Stiefel. Ye Castle Stinketh

Stiefel, Chana    Ye Castle Stinketh      

 Enslow      2011  48p   23.93 978-0-7660-3786-1  

elm/ms      E-BN        

    The middle ages was a dark time in history but more than that it was a time where cleanliness was not important and often purposely neglected. Could you survive living in a castle? read on and find out!   A castle was more than a home. It was surround by a strong wall that surrounded not only the castles but the castle grounds. During war it became fortress for the villager and their animals. Sometime the castles were surrounded by a large moat ( a body of water) that went around around the castle and the only you could enter the castle was with a draw bridge that was lowered for entering and raised for protection. The moat was often filled with putrid water, dead animal and sewage. The whole purpose was to avoid anyone trying to cross the moat and climb the wall. The unfortunate part of the moat was that the smell also went into the castle grounds.
  The castle was built like a small town. Inside they built everything you could possibly need. It also meant that the kitchen was a furnace with unbearable heat for the servants who had to cook, and because the furnace was a fireplace the smoke wafted into the main room creating a smoky environment. There were no electrical anything so the fireplace also served as light for the room. They also used candles creating even more smoke in the room.
 People lived with fleas, mice, flies and other vermin. Bath time was truly  a luxury and if you got one at all you had better hope you can jump in first because one tub with warm water was often used by all family members. If you were the last one in the water was cold and filthy.
 Toilets! were still a thing of the future! If there was a room for your necessity it was probably made from wooden planks that went directly to a cesspit. The stink was always there!      Ye Yucky Middle Ages (Enslow) Other books: Don’t let the Barber pull your teeth., Sweaty suits of armor, There’s a rat in my soup. Books kids will enjoy and laugh out loud and this look back at the past to the middle ages and how people lived back then.      Middle Ages - Castles -Social customs - Civilization      Magna Diaz

 

Stiefel, Carmen Sweaty Suits of Armor

Stiefel, Carmen   Sweaty Suits of Armor    

Enslow      2011  48p   23.93 978-0-7660-3784-7 

 elm/ms      E-BNes             

     This title gives readers a glimpse at some of the realities of the life of a knight in the Middle Ages.  It  particularly dwells on the yucky aspects like sweating in hot armor, diseases and sieges.  Elementary into early middle school. What was it like to be a knight in the Middle Ages?  You wore very heavy armor no matter what the temperature or weather outside.  Other knights were trying to injure or kill you.  Diseases ran epidemic.  All these yucky details are introduced with clear text and cute cartoon style illustrations.  These illustrations are colorful, humorous and well placed within the text.
The format is very reader friendly.  The text is a good size and easily readable.  Headings help direct the reader, and vocabulary words are highlighted in color.  Additional information is presented in text blocks are designed to look like parchment papers.  Each chapter is introduced with a different color stone wall block background.  This is all very inviting to younger readers.
    The vocabulary words which are introduced in the text are all defined in the Words to Know section.  For further information there are four books and two web sites given.  The index is simple but adequate for the text.
This title will find eager readers among grades 3-6.  Ye Yucky Middle Ages (Enslow) There are four titles in the Ye Yucky Middle Ages series.  Each deals with one element of life at the time with humor and imparts information in a conversational tone. Middle Ages Joan Theal

 

Hoffman, Mary. Troubadour.

Hoffman, Mary. Troubadour.
Bloomsbury see St. Martins 2009 290p 16.99 978-1-59990-367-5 ms/hs In 1208 thirteen-year-old Lady Elinor, secretly in love with a troubadour and determined to avoid marriage to an older man, runs away from her family's castle disguised as an apprentice troubadour, unaware of the dangers ahead as the Albigensian Crusade begins its onslaught on her native Languedoc. Thirteen year old Elinor is the daughter of a landowner in Occitania, what is today known as the Languedoc region of Southern France. She enjoys her position as the donzela of the castle, totally unaware that her father’s religious beliefs and those of most citizens of Occitania are about to ignite a crusade against them that will destroy their lives. Elinor’s father is a Believer, a Credente otherwise known as Cathars, who did not believe in the Incarnation of God as Jesus Christ. The Credentes and the Catholics in the region, as well as the Jews, peacefully coexisted but their relations with the pope in Rome was the opposite. The Credente were considered to be heretics by Rome, and when a papal legate who was sent to Langeudoc to convince the ruler of the region to quash Credente beliefs is murdered, the pope calls for a holy war against them. Bertran, a Credente troubadour travels to Elinor’s castle to spread the news of the coming persecution and Elinor’s parents, in order to assure her safety as well as quash her romantic longing for Bertran, betroth her to an older nobleman. Elinor rebels against the arranged marriage and disguised as a boy, she steals away with a group of minstrels traveling to the eastern cities of the province carrying Bertran’s warning. Elinor’s travels and her transformation to a minstrel provide a fascinating glimpse into the lives of a variety of women and social classes of the thirteenth century, particularly those educated women who were troubadours and whose verse and songs were valued and honored. When Elinor’s disguise is discovered she in turn becomes a troubadour and with her patron Lady Iseut they escape to Northern Italy, one step ahead of the French invaders. Elinor eventually finds happiness and contentment in her new life despite the horrors and tragedies she and her family endured. Hoffman uses the same attention to details that characterize her Stravaganza series, and the detailed backdrop of the Albigensian Crusade provides drama and tension. The emotional connection with Elinor, Bertran and other characters is slight but historical fiction readers will be satisfied with their travel to the south of France. Historical Zajko, Rosanne