GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! VOICES FROM A MEDIEVAL VILLAGE by Laura Amy Schlitz - 2008 John Newbery Medal Winner

When I first read this 2008 Newbery winner, I was frustrated. It was right after I had read THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET which I felt should have won the award. Then I reread GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! VOICES FROM A MEDIEVAL VILLAGE by Schlitz and found I hadn't given it a chance. This unique book is actually full of information regarding Medieval times, and the author gains your interest by revealing something in a monologue or two-person play. Then Laura Amy Schlitz follows some items of interest with a "little background information" about that topic, such as "Jews in Medieval Society" after her two-person play (not sure if that is what this type of monologue is called) about Jacob Ben Salomon, the moneylender's son, and Petronella, the merchant's daughter.

Schlitz, a librarian, created these 19 monologues and 2 two-person plays to support a classroom unit on the Middle Ages. She wanted each student to have an opportunity to participate, so she created these monologues and two-person plays to teach about the children that lived during the Middle Ages and to give each student at least 3 minutes to be become actively involved in learning about the time period and become a star.

I particularly enjoyed how the author interconnected several of the monologues by having the characters have an interaction or refer to each other. The students are able to see how the varlet's child, Lowdy, saves the life of the runaway, Pask. The author teaches through these monologues how -- a lord's nephew, a blacksmith's daughter, a plowboy, a shepherdess, a doctor's son, a pilgrim, a villein's daughter, a miller's son, a half-wit, a knight's son, a falconer's son, a lord's daughter, a mud slinger, a moneylender's son, a merchant's daughter, a varlet's child, a runaway, a glassblower's apprentice, glassblower's daughters, a sniggler, a tanner's apprentice, and a beggar -- would have lived and interacted in Medieval times.

I personally would not use this other than to introduce it as a Newbery Medal winner since I think it may be above my student's in elementary school's comprehension and/or reading level. If a classroom teacher chooses to teach a book, such as THE CASTLE IN THE ATTIC, I would definitely suggest this book to go along with the lesson to teach the students about the life of that time period.