The Book of Boy - an audiobook review

The Book of Boy
by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Read by Tim Gerard Reynolds
Recorded Books, 2018

Suspend your modern beliefs and enter medieval France in the Jubilee year of 1350.

I recently reviewed The Book of Boy for AudioFile Magazine. (my review is linked here)  I can't reprint my review in its entirety, but I highly recommend this unusual mystical, medieval fantasy which harbors more than one surprise.  With one minor exception (that I address in my review), the narration is stellar.  I assume that the print version is also excellent.  It's received great reviews and has the bonus of being an illustrated novel.

Whether audio or print, I highly recommend that you read this one!

An excerpt from The Book of Boy
A video interview for The Book of Boy with author, Catherine Gilbert Murdock




Other reviews for The Book of Boy

• Kirkus
• BookPage
• Publishers Weekly

The Badger Knight - a review

Erskine, Kathryn. 2014. The Badger Knight. New York: Scholastic.
(Advance Reader Copy)

After the great plague, Adrian's father is overly protective. Having lost his wife and daughter, he is determined to protect his12-year-old son, Adrian.  Small and weak, Adrian has what we now call asthma and albinism. In the rural England of the 1300s, however, his condition is more often considered an unlucky and unholy affliction - rendering him only slightly more popular than Thomas the leper. Though he is quick of mind, skillful with a bow, and able to scribe, he is nonetheless treated as useless and dim-witted.

When the Middle March is threatened by war with the Scots, Adrian sees a chance to prove his mettle,

"Soon I hear the blacksmith's voice in my head: Nock! Mark! Draw! Loose! I spread some dirt under my eyes to counteract the bright sun, close my left eye, ready  my bow, and take aim at a single leaf fifty feet away.  On my second shot I split the leaf in two.  As I practice more, I can hit a leaf on my first try, even when it sways in the breeze.  I lose all sense of time and feel like I'm in another world.
Until I hear someone approach through the woods, and I grab my arrows, stowing them quickly with my bow inside the tree trunk.  For years I haven't been discovered and I don't intend for anyone to find me out now.  When the time is right, I will shock them all.  So I stand and look up at the branches to divert attention away from the trunk and to show that I'm simply addlepated Adrian looking at birds."

The Badger Knight is a historical fiction adventure that touches upon many common themes (bullying, friendship, gender bias, coming of age, survival, the nature of good and evil) as Adrian goes off to war and becomes a man - not by might, but by right.

 "... I'm reminded of Nigel and his search for the truth.  I think of what I always believed to be truths — Scots are pagans, thieves are bad, knights are noble, girls are weak, war is glorious — and how these "truths" aren't real at all.  They're things I was taught or everyone believes, just as all people who look like me are supposedly angels or, more often, devils.  I didn't believe Nigel when he said that scribing was power, that seeking the truth and sharing it is mightier than being a soldier.
     Now I see what he means."

The Knight Badger is rich in historical details - from the minor particulars of everyday life and the societal hierarchy of medieval England to the gruesome manner of medieval warfare. Erskine offers an unvarnished look into the lives of serfs, tradesmen, religious leaders, free lances, city street urchins, and robber barons. The author's thoughts on the nature of war are on display throughout, but readers are encouraged to come to their own conclusions and examine their own biases.

A solid adventure story that should appeal to boys and girls.  There is room for a sequel.

On shelves 8/26/14.   Target audience: ages 8-12, Gr 3-7
352 pages

Picture Book Roundup: Historical fiction edition

Here are two fiction picture books that feature days gone by.  Both books should tickle your fancy and make fun read-alouds for school-aged children, K-2.

• Kulling, Monica. 2014. The Tweedles Go Electric. Ontario, Canada: Groundwood. Ill. by Marie Lafrance.

The year is 1903, and the Tweedles are "a bunch of fuddy-duddies," according to their neighbors.  Even when they finally decide to purchase a car, neighbors still tease them,

"People don't want that.  They want noise.  They want smoke." ... "They want a car to sound and smell like a car." 

But rather than the latest in gas-powered autos, the Tweedles purchase a smart, green, electric car.

With a wink and a nod to the future of "green" transportation and women's empowerment, it is the youngest of the Tweedles, Frances, and the "green" car that save the day when an emergency arises.  Marie Lafrance's illustrations accurately evoke the era and are reminiscent of the style of Hergés Tin Tin.

• Beebe, Katy. 2014. Brother Hugo and the Bear. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.  Ill. by S. D. Schindler.

With an illuminated capital I and leafy, gold flourishes, Brother Hugo and the Bear begins firmly planted in the monastical world of the Middle Ages,

It befell that on the first day of Lent, Brother Hugo could not return his library book.

As the reader soon discovers, a bear has eaten the monastery's beautifully illuminated copy of St. Augustine's letters.  It becomes Brother Hugo's job to painstakingly recreate the massive, illustrated tome —a job that "would have been full easy to endure if it had not been for the snuffling."  The source of the snuffling, we soon discover, is the bear, who has not yet had his fill of letters.  Written and illustrated with great reverence for the early art of book-making, Brother Hugo is humorous as well.  Both the monk and the bear are earnest and joyful.

Based loosely upon a true story, Brother Hugo, in combination with its included Historical Note, Glossary, Author's Note, and Illustrator's Note is illuminating for both children and adults.

  A Discussion Guide for Brother Hugo and the Bear.

The Whipping Boy

Fleischman, Sid. 1986. The Whipping Boy. New York: Greenwillow.

Once I while, I take time out to catch up on older classics. To that end, I recently read Sid Fleischman’s Newbery Medal winning book from 1986, The Whipping Boy. I’m not sure if it would win a Newbery Medal if it were published today, because later stories (like Kate DiCamillo’s, The Tale of Despereaux and The Magician’s Elephant), perhaps inspired by this comical, yet moving adventure story, have set a new standard for this style of writing. Nevertheless, The Whipping Boy is an amusing tale with plot twists and turns, as the kindly whipping boy is forced to accompany the hated, Prince Brat as he flees from King and castle. Lies and deceptions, murderous thieves, and compassionate peasants will keep the reader guessing about fates of Prince Brat and his whipping boy. Unlike DiCamillo’s stories, The Whipping Boy is a tale of historical fiction, revealing the lifestyles of both medieval royalty and peasantry. And yes, if you’re wondering, according to the author’s end note, “some royal households of past centuries did keep whipping boys to suffer the punishments due a misbehaving prince. History is alive with lunacies and injustices.”

A quick read with black and white illustrations by the renowned Peter Sis, The Whipping Boy is still relevant today, more than 20 years after its debut.

Murder at Midnight

2009. Avi. Murder at Midnight. Scholastic: New York.

Set in Italy at the end of the Middle Ages, Murder at Midnight, finds Fabrizio, a young servant boy, negotiating the deadly intricacies of the royal court in order to save his master, Magnus the Magician. This is not my favorite of Avi's mystery books. It is lacking in the rich language and total period immersion of The Traitor's Gate, Seer of Shadows or Newbery Award winner, Crispin: Cross of Lead. However, it succeeds as a gripping, suspenseful, and fast-paced (perhaps too fast?) murder mystery with strong protagonists in Fabrizio, and his friend, Maria. It's hard to go wrong with Avi.

Keeper of the Grail

A second video booktalk for Keeper of the Grail by Michael Spradlin, Book 1 in the Youngest Templar series. These video booktalks can be a lot of fun to make!



A great historical fiction, adventure story that ponders the great questions of war and religion. Action-packed with a cliffhanger ending. There is a strong female character in this story as well. Enjoy!

Keeper of the Grail

A video "booktalk" for Book 1 of the Youngest Templar

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!

After languishing on the waiting list for over 3 months, I finally received a copy Laura Amy Schlitz's of Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! this year's Newbery award winner. This choice must have taken the library by surprise; our original order was only for two copies.

Set in a medieval manor in England, 1255, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! is a set of soliloquies by the juvenile inhabitants of the manor. ( exceptions are the two-actor plays featuring Mariot and Maud, the glassblower's daughters, and Jacob and Petronella, a Jew and a Christian that meet by the river) Children from all layers of society are represented in short, one-act plays of 5 to 7 pages. From Hugo, the lord's nephew, to Giles, the beggar, the daily lives of children on a feudal manor are starkly presented and neatly interwoven.

The language is appropriate for both the age and the period, and much is written in verse form - some rhyming, some not. From "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 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. ..."

Unfamiliar words and occupations are accompanied by footnotes; and short, 1 or 2 page explanations of various aspects of medieval life (The Crusades, falconry, etc.) are interspersed between the plays. A generous bibliography (the author is a librarian!) completes the book.

The artwork by Robert Byrd is reminiscent of illuminated manuscripts of the period. The ink and watercolor illustrations are of the typically flat design, lacking in depth and realism - common to the period and perfect for this book! Pages are bordered by wide, richly-colored, vertical "ribbons."

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! brings history alive as no text book can. Readers can understand the misery of being the miller's son (they were roundly disliked!) or the uncertainty of life as a plowboy or runaway. This book might also make a good choice for a Reader's Theater presentation. I think I'll give it a try.