num_pages: 262
description: Set in 14th-century England, Avi's (The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle) 50th book begins with a funeral, that of a village outcast whose past is shrouded in mystery and whose adolescent son is known only as "Asta's son." Mired in grief for his mother, the boy learns his given name, Crispin, from the village priest, although his presumably dead father's identity remains obscure. The words etched on his mother's treasured lead cross may provide some clue, but the priest is murdered before he can tell the illiterate lad what they say. Worse, Crispin is fingered for the murder by the manor steward, who declares him a "wolf's head" wanted dead or alive, preferably dead. Crispin flees, and falls in with a traveling juggler. "I have no name," Crispin tells Bear, whose rough manners and appearance mask a tender heart. "No home, no kin, no place in this world." How the boy learns his true identity (he's the bastard son of the lord of the manor) and finds his place in the world makes for a rattling fine yarn. Avi's plot is engineered for maximum thrills, with twists, turns and treachery aplenty, but it's the compellingly drawn relationship between Crispin and Bear that provides the heart of this story.
language: English
title: Crispin: The Cross of Lead
titlecomplete: Crispin: The Cross of Lead
characters: Crispin Almond, Widow Daventry, John Ball, Asta, John Aycliffe, Father Quinel, Orson Hrothgar (aka Bear)
genres: Middle Grade, Historical, Young Adult, Childrens, School, Adventure, Medieval, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Juvenile
ratings_count: 26095
places: England
series: Crispin
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Newbery Medal, name: جایزه ی نیوبری, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Vermont Golden Dome Book Award, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Colorado Book Award
category: Young Adult
publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers