.  I have to say I read the book silently and learned a lot.  I am a history teacher and had no idea what a sniggler was or a varlet.  The book was entertaining, informative and quite a lot of fun to read.

 I think it would be fun to read aloud with a class or even with my own children.   Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! won the Newberry award in 2008.  In my opinion this book is written more for educators and parents as it doesn't seem the type of book upper elementary kids are drawn to.  I bought this book when it won the medal five years ago and neither of my kids were interested in it and they still haven't read it.  That being said, I think Laura Amy Schlitz is an excellent writer and I expect she will create more great reading experiences for children and adults.  Now if I can only get my kids to

read it.

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Based on the author's own experiences, Thanhha Lai has created a book for young adults that tells the story of her escape during the fall of Saigon in the Vietnam war.  Ha, is a brave 10 year old girl who has to leave behind her home, her beloved papaya tree and the hope that her father, who has been missing for 9 years, will find them.  Her family escapes aboard a Navy ship in the harbor and float slowly down the river to the ocean.  They float in darkness, with rationed food, crowded aboard a ship waiting for rescue.  Weeks pass by.


“After two weeks at sea
the commander calls
all of us above deck
for a formal lowering of
our yellow flag
with three red stripes.

South Vietnam no longer exists.”  Pg.85

They are refugees, who have lost their country and the only home they’ve ever known because of war.  They land in Guam, live in a city of tents and eat canned fruit as they wait for someone to sponsor them.

“Our sponsor
looks just like
an American should.

Tall and pig-bellied,
Black cowboy hat,
Tan cowboy boots,
Cigar-smoking,
Teeth shining,
Red in face,
Golden in hair.

I love him
Immediately
And imagine him
To be a good-hearted and loud
And the owner of a horse.” Pg.111

Their sponsor, the cowboy, takes them to his home in Alabama.

Inside Out and Back Again takes place over the period of one year.  Ha faces many challenges but finds outs how strong her family is after they have suffered so much.  This is a story about a resilient family, their difficult journey, and the adjustments they make, as they settle into a new country and a new way of life.

Lai has done a spectacular job of creating a novel for adolescents that captures the experience of growing up in a country that is foreign to you.  Inside Out and Back Again is well-written, entertaining and award winning.

Guess what my seventh grader will be reading this summer?

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Laura Lanik's News Auxiliary

           April 27, 2012

I hope all of you are enjoying a glorious day today and are celebrating the joys of Spring.  The News Auxiliary of the Manifest Herald is taking a break from talking about the news around town to tell you all about Moon Over Manifest, the most recent Newberry Prize winner.   I am just tickled pink and knew you would be interested in reading all about it.

Abilene is as sweet as pie and she just arrived here in Manifest, Kansas in 1936.  Her daddy decided to send her for the summer and so she is staying over at Shady's place.   I heard she found a hidden box in her room containing all sorts of mementos and letters and she is looking for someone called the Rattler.  Abilene's favorite thing is a compass that her father gave her, but one night, while out spying with her friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, she lost it.  Doesn't that just stink.

Well I want to tell you first off that Abilene found her compass hanging off a porch on the Path to Perdition.  She was so scared but she knew she had to get her compass back and so Abilene approached Miss Sadie's Divining Parlor.  Well divining is hard work, as you well know, so Abilene was committed to helping out around the house.  Lucky for her, Miss Sadie was a great story teller and told Abilene about Manifest during World War I.  He stories mainly focused around the two boys Jinx and Ned and their adventures about town in 1917.  Ned, like many of the boys in town, signed up and went off to fight in the trenches of the War leaving Jinx brokenhearted and without a friend.  Well, adventure always finds someone whose looking and Jinx got caught up in plenty of fun for the times.

I really enjoyed reading the letters Ned sent home and the News Auxiliary from 1917.  I loved the characters and there semi-southern feel. So much has changed since then and it is like stepping into a time capsule to try and solve the mystery of the Rattler and trying to figure out who Abilene's father really is.  Why, reading this book is almost like taking a step back through time.

Well there you have it folks.  I hope you visit (I mean read) Moon over Manifest real soon. 

The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Have you ever been to a graveyard and wonder what goes on after dark when the gates are locked for the night? Let me introduce you to Nobody Owens. Nobody has lived in the graveyard since he was a toddler. He followed his instincts one night when his family was murdered and was adopted by the ghosts in the graveyard. Bod Owens occupies the sphere between the living and the dead. He can communicate with both the living and the dead and belongs to both worlds.

This book is a scary adventure story. It reminded me of Harry Potter and the Jungle Book. I definitely think that Gaiman plans to write a sequel and a movie of the book is in the works. This book will appeal to middle and high school students. I think it will be too scary for the kids in upper elementary grades. The murders take place at the beginning of the book, but there are also lots of ghosts, goblins, witches and Jack. Jack is still trying to find Nobody and kill him throughout the book. It is an exciting, eclectic cast of characters and I loved thinking about what takes place in real graveyards at night that our human minds don't see.

I am totally fascinated by cemeteries and curious about all the people who rest there. When I was a little girl my aunt Sherry lived across the street from a graveyard and it became my playground whenever I came to visit. Frequently we would go for walks there or I would be sent with a cloth, a bucket and garden shears to clean off long forgotten graves. I grew up with a fascination not a fear of cemeteries. Maybe that is one of the reasons I became a history teacher, to learn about all those dead people. What an epiphany!

The Graveyard Book won the Newberry Award in 2009. It is very deserving of the award. The artwork is dark and lovely and fits the story perfectly. This is the second book I have read by Gaiman, the first was Coraline. Coraline was also an entertaining read but this book is far more superior in my mind. I think I need to read one of Gaiman's adult books. Hmmm, which one should I pick?