Reviews from 4—7 years
3 Dec 2007
Check out the best medieval books on the market
Creative Fun Middle Ages Activity Book by Sue and Steve Weatherill. (B Small Publishing, ISBN 1902915488)
This book provides step-by-step instructions for 12 activities relating to the Middle Ages. A short explanation about the history accompanies each of the objects to be made. There is a lovely recipe on ‘How to make a Medieval Pudding’ (a fruit crumble!), which points out that the food to choose from would have to be seasonal as there were no freezers. Another activity is a game called ‘Merels’ dating from the Middle Ages, a bit like noughts and crosses but using counters.
This is a very practical book with some fun ideas that illustrate the changes that history brings. There is a glossary of ten key words at the back of the book, and 18 stencils of heraldic shapes and motifs that could give ideas for some interesting art work. It would be a useful book to put on the non-fiction shelf, so that children could gain a basic insight into the Middle Ages and use the clear pictures to make their own artefacts.
Inside History: Castle by Julia Bruce and Peter Dennis (Franklin Watts, ISBN 9780749677862)
Although the text would be fairly complex for a child to read alone, the detailed illustrations and format of this book will intrigue even younger children. Each double page provides a picture of a castle or aspect of medieval life and a short, but informative, piece of story about the lord of the castle. The real excitement comes when you flip over the special, short-trimmed pages to reveal what is going on inside the castle walls – allowing children to experience a siege from both sides of battle!
This book would create lots of interesting discussion as you share in castle life from its creation, all the way through to modern-day ruins. Castle is one of those great books you can go back to again and again and each time discover something new.
The Prince’s Bedtime by Joanne Oppenheim and Miriam Latimer (Barefoot Books, ISBN 9781846860959)
This is a delightful rhyming story about a little prince who won’t sleep. After trying the usual remedies of hot milk and biscuits, the king decides that someone, somewhere, must know of a cure: ‘So the next day he sent forth a royal request, To the north, the south, the east and west.’ The doctor brings medicine which the little prince won’t try, but the rest of the palace take some and all fall asleep. Various remedies are tried, including magic, but nothing works. At last a little old lady appears and tries the best remedy of all – a story – and, happily, it works!
The illustrations are colourful and appealing and the humour in the story will engage all small children, who will probably identify with the content! Also included in the back of this book is a CD of the story, beautifully read by Jim Broadbent.
The Medieval World by Philip Steele (Kingfisher, ISBN 0753413736)
This would be an excellent reference book for your library as it has some wonderful illustrations that are highly informative. Children of any age will love the chapter on ‘Clean and healthy’ with its explicit picture of the king’s guarderobe (private toilet) with its long drop down to the castle moat and the fact that the men who cleaned them were called ‘gong farmers!’
There is so much information in this book, and it is beautifully set out with clear chapter headings and illustrated paragraphs. There is a section on knights and heraldry, several chapters explaining what domestic life was like, and quite a lot of information about religion during the Middle Ages. And if that wasn’t enough, at the back of the book there is a chronological list of how castles evolved, some brief biographies of knights and knaves, as well an extensive glossary and index.
Castle: A fold-out kingdom (Chicken Socks, ISBN 9781591741985)
‘This is not a book about Castles – it IS a Castle.’ So says the blurb on the front cover and it is absolutely right! There is no textual information in this publication, but it has sturdy cardboard inner pages that fold out to form the castle walls of your very own kingdom. A variety of courtly cut-out figures are also included – and no castle would be complete without a trebuchet (although in this case it’s a small, cardboard one!)
The book is quite well made, but would not last long in a classroom as there are too many little bits. The whole thing is really more of an individual gift for a small person who likes playing games with knights in battle.
Small Knight and George by Ronda Armitage and Arthur Robins (Orchard Books, ISBN 9781846163760)
A story with a twist that all children will love. Small Knight is very happy playing in his old, cold castle and really doesn’t want to grow up or change his life at all. But the time has come for him to have his first suit of armour and go and slay a fierce dragon – and he doesn’t even know what one looks like!
The illustrations really tell the story and show poor Small Knight bundled up in his armour, perched on a huge horse. As he sets out on his journey, he meets several people along the way, all of whom have scary stories to tell about the last time they saw a dragon. Small Knight carries on bravely until he meets a small creature who is as scared as he is. Then comes the twist… when he takes him home everyone is frightened of his new friend! A great story in itself, but also a good starter for a discussion on the fears that children may have themselves.
