What If You Met a Knight?
Grade 4-8–Adkins debunks the romantic ideas about knights and chooses to show the real deal, instead. He starts with Arthur and the Round Table, explaining how troubadours and storytellers spread pretty tales that had little basis in reality. He explains the feudal system and describes the life of Sir Guy of Wareham, who spent his days running his large farm. He served as a merchant, a banker, and even as the local judge, and was responsible for the health and safety of not only his wife and children, but also all of the peasants who lived on his land and worked for him. Using a question-and-answer format, Adkins holds readers interest by including details that humanize the information. While the approach is inviting and the narrative is lively and full of facts, the format may be a bit off-putting. The main text is in a standard-size font, but a great deal of additional material is in much smaller, captionlike paragraphs. The illustrations are numerous, intricate, and beautifully rendered, but smallish. Although most of the depictions are innocuous, one shows a beheading by sword. An excellent extended-reading resource and a good choice for children interested in the period.–Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christophers School, Richmond, VACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.