Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village

"Will capture readers' imaginations and hearts." —VOYA To Blood and Bone Alley, home of leech, barber-surgeon, and apothecary, comes Matilda, raised by a priest to be pious and learned, and now destined to assist Red Peg the Bonesetter. Matilda is appalled by the worldliness of her new surroundings and yearns for the days at the manor when all she did was study and pray. Filled with the witty dialogue and richly authentic detail that Karen Cushman's work is known for, Matilda Bone is a compelling comic novel about a girl who learns to see herself and others clearly, to laugh, and to live contentedly in this world.

"This humorous, frank look at life in the medical quarters in medieval times shows readers that love and compassion, laughter and companionship, are indeed the best medicine." School Library Journal, Starred

The "fascinating information [in the afterword] is just as interesting as Matilda's tale." Horn Book

Editor's Pick. Highly Recommended. "It has become my favorite Cushman book." Book Report

"The plight of thirteen-year-old Matilda will capture readers' imaginations and hearts." VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates)

"Reader's who've appreciated Cushman's medieval visions will want to travel back with her again here." The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Inspired by an illuminated poem from 13th-century Germany, this witty, historically accurate collection--the winner of the 2008 Newbery Medal--forms an exquisite bridge to the people and places of medieval England. Full color.

Another winning medieval era novel with an incomparable heroine by the Newbery medalist Karen Cushman. With witty dialogue and richly authentic detail, Cushman tells the story of a girl who is transported from her days of study and prayer at the manor to become a bonesetter's assistant in the slums of an English village.

Laura Amy Schlitz is the author of THE HERO SCHLIEMANN: THE DREAMER WHO DUG FOR TROY and A DROWNED MAIDEN'S HAIR. She wrote the pieces in GOOD MASTERS! SWEET LADIES! for students at the Park School in Baltimore, where she works as a librarian. She has also worked as a storyteller, a costumer, an actress, and a playwright; her plays for young people have been produced in theaters all over the country. Laura Amy Schlitz lives in Baltimore.

Robert Byrd teaches childrens book illustration at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He is the author-illustrator of many books, including LEONARDO: BEAUTIFUL DREAMER; FINN MACCOUL AND HIS FEARLESS WIFE; and THE HERO AND THE MINOTAUR. He also illustrated Laura Amy Schlitzs first book for children, THE HERO SCHLIEMANN, about the life of a nineteenth-century amateur archaeologist. Robert Byrd lives in Haddonfield, New Jersey.