{"product_id":"good-masters-sweet-ladies-isbn-9780763643324","title":"Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!","description":"\u003cb\u003eNewbery Medal Winner! Step back to an English village in 1255, where life plays out in dramatic vignettes illuminating twenty-two unforgettable characters.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMaidens, 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.Schlitz is a \u003cb\u003etalented storyteller\u003c\/b\u003e. Her language is forceful, and learning slips in on the sly.\u003cbr\u003e—The New York Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBolstered by lively asides and unobtrusive notes, and illuminated by Byrd's \u003cb\u003estunningly atmospheric watercolors\u003c\/b\u003e, [the monologues] bring to life a prototypical English village in 1255.\u003cbr\u003e—Publishers Weekly (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrilliant \u003c\/b\u003ein every way.\u003cbr\u003e—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOutstanding.\u003cbr\u003e—School Library Journal (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003evivid, convincing\u003c\/b\u003e portrait of medieval adolescence.\u003cbr\u003e—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA rewarding choice\u003c\/b\u003e for performance or for reading aloud in the classroom.\u003cbr\u003e—Booklist (starred review)\u003cb\u003eLaura Amy Schlitz \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of the Newbery Medal–winning \u003ci\u003eGood Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village, \u003c\/i\u003ethe Newbery Honor Book and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eSplendors and Glooms,\u003c\/i\u003e and several other books for young readers. A teacher as well as a writer, Laura Amy Schlitz lives in Maryland.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Byrd \u003c\/b\u003eteaches children’s book illustration at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He is the author-illustrator of many books, including \u003ci\u003eLeonardo: Beautiful Dreamer\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eFinn Maccoul and His Fearless Wife\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eThe Hero and the Minotaur\u003c\/i\u003e. He also illustrated Laura Amy Schlitz’s first book for children, \u003ci\u003eThe Hero Schliemann,\u003c\/i\u003e about the life of a nineteenth-century amateur archaeologist. Robert Byrd lives in Haddonfield, New Jersey.NELLY THE SNIGGLER\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut 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).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd 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).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDo 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!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDo 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!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe'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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e****************\u003cbr\u003e1. 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)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2 Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) was a legend in her own time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e4 Saint Peter was the patron saint of fishermen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDROGO, THE TANNER'S APPRENTICE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI don't mind the stink-\u003cbr\u003eI grew up with it, being the son of a butcher.\u003cbr\u003eDead things stink; that's the will of God,\u003cbr\u003eand tanners (1) make good money.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI don't mind the work-\u003cbr\u003edigging the pits\u003cbr\u003egrinding the oak bark\u003cbr\u003esmearing the hides with dung.\u003cbr\u003eWork is work. I like\u003cbr\u003ebread in my belly\u003cbr\u003eand ale in my cup.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI do mind the jeering\u003cbr\u003eof Nelly the sniggler-\u003cbr\u003eher tongue could scrape the hair off a hide!\u003cbr\u003eAnd I mind the townsmen\u003cbr\u003enattering on,\u003cbr\u003esaying we foul the waters (2).\u003cbr\u003eBy Saint Bartholomew (3), think'st thou\u003cbr\u003ea man can make leather without filth?\u003cbr\u003eAlum, lime, oak galls, urine,\u003cbr\u003eashes, tallow, and stale beer-\u003cbr\u003ethese are the tools of my trade.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWould you warm your hands in leather gloves?\u003cbr\u003eSaddle or bridle your horse?\u003cbr\u003eDo you dance to the sound of the bagpipes,\u003cbr\u003eor lace up the cords of your armor?\u003cbr\u003eWhat about the bellows, heating the forge?\u003cbr\u003eIt's leather - stinking leather!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDo you want good shoes or don't you?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo be it.\u003cbr\u003eNow, let me get on with my scraper and dung.\u003cbr\u003eYou hold your nostrils - and hold your tongue.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e****************\u003cbr\u003e1 A tanner is someone who cures animal hides to make leather.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e___________\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! by Laura Amy Schlitz, illustrations by Robert Byrd. Text copyright (c) 2007 by Laura Amy Schlitz. 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