A Medieval Feast by Aliki

Blurb: The King is coming to visit! For the lord and lady of Camdenton Manor, the announcement from the palace is an awesome challenge. The King travels with his Queen and court: rooms must be readied, tents set up, fields fenced for the royal horses-and above all, there is the great feast to concoct.The preparations take weeks. There is hunting and hawking, milling and baking, brewing and churning .... Then, in the great vaulted kitchen, the cooking begins in earnest! One after another the sumptuous dishes emerge -- succulent roasts, birds baked in Pies, and fantastic sculptures of pastry and marzipan. And to the music of minstrels, while jugglers juggle and jesters jest, the guests in the Great Hall eat their way through it all. The lord gives his King a feast to remember!With A Medieval Feast Aliki creates a joyful extravaganza to bring the character and colour of a distant world tantalisingly close.

The illustrations in this book match the medieval setting with illuminated letters and pretty embellishments on each page. There are also tiny captions for each illustration.  The story is set in 1400. You can see inside this book here. 

I spied this book in a school library yesterday and I knew it would be the perfect companion book to pair with The Amazing Meals of Martha Maloney. Sadly, though, I do need to report this book very ole but you might find a copy for sale. It was first published in 1983. How lucky the library I visited had kept it all this time. 

About Aliki. She was born in 1929 and is the author of some fabulous books. I found a list of all her titles.  Here are a few you might find in a school or public library:

The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo illustrated by Sophie Blackall

A luminous tale of fate, love and the power of words

Beatryce is found in a barn nestling beside a goat. This is not just any goat. Her name is Answelica and she has a reputation as a bossy, belligerent creature who usually butts people out of her way. She also has fierce teeth. The young girl has been found by Brother Edik. He is a monk from the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing. Brother Edik is a kind man even though in his own life he has had his own share of suffering. 

Have you ever given much thought the idea of a prophecy. The book called Chronicles of Sorrowing contains prophecies. Some are good and some are bad.  The king has heard this prophecy:

"There will one day come a girl child who will unseat a king and bring about a great change."

If you go back to my quote at the beginning of this post I mentioned the power of words. In the prophecy there are several very important words. Obviously the dangerous character will be a girl but what of the king. The words say "a king".  Who is this king? Is he the rightful monarch?

And why is a girl considered dangerous? What power could she possibly have? Read on my friend.

Back to the story. Beatryce is injured. Answelica will not leave her side so the pair are bought inside the monastery. Brother Edik gently cares for Beatryce and eventually she recovers enough to tell him her name but the rest of her memory is lost for now. Beatryce has no idea how she came to be found at the monastery but there is deeper mystery - the astonishing discovery by Brother Edik, that Beatryce can read and write.

"Only brothers in service to God could read, and also the tutors and scholars who came and studied the prophecies. And counsellors to the king. And the king himself. In the whole of the world ... there was only a handful of people who could read. All of them male. None of them were female. It was against the law to teach a girl to read, or a woman to write."

So the stage is set. Beatryce has a destiny to fulfil. The current king is determined to stop her. Brother Edik will be her travelling companion as will the goat Answelica. Along the way Beatryce will make new friends, a young boy called Jack Dory and an old man called Cannoc, and she will gradually remember all the pieces of her past life. 

Readers will also be given, from time to time, small glimpses into the machinations of the king and his power hungry adviser until eventually we reach their anticipated but also surprising meeting. 

In keeping with the medieval setting, Sophie Blackall has included an illuminated letter at the beginning of each chapter and there is one also hiding under the dust jacket. 

Sophie has designed end papers which are printed on a rich gold background and inside her black and white full page illustrations seems almost cinematic. When you finish reading this book take some time to linger over and marvel at the cover. Beatryce has something to share with you - she's looking straight at the reader inviting you to enter her story. You can read the first 48 pages of this book here. 

"We shall all, in the end, be led to where we belong.

We shall all, in the end, find out way home."

I read that an edition of this book has been released in a special box with a ribbon book mark (it costs over $75 here in Australia but if you are tempted here is the Gift edition ISBN 9781536218671). When ribbons like this are added to a book they make it seem extra special and I think this anticipates the fact the The Beatryce Prophecy is destined to become a Children's Literature classic. I read this book in one sitting. I did not want it to end but when it did I smiled a huge smile because, as usual, Kate DiCamillo has penned a glorious story filled with tiny details which feel like glistening jewels and which are all brought together at the end into one truly special object to treasure.

You MUST listen to this Podcast interview with Kate from The Children's Book Review. 

Here is a quote from the interview:

My outrageous hope … that somebody will feel less alone, that they feel like they’re walking through the world with somebody, and that it will help. The book will help to make some more sense out of the world. Kate DiCamillo

I just loved spending time in that world, even though it’s a world in which lots of bad and dangerous and sad and troubling things happen. There is this light of hope and joy and overcoming obstacles and friendship and love and forgiveness and all of these things that Kate does so beautifully and mesmerizingly ... Sophie Blackall Children's Book Review interview

The story is told in language as clear and beautiful as an illuminated manuscript, with characters who spring instantly to life. The fairy-tale conventions give it a sense of timelessness and omnipresence without once becoming twee or unwieldy. Kirkus Star review

It is, in short, a very good book, worth any kid’s time to read. And that, my dears, is the kind of book that you should probably read too. Betsy Bird School Library Journal

I love it when the book itself shows how important reading is and how important words are, how words and reading connect us to the world and how, ultimately, through education, we can begin to make wiser choices. The Children's Book Review interviewer - Bianca Schulze

A final wise word from Kate about books and reading (one of the important themes of The Beatryce Prophecy):

And the other thing is, having somebody reading to you seems like such an act of love to me. So, I just want to say thank you to everybody who puts a book in somebody else’s hand and everybody who’s reading to somebody. That goes for kids too. I say, when I talk to kids, you can read to the adults in your life. They need it too, you know.

Companion read:

The Book of Boy

You might also like to explore some books involving journeys, young and very brave girls, wise mothers who may be imprisoned, and helpful travelling companions:

The Wolf Wilder

The Forest of Moon and Sword

Fire Girl

Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds The Mirrorstone by Michael Palin illustrated by Alan Lee

 

In 2020 the CBCA slogan Curious Creatures Wild Minds neatly matched with the book Where the Wild things are.  Someone posed the question a few weeks ago asking for a single book which could be used to explore the theme this year (Old Worlds, New World, Other Worlds) and so I have been thinking about this.  Last night I had a light-bulb moment and thought of a couple of perfect books. The Mirrorstone is one of these. This links also with a post I shared yesterday exploring books which involve a time slip or movement through a portal to another world.

The Mirrorstone by Michael Palin is from 1986 and of course it is out of print but it is sure to be in many school libraries - at least I do hope it is.  This is such a wonderful book to read aloud and I would suggest you could use it with any primary class from Grade 3 up to Grade 6. This book contains amazing holograms by Light Fantastic which add an extra, very appealing layer to the beautiful art by Alan Lee. 

Paul is home alone late one afternoon. He looks in to the bathroom mirror and sees something strange.

It is not his own face which is looking back at him. He reaches out and touches the mirror and finds himself transported to different world. 

"The bathroom he knew so well began to disappear, the light became brighter, the wind blew stronger and the next moment Paul found himself, blinking, in the middle of a strange city. It was full of towers topped with flags which swirled in the breeze. He recognised nothing and no one. It was like a picture in a history book."

Paul is a good swimmer but what he doesn't know is that someone needs his skill. This man has seen Paul. His name is Salaman and his purposes are quite sinister. 

"The man's hair was long and matted as though it hadn't been washed for years. His face was lined and wrinkled, as if he'd been through a dozen lifetimes, but the eyes that stared at Paul were bright and piercing."

"I am, in my humble way, a genius. I have spent my lives studying glass, reflections ... mirrors... the movement of light on surfaces, and I have in my researches discovered the formula for the perfect mirror. A mirror that would show people themselves as they really are. Outside and inside."

Salaman shows Paul a globe. Looking into the globe Paul can see an underwater world. There is an amazing stone that looks luminous. Salaman wants this stone. 

Paul is terrified. He runs out the door and away down the street but he doesn't see the gleaming puddle in the alleyway. As he steps into the puddle he finds himself sinking into the underwater world he had seen in the globe. He sees a palace and swims inside and into air. There is a window and he can see Salaman looking at him. Paul is somehow inside the globe he saw in the old man's room.  Paul is ordered to dive back into the water and retrieve the stone but just as he reaches it the whole rock comes to life. It is an enormous sea monster. Paul is held down and your young reading companions will be holding their breath as Paul struggles to reach the air. Paul does retrieve the Mirrorstone but when Salaman looks into it he does not see the face of a genius. In shock Salaman drops the globe and it smashes onto the floor. Paul is set free. 

I have read this book to groups of students for over 30 years. It takes two sessions but I love to leave the group of listeners desperate to hear the ending. Michael Palin (yes the famous one) has written a wonderful story which I think perfectly matches the 2021 CBCA slogan. 

Mr. Palin has done a splendid job, but the real hero of this enterprise is Alan Lee, the illustrator. His carefully researched, intricately detailed watercolors are just right for illustrations that must be naturalistic enough to complement the images in the hologram. New York Times

Here is the blurb from the back cover of the book:

"The first time Paul saw it was at the swimming baths. The face staring at him from the mirror wasn't his own. Then, at home, even stranger things began to happen and so began an enthralling looking-glass adventure of time, space and imagination."

When this book was released it was one of a pair designed by Richard Seymour.  I read have also been reading The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup to groups of students for over thirty years.  

The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt translated by Laura Watkinson

A young messenger. A secret mission. A kingdom in peril.

When Tiuri answers a desperate call for help, he finds himself on a perilous mission that could cost him his life. He must deliver a secret letter to the King who lives across the Great Mountains – a letter upon which the future of the entire realm depends. It means abandoning his home, breaking all the rules and leaving everything behind – even the knighthood he has dreamed of for so long.

The fate of a kingdom depends on just one person…

He must trust no one.

He must keep his true identity secret.

Above all, he must never reveal what is in the letter. Pushkin Press

Some years ago a friend gave me a book - The Secrets of the Wild Wood.  When I looked at it more closely I discovered it was the second book in a series so some time last year I bought book one - The Letter for the King.

I now discover a few things

• Tonke Dragt is the IBBY Netherlands 2022 Hans Christian Andersen nominee
• The Letter for the King is a translated book from Dutch - the original title is De brief voor de koning
• The Letter for the King was first published in 1962. 
• It is a very long book with 508 pages. The audio book is nearly 16 hours of listening.
• You can read the plot in great detail here along with a full character list
• The Letter for the King was translated in 2013 into English

This book is included in 1001 children's books you must read before you grow up. Here is a quote:

"The story is structured like an epic narrative and offers the readers a range of thrilling adventures that take place in the Middle Ages. Tonke Dragt has incorporated a large number of fairy-tale motifs into the story and borrowed elements from Arthurian legend. In 1963 this book was proclaimed the best children's book of the year in the Netherlands."

Reading The Letter for the King is a marathon. I spent many weeks in the company of Tiuri. This is a rewarding reading experience because Tiuri is a brave hero; he is a loyal friend; he overcomes enormous difficutlies; and (thank goodness) he does deliver the letter to the King - a happy ending. If your young (ages 10+) reading companion enjoys books filled with medieval knights, wild horse riding, the power struggle of good and evil, and splendid story book heroes then this book is well worth finding.

This book has been made into a Netflix series. Watching the trailer this series does look very different from the book. 

In 1996 Tonke Dragt wrote The Goldsmith and the Master Thief. This book is not related to this series but I wanted to share that the English translation of this will be available in May, 2021.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - A little Golden Book illustrated by Sheilah Beckett

The Twelve Days of Christmas

This traditional version published by Little Golden Books (from 1992) is again very different. The setting this time is medieval ladies in gowns with long trains and huge sleeves and our suitor in his doublet and hose. See more pages here.

Sheilah Beckett was born in Canada in 1913. She died in 2013 - yes she was 100 and I was amazed to discover she was working on her final book aged 99. I picked this book up at a charity book sale today. The retail price (it is still in print) is close to $15 and I paid 50 cents for a mint condition copy. Here is a Pinterest collection of Sheliah Beckett images. 

Here are two other Little Golden Books illustrated by Sheliah Beckett

Sheilah Beckett's illustrations can also be found in these two newer publications:

Ranger's Apprentice Book One The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan audio book

"In an ideal world I wouldn't put him at risk like this. But this isn't an ideal world. Everyone's going to have to play his part in this campaign, even boys like Will."

Begin here listening to an audio sample from page 3 (The Prologue) up to page 6 . I often tell students to read the prologue twice - as they begin the book and then again at the end as a way to make sense of Morgarath and his desire for revenge. In this section we hear of the Kalkara and later Will meets them:

"a horrific figure crouched, screaming hatred and fury, plucking uselessly at the mortal wound in it's chest that had finally bought it down. Over two and half metres tall, with shaggy, matted, scale-like hair covering its entire body, the Kalkara had long, talon-clad arms that reached to beneath its knees. ... But what they noticed most was the face - savage and ape-like, with huge, yellowed canine teeth and red, glowing eyes filled with hatred and the blind desire to kill."

I have spent a few weeks listening to this gripping story read by William Zappa. I highly recommend this as a good way to discover these characters especially young Will the apprentice and Halt his master. I first read this book in 2004 but there were many parts I had forgotten. You can read more of the plot here and here.  Ranger's Apprentice is now a series of 12 books. And John Flanagan has other series for you to explore too.

One of the very best events in our school library happened in 2005 when John Flanagan visited our school.  One of our students, at the time, was blind. John bought along his long bow and he allowed this boy to hold, handle and explore this medieval weapon. It was a very special moment for all of us.