Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz; Robert Byrd (Illustrator)Call Number: Fic P314h
ISBN: 9780763615789
Publication Date: 2007
A collection of short one-person plays featuring characters, between ten and fifteen years old, who live in or near a thirteenth-century English manor, plus background information about medieval times.
Maidens, 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.