Winner of the 2008 Newberry

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village

by Laura Amy Schlitz is the winner of the 2008 Newberry award

This clever Baltimore Park school librarian created this piece of work for some of her students that were studying about the Middle Ages. She created 17 monologues and two dialogues so that all her students has a part. The play takes place in a fictional village around an English manor in the year 1255. Readers will get to meet blacksmiths, peasants, maidens, and monks just to name a few of the characters. Some of the monologues are written in verse and some in prose yet they are all interconnected.

I thought the forward was honest and I like the part when she says, "And you can skip it, if you're in a hurry." I also like the way she offers pages called, "A little background." These are found at the beginning of the different scenes. I think middle or high school students would enjoy performing this play. I remember my English high school teacher loved giving us short plays to act. It was a lot of fun!