Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!

1.)
Schlitz, L. (2007). Good masters! Sweet ladies! Voices from a Medieval village. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press 81 pp.

Genre and Awards: Newberry Award, Fairy Tale, Historical Fiction, Plays

2.)
As a middle school librarian, Laura Schlitz wrote this series of monologues so each member of the class could have a big part in the play at the end of their unit on Medieval Times. Each character, from the lord’s daughter to the beggar, is a child. They each relate the troubles they face and the emotions they feel during their monologue. For example, Barbary, the mudslinger, describes the emotion she felt when she saw Isobel, the lord’s daughter, walking through the village. Barbary slings a mud ball at Isobel because she is jealous that Isobel does not have to carry anything through the muddy paths of the town. Isobel can pick her skirt out of the mud but Barbary must drag her twin younger siblings through the mud (and her step mother has told her there is another baby on the way).

3.)
The play contains 19 monologues and 2 dialogues. Each character speaks for a short time but in that time manages to link themselves to other characters and explain the emotions and struggles they face on a daily basis. Because each of the monologues in very introspective, students who read them are able to seem that many of the internal struggles they face are universal or not as time sensitive as they thought. Several characters talk about how their chores are hard and how they struggle with friendships.

4.)
Beyond the concept it was originated for, this book would be a great opportunity for a little acting in a read aloud to the entire class. Otherwise, this would be a great individual choice. If I were they type of person who might make copies when I should not, I might make copies and use a few of the monologues to introduce a unit on The Canterbury Tales if I were teaching an English class with older students in it. Constance, is a pilgrim and there are great explanations included about the Crusades and what it meant to go on a pilgrimage.

5.)
This is probably a great book for students in 4-6th grades. It is not a novel, but it is a great picture book that attacks a more difficult topic than most picture books usually do.

6.)
Honestly, I learned a lot about life in a Medieval Village. As I was reading, if I were teaching middle school my kids would love this book. It is not extremely difficult to read but there are important lessons to be learned. Many of the monologues are written in verse and rhyme so there are some great lessons on poetry in this book as well. As I was reading, I was entertained by the monologues. They were written so children could learn about a new and sometimes difficult to understand topic (medieval society) and not really realize how much they were learning.