Items related to Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval...

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village - Softcover

 
9780763650940: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
Newbery Medal Winner! Step back to an English village in 1255, where life plays out in dramatic vignettes illuminating twenty-two unforgettable characters.

Maidens, monks, and millers’ sons — in these pages, readers will meet them all. There’s Hugo, the lord’s nephew, forced to prove his manhood by hunting a wild boar; sharp-tongued Nelly, who supports her family by selling live eels; and the peasant’s daughter, Mogg, who gets a clever lesson in how to save a cow from a greedy landlord. There’s also mud-slinging Barbary (and her noble victim); Jack, the compassionate half-wit; Alice, the singing shepherdess; and many more. With a deep appreciation for the period and a grand affection for both characters and audience, Laura Amy Schlitz creates twenty-two riveting portraits and linguistic gems equally suited to silent reading or performance. Illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings by Robert Byrd — inspired by the Munich-Nuremberg manuscript, an illuminated poem from thirteenth-century Germany — this witty, historically accurate, and utterly human collection forms an exquisite bridge to the people and places of medieval England.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:
Laura Amy Schlitz is the author of the Newbery Medal–winning Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village, the Newbery Honor Book and New York Times bestseller Splendors and Glooms, and several other books for young readers. A teacher as well as a writer, Laura Amy Schlitz lives in Maryland.

Robert Byrd teaches children’s book illustration at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He is the author-illustrator of many books, including Leonardo: Beautiful DreamerFinn Maccoul and His Fearless Wife; and The Hero and the Minotaur. He also illustrated Laura Amy Schlitz’s first book for children, The Hero Schliemann, about the life of a nineteenth-century amateur archaeologist. Robert Byrd lives in Haddonfield, New Jersey.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
NELLY THE SNIGGLER

I was born lucky. Nay, not born lucky, as you shall hear - but lucky soon after and ever after. My father and mother were starving poor, and dreaded another mouth to feed. When my father saw I was a girl-child, he took me up to drown in a bucket of water.

But here's the lucky part - and 'tis pure sooth. I didn't drown, babe though I was. I took hold with my wee fingers and held to the side of the bucket (1). And my mother wept, and my father's heart went soft, and he could no more drown me than himself-and they named me Nelly, for Queen Eleanor (2).

And their luck changed. First my uncle died of the scurvy and we got his pigs. Then the nuns at the abbey hired us to catch eels - and we've been sniggling ever since (3).

Do you see these eels? Fresher than the day they were born - and fat as priests. I know where their burrows are, and I know what they like for bait. And as for frogs - I've been catching frogs since I was two years old; there's not a frog in Christendom jumps fast enough to get away from me - and I can swim as fast as any boy - and better than Drogo, the tanner!

Do you know Drogo, the tanner's apprentice? I can't point him out to you, because he'd see me. He's always staring at me. Many's the time I've seen him peel off his hose to show me his legs - as if every frog I've ever put into a pie didn't have better legs than his!

We had a brawl last summer. I said 'twas the fault of the tanners that the river stank, and he said 'twas the fishmongers. Which is pure folly: 'tis surely God's will that fish should rot in the water, but the beasts should rot on the land. I put out my tongue, and by Saint Peter (4), he pushed me right off the wharf into the water. And then, poor fool, he thought I would drown - I, who couldn't drown when I was three hours old! He splashed in after me, and I dove down deep and grabbed his foot - and I ducked him three times, and serve him right. Only then I had to drag him out of the water - because it turns out, he can't swim! So I suppose you could say I saved his life.

He's never forgotten it. He watches me all the time - and shows off his legs. But I don't speak to him; I want nothing to do with him and his legs. I pretend I don't even know his name - and every day I walk past the tannery, just so he can see me not looking his way.

****************
1. Newborn babies have strong fngers and an instinct to hold on. The story about a baby catching hold of the bucket in which her father meant to drown her is true. The original plucky newborn was a woman named Liafburga, who lived around 700 a.d. (G.G. Coulton, The Medieval Village)

2 Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) was a legend in her own time.

3 A sniggler is a person who catches eels by dangling bait into their holes in the riverbank. Frogs and eels were desirable sources of protein during the Middle Ages.

4 Saint Peter was the patron saint of fishermen.
DROGO, THE TANNER'S APPRENTICE

I don't mind the stink-
I grew up with it, being the son of a butcher.
Dead things stink; that's the will of God,
and tanners (1) make good money.

I don't mind the work-
digging the pits
grinding the oak bark
smearing the hides with dung.
Work is work. I like
bread in my belly
and ale in my cup.

I do mind the jeering
of Nelly the sniggler-
her tongue could scrape the hair off a hide!
And I mind the townsmen
nattering on,
saying we foul the waters (2).
By Saint Bartholomew (3), think'st thou
a man can make leather without filth?
Alum, lime, oak galls, urine,
ashes, tallow, and stale beer-
these are the tools of my trade.

Would you warm your hands in leather gloves?
Saddle or bridle your horse?
Do you dance to the sound of the bagpipes,
or lace up the cords of your armor?
What about the bellows, heating the forge?
It's leather - stinking leather!

Do you want good shoes or don't you?

So be it.
Now, let me get on with my scraper and dung.
You hold your nostrils - and hold your tongue.

****************
1 A tanner is someone who cures animal hides to make leather.

2 Polluted waters are not just a contemporary problem. Almost everything that tanners used was poisonous. People like fishermen and brewers, who needed the rivers to be clean, were always at war with the tanners.

3 Saint Bartholomew, who was skinned to death, was the patron saint of tanners. The logic of this is macabre, but not unique. Saint Sebastian, who was shot full of arrows, is the patron saint of archers; Saint Laurence, who was roasted alive, is the patron saint of cooks. We won't even talk about what happened to Saint Erasmus - it's too disgusting.
___________

GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! by Laura Amy Schlitz, illustrations by Robert Byrd. Text copyright (c) 2007 by Laura Amy Schlitz. Published by Candlewick Press, Inc., Cambridge, MA.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherCandlewick
  • Publication date2011
  • ISBN 10 0763650943
  • ISBN 13 9780763650940
  • BindingPaperback
  • Edition number2
  • Number of pages96
  • IllustratorByrd Robert
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780763615789: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780763615789
Publisher: Candlewick, 2007
Hardcover

  • 9780763643324: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village

    Candle..., 2008
    Softcover

  • 9780767542579: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Novel-Ties Study Guide

    Learni..., 2008
    Softcover

  • 9781606863893: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village

    Perfec..., 2010
    Library Binding

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Schlitz, Laura Amy
Published by Candlewick (2011)
ISBN 10: 0763650943 ISBN 13: 9780763650940
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GF Books, Inc.
(Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Byrd, Robert (illustrator). Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 0763650943-2-1

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 8.52
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Schlitz, Laura Amy
Published by Candlewick (2011)
ISBN 10: 0763650943 ISBN 13: 9780763650940
New Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Book Deals
(Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Byrd, Robert (illustrator). New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0763650943-new

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 8.53
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Schlitz, Laura Amy; Byrd, Robert [Illustrator]
Published by Candlewick (2011)
ISBN 10: 0763650943 ISBN 13: 9780763650940
New paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Your Online Bookstore
(Houston, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Byrd, Robert (illustrator). Seller Inventory # 0763650943-11-29702623

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 8.54
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Schlitz, Laura Amy; Byrd, Robert [Illustrator]
Published by Candlewick (2011)
ISBN 10: 0763650943 ISBN 13: 9780763650940
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Gulf Coast Books
(Memphis, TN, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Byrd, Robert (illustrator). Seller Inventory # 0763650943-11-24961404

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 8.54
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Schlitz, Laura Amy
Published by Candlewick (2011)
ISBN 10: 0763650943 ISBN 13: 9780763650940
New paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Orion Tech
(Kingwood, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Byrd, Robert (illustrator). Seller Inventory # 0763650943-11-30788394

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 8.54
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Schlitz, Laura Amy
Published by Candlewick (2011)
ISBN 10: 0763650943 ISBN 13: 9780763650940
New Softcover Quantity: > 20
Seller:
Lakeside Books
(Benton Harbor, MI, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Byrd, Robert (illustrator). Brand New! Not Overstocks or Low Quality Book Club Editions! Direct From the Publisher! We're not a giant, faceless warehouse organization! We're a small town bookstore that loves books and loves it's customers! Buy from Lakeside Books!. Seller Inventory # OTF-S-9780763650940

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 4.64
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Schlitz, Laura Amy
Published by Candlewick (2011)
ISBN 10: 0763650943 ISBN 13: 9780763650940
New Soft Cover Quantity: 10
Seller:
booksXpress
(Bayonne, NJ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Byrd, Robert (illustrator). Seller Inventory # 9780763650940

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 8.71
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Laura Amy Schlitz, Robert Byrd (Illustrator)
Published by Candlewick (2011)
ISBN 10: 0763650943 ISBN 13: 9780763650940
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Ergodebooks
(Houston, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Byrd, Robert (illustrator). 2. Seller Inventory # DADAX0763650943

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 8.89
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Schlitz, Laura Amy
ISBN 10: 0763650943 ISBN 13: 9780763650940
New Paperback or Softback Quantity: 5
Seller:
BargainBookStores
(Grand Rapids, MI, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. Byrd, Robert (illustrator). Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village 0.29. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9780763650940

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 9.02
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Schlitz, Laura Amy
Published by Candlewick (2011)
ISBN 10: 0763650943 ISBN 13: 9780763650940
New Paperback Quantity: > 20
Seller:
Save With Sam
(North Miami, FL, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Byrd, Robert (illustrator). Brand New!. Seller Inventory # 0763650943

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 9.11
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

There are more copies of this book

View all search results for this book