''Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village'' is a 2007

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

written by

Laura Amy Schlitz Laura Amy Schlitz is an American author of children's literature. She is a librarian and storyteller at the Park School of Baltimore in Brooklandville, Maryland. She received the 2008 Newbery Medal for her children's book entitled ''Good Masters ...

. The book was awarded the 2008

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...

for excellence in children's literature.Thompson, Bob. "Children's Book Award Winners Break The Mold." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', 2008-01-15, p. C1.

Overview

Instead of the typical

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...

structure, the book is constructed of a series of

monologues In theatre, a monologue (from el, μονόλογος, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes a ...

, each spoken by a young member of a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

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 The Park School of Baltimore, known as Park, is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian, progressive day school for children in Pre-Kindergarten (age 4) through grade twelve. Park is located in Brooklandville, Maryland, near the city of Baltimo ...

, 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.

Monologues/Dialogues (in order of appearance)

* 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 reception

According to ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'', "Schlitz takes the breath away with unabashed excellence in every direction." Deirdre F. Baker wrote in ''

The Horn Book Magazine ''The Horn Book Magazine'', founded in Boston in 1924, is the oldest bimonthly magazine dedicated to reviewing children's literature. It began as a "suggestive purchase list" prepared by Bertha Mahony Miller and Elinor Whitney Field, proprietres ...

'', "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." John Schwartz, in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', called Schlitz a "talented storyteller" and praised the book for its frank depiction of the Middle Ages. 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." In 2008,

Anita Silvey Anita Silvey is an author, editor, and literary critic in the genre of children’s literature. Born in 1947 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Silvey has served as Editor-in-Chief of ''The Horn Book Magazine'' and as vice-president at Houghton Mifflin ...

, author of ''100 Best Books for Children'', described ''Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!'' in a ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

'' 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." Writing for ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'', 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.

References

{{Newbery Medal 2007 children's books American children's books American historical fiction Candlewick Press books Children's fiction books England in fiction Monologues Newbery Medal–winning works Fiction set in the 1250s