Yvain: the Knight of the Lion by M. T. Anderson, illustrated by Andrea Offermann

I am a medievalist at heart, and I especially love the stories about King Arthur and the knights of the round table. So, I was pretty excited to see this retelling based on Chrétien de Troyes Yvain story by M. T. Anderson and in graphic form to boot. Essentially, it is a story about vengeance, love, and redemption, with a lot of action in between.

The tale begins when a young knight, Sir Calogrenant, returns to King Arthur's court beaten and defeated. He tells the court how he can upon a fountain with a magical stone which, when water is poured on it, promises plenty of adventure. He is immediately confronted by another knight claiming Calogrenant has attacked his domain by drenching the stone. The two men joust and Calogrenant loses, limping home weak and wounded.

It is his cousin Yvain who vows to avenge him, traveling to the fountain, pouring water on the stone, and jousting with the same knight, Sir Esclados, who attacked Calogrenant. When Sir Esclados dies from his wounds, his widow, Laudine, wants Yvain found and killed. But Yvain is already in her castle, and seeks the help of Lunette, handmaid to Laudine. However, as soon as he sees Laudine, he falls in love with her, and now wants Lunette to help him with her over. Which she does, and Yvain and Laudine are soon married.

But it doesn't take long for Yvain to want to go off with King Arthur and Gawain to prove his valor to Laudine through jousting and feats of arms. Laudine agrees, but tells Yvain he must be back in one year or her love will turn to hate. True to her word, when the allotted year ends and Yvain isn't back yet, Laudine's love becomes bitter hate and she refuses to forgive Yvain. 

Dejected, out of his mind with rage and self-hate, Yvain leaves, becoming a hermit. When he saves a lion from a violent attack, the lion becomes his faithful companion. When Yvain discovers that Lunette is about to he put to death for advising Laudine to marry him, and who now feels betrayed by Lunette. Yvain promises to be her champion and defeat three of Laudine's courtiers to save Lunette from death. But can Yvain redeem himself and become the knight he once was, even winning back Laudine's love?

More sophisticated than most graphic novels, both Anderson and Offermann have captured the real essence of the medieval courtly romance. Originally, these were adventure stories told for entertainment in aristocratic court circles about knights going out on quests in search of adventure, often for the love of a lady. And that is just what happens in this interpretation of the Yvain story. But it is so much more than that. The original knight errant story focuses on the knight - everyone else is there only as extensions to his questing. Anderson has highlighted both Laudine and Lunette as strong women in their own right, they are more than just there to put a spotlight on Yvain. Even Yvain's lion has a personality and part of his own.

This is such a beautiful interpretation of the Yvain story. Anderson does stick to the basic Chrétien story - avenging his cousin's defeat, falling in love with and marrying Laudine, even unknowingly jousting Gawain, then being persuaded to go off on a year of adventuring after much goading on Gawain's part, going mad when she rejects Yvain, rescuing a lion and deciding to win back Laudine. It's all there but with a new sensibility.

Originally, knights didn't much care about anyone but themselves. Even the ladies they adventured and fought for were only there as beautiful objects, not because of any real love or loyalty. Anderson's Yvain begins the same way - a knight seeking glory for himself. Yvain gets a real wakeup call when he is rejected by Laudine, never really expecting that ignoring her request to return at the end of a year would have such serious consequences. Laudine is a woman with political power, feelings and emotions, and apparently capable of real anger, all on display here.

As much as I always loved Medieval literature, my favorite was always Parsifal because you can see his growth from a flawed boy who doesn't understand what it means to be a knight to an man who does. In a way, that is the Yvain that Anderson gives us. Already a knight of the Round Table, he too is a flawed character, still having much to learn about love and loyalty. And unlike the original Arthurian tales, in this version, Yvain doesn't always win his jousting adventures.

Anderson does, indeed, give us a wonderful, energetic retelling of Yvain, and Andrea Offermann's graphic art is quite simply spectacular. She apparently spent a lot of time studying medieval tapestries and each panel felt to me like an illuminated manuscript from that time. Many of the spreads are wordless, and though they are sometimes a bit violent and grisly, they easily move the story forward. You might want to listen to her talk about her process:

Yvain: the Knight of the Lion is an excellent book for anyone interested in Medieval literature, Arthurian tales, adventure stories, or graphic novels. 

This book is recommended for readers age 12+

This book was an EARC received from NetGalley, but it was so wonderful, I bought my own copy of it for my personal library.

Mark of the Plague (a Blackthorn Key Adventure #2) by Kevin Sands

In 2015, The Blackthorn Key, the first book in the Blackthorn Key series, not only received starred reviews, but it was also the Middle Grade Fiction Cybils winner and for good reason. It is a fascinating action-packed mystery. Christopher Rowe, 14, an orphan, is chosen to be an apprentice to apothecary Benedict Blackthorn. But when Master Benedict is murdered, Christopher sets out to discover who did it and why. It's a mystery that requires Christopher to use his knowledge of Latin, puzzles, ciphers, and codes, taught to him by Master Benedict. The action takes place over the course of six days - Thursday, May 28, 1665 to Tuesday, June 2, 1665, important dates for the story. Now, just a few months later, Christopher is faced with a new mystery in Book 2, Mark of the Plague.

Having inherited Master Benedict's home and apothecary shop doesn't help Christopher very much when the plague returns to London in early September 1665 - Christopher can't sell any possible remedies because he is an apprentice without a master or license of his own. And without any business, Christopher has no money to buy food until given some coins to tide him over by Isaac Chandler, an old friend of Master Benedict. But Isaac also gives Christopher two pieces of news - first, that there is a prophet in London who claims he can predict the course of the plague and who it will infect next, and second, that Master Benedict has left Christopher a treasure. But where or what the treasure is no one knows. It becomes another of Master Benedict's coded mysteries for Christopher to solve.

After buying some food with Isaac's money, Christopher and Tom, his best friend and the son of the baker, find themselves in the middle of a riot. A quack selling a cure for the plague is brought down by an apothecary named Galen, who claims he has also found a cure and plans on giving it out free of change if the Lord Mayor and magistrates of London accept it. In the midst of the riot, Chrisopher witnesses a young girl being beaten by two men. Recognizing her as Sally from Cripplegate, the same orphanage he had been in, Christopher and Tom take her back to the apothecary shop. And that's when Christopher notices that his jars of ingredients that are always kept in meticulous order have been moved around. But why and by whom?

On top of everything else, Christopher learns that his apothecary shop has been chosen by the magistrates for Galen to produce his plague cure along with pretty ample funding. Galen insists on choosing his own assistants, and Christopher soon finds himself barred from his own shop.

It doesn't take long for Christopher, Tom, and Sally to become suspicious of both Galen and the prophet Melchior, and soon the three friends are on a mission to solve the mystery of who they are and what they want. And after Melchior predicts that someone Christopher loves will soon die, and Tom becomes sick, his distrust of the prophet increases, especially when he finds Tom's house guarded by one of Melchior's men.

Christopher has a full plate of mysteries to figure out and it seems his circle of helpers is getting smaller and smaller as the plague is claiming more and more lived every day. But why do both Galen and Melchior light on Blackthorn's apothecary? Could Master Benedict have been working on a plague cure or perhaps they know something about his treasure?

I am happy to say that Mark of the Plague is every bit as exciting as The Blackthorn Key. Once again, Sands has set the story within a relatively short time span - Monday, August 31, 1665 to Thursday, September 10, 1665 - and gives the total death toll for each day. No coincidence in the time - the 1665 plague hit its peak in London in September.

Christopher remains the same great character we met in Book 1, and fans will be glad to see Tom is back and to meet Sally, both characters add a sense of humor to what could otherwise bee too a story for middle grade readers. Let's face it, life in the 1600s wasn't easy, particularly is you are an orphan and the plague has come to town, so having loyal best friends really does help.

There were lots of codes and ciphers to solve in the first book, but not so many in this one. It's more like a straight mystery, but of course, when it comes to figuring out what and where Master Benedict's treasure is, Christoper has to put his puzzle solving skills to good use.

I did think Sands did a much better job with the historical facts in this novel. The plague brought out a lot of charlatans looking to capitalize on people's fears and Sands makes it is easy to see how they were able to pull of their scams in the face of an virulent disease that no one knew the cause of or even how it spread. One interesting fact is Sally describing Melchior as the Bird Man, because he wears a mask that looks like a bird. In fact, that is exactly what plague doctors did do:

A plague doctor wearing his 'beak mask'. This mask would have been filled with lavender or other strong smelling substances which were thought to protect him from disease
(source: https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/LondonPlaguePits/) 

So, it you are looking for a historically accurate, exciting mystery, look no further than Mark of the Plague and the adventures of Christopher Rowe. And if you don't like series books, no problem, this works well as a stand alone novel.

The publisher, Simon & Schuster, has provided is a useful Reading Group Guide for both Books 1 & 2 that can be printed from the publisher's website

This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was bought for my personal library

The Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert-Murdock, illustrations by Ian Schoenherr

When I was in grad school, I had a passion for the medieval period. Unfortunately, I was in a small German department that didn't have its own medievalist, though we did have some wonderful visiting professors. Still, it meant I couldn't write my first choice dissertation. Nevertheless, I continue to have a soft spot for books set during this time period, which is why I was drawn to The Book of Boy.

The story begins in France in 1350, shortly after the plague* had swept through. Boy is tending the goats at the manor of Sir Jacques, a knight with a traumatic brain injury from a joust and who can no longer speak or move. Boy is an excellent jumper and climber despite the large hump on his back, and also has the unique ability to understand what animals are thinking.

One day, a pilgrim named Secundus arrives at the manor, sees Boy's climbing ability, and convinces the cook, now the wife of Sir Jacques, to let him take Boy on his pilgrimage. Secundus is collecting seven relics of St. Peter, which are to be found throughout France and Rome. Secundus, who is quite ill, believes that if he can collect all seven relics, he will be allowed to enter Paradise when he dies, and be reunited with his wife and child, both of whom died from the plague. Needless to say, Secundus didn't exactly lead a good, honest life, which is why he needs the relics.

As the two travel, it soon becomes clear to Boy that their journey isn't the honest quest he believed it would be. Instead, Secundus drags Boy into some pretty shady situations, stealing, fighting, and getting in all kinds of dangerous situations. Even though Boy knows what they are doing is wrong, he stays with Secundus for his own reasons - maybe, just maybe, if they make it to Rome, he will get his wish to be a "real boy."

Boy has always been picked on and bullied because of his hump. He had been told never to reveal himself to anyone by Father Petrus, who had cared for Boy until he too died from the plague, and Boy always thought it was because of his hump. But, as the story moves along, Boy becomes more and more aware of who he is. And it is definitely not who he thought he was (and, given this twist, he was not who I thought he was, either).

The Book of Boy is narrated by Boy, who gives the readers a wonderfully informative window into life during the medieval period, particularly what happened during the height of the plague in France, and the fears of its return. He is a wonderful character, a really sweet innocent, despite being an outcast who has been bullied, ridiculed, and physically attacked all his life. At first, I was a little turned off by his ability to understand what animals were thinking, but as the story progressed, I found it to be more and more interesting, a unique way of providing the reader with necessary information. Consequently, for that reason and others, this book becomes a nice mix of realistic and fantastic fiction.

Secundus, who always smells like brimstone to Boy, is as mysterious a character as Boy. A scoundrel and a thief, his story is slowly revealed along with Boy's and by the time the novel ends, readers will surely realize that sometimes people just aren't who they appear to be. But getting to that point is quite a journey.

The Book of Boy is fast, informative, at times cruel, and at other times, fun, particularly some of the conversations between Boy and various animals. I sat down to read it one evening and didn't get up until I finished. And I spent lots of time studying the wonderful woodcut-style illustrations by Ian Schoenherr. Pay attention to the cover - it traces the quest of Secundus and Boy in a most interesting way.

The Book of Boy satisfied my medieval cravings like no book has recently. It is an interesting quest into what is good and what is evil, and why, and hopefully, Boy's story will serve as a nice addition to books for young readers about this underrepresented time period.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

*The plague referred to in this book is often called the Black Death. It swept across Europe and Britain between 1347 to 1353, and it is believed that 75 to 200 million people died from it. At the time, no one knew what cause the plague, only that it spread rapidly. Below is a map that shows the spread of the plague:

Source: Wikipedia: Spread of the Black Death in Europe and the Near East

The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats

It's 1293 and Cicely d'Edgeley, 16, has just been told that she must leave her home and her two best friends in Coventry, England and travel with her father to Caernarvon, a walled town in Northern Wales and she is not at all happy about this.  But her father is a younger son and can't inherit, so with the news that his older brother is returning home from the Crusade he was on and wants his castle back, he accepts a burgage from Edward I.

Wales has been under English rule for only 10 years when Cicely and her father arrive there and it is clear from the beginning that the Welsh aren't welcoming to them.  But the accommodations the Crown provides their newest Burgess and his daughter is suitable and there are even two servants with the house, Mrs. Tripley the housekeeper and Gwynhwyfar, or Gwinny as she is called, who works in the house but doesn't live there.  Gwinny lives outside the walls of Carnarvon with her brother and dying mother.  Her father had been hanged by the English for plotting against them.

The two girls tell their stories in alternating chapters, but we really hear more from Cecily than Gwinny.  And they are both very angry about losing the place they called home.  But Cicely is a girl with some power over Gwinny and all the Welsh and takes her anger out on them, by turns with utter cruelty, sadism and even a self-serving kindness.  And Cecily's anger blinds her to the unrest that surrounds her.  It is not just that the Welsh hate her for being English, but the English see her a inferior and can't be bothered with her.  For her part, Cicely also thinks herself to be superior to both groups, so when the end [of the novel] comes, she is caught completely off guard.

Gwinny, not surprisingly, refers to to Cicely as the brat (and she is) and resents having to wait on her in the house that had originally been meant for her had Wales not been conquered.  Gwinny was descended from Welsh royalty and reduced to a starving, struggling servant when the English arrived.  And although we hear her voice less than Cicely's, it is through her that we see what happening among the Welsh so when the end {of the novel} comes, we are not surprised.  Gwinny has by then filled us in with enough historical fact for anyone who doesn't know much about their period in history will understand what is going on.

But just in case you don't get enough from Gwinny's story, there is an excellent Historical Note at the end of the novel, which you actually may prefer to read before beginning the novel.  Anderson has clearly done her homework researching the history surrounding The Wicked and the Just in depth.  It did peak my curiosity about what Carnarvon was like in the 13th century, since Cecily and Gwinny mentioned the area so much.  When I looked it up, I found this picture of the town and castle on Google:

This map, done in 1610, shows Shire Hall and Shire Hall Street where Cecily and her father lived.

I thought The Wicked and the Just was an interesting historical fiction novel.  I didn't really expect to like it at first because it felt like just another novel about another spoiled brat, but set in the Medieval period.  And Cecily is indeed spoiled, but it was more than that and in the end, I found I had really enjoyed the story.

This book is recommended for readers age 12+
This book was obtained from the publisher