Eagle Nest Mom: Middle Ages (Grades 4

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Middle Ages (Grades 4 - 6) Culture

Middle Ages (Grades 4 - 6) Culture

Please Note:
Most of these books below, were mentioned in the "All Through the Ages" literature guide, however, not all of the books mentioned in "All Through the Ages" are listed here, and if there were similar book listed when I searched, I did add a few - some I recognized as books my daughters found in our public library, and others looked interesting. Always check a book for yourself to decide if it is the right book for your child. Also, I have an older copy of "All Through the Ages" and she has an updated copy offered on her website. It is WELL WORTH the cost of buying your own copy.

Available via Kindle - often these are Free or far cheaper than book forms.
Some will be available via Librivox (audio) or Gutenberg (many ebook formats) or from other ebook stores.

Search for any of these topics at your local public library for similar titles.

Book Description

Spirited and interesting picture of life in castles and manors, monasteries and towns during the Middle Ages. The description of the customs of knights is especially full. Chapter titles include Page, Squire, and Knight; The Knight's Arms and Armor; Jousts and Tournaments; How to Capture a Castle; Daily Life in a Castle; Life on a Manor; Pilgrimages and Crusades; Military Orders, Monks, and Monasteries; Hermits, Friars, and Missionaries; Life in Town; Merchant Gilds and Craft Gilds; How Goods Were Sold; Schools and Literature; Science and Medicine; and Architecture and the Arts.

Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #2: Knights and Castles: A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House #2: The Knight at Dawn (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))

"A good general introduction to the history of this period."--Los Angeles Times

(free)
Over its thousand-year history the Tower stood as a symbol of the English monarchy and served as both a palace and a prison. It is a place where court intrigues, clandestine liaisons, unimaginable tortures and grisly executions took place with frightening regularity.

(free)
Relates the story of the making of an "hour book" as a wedding gift from King Louis of France to Lady Anne of Brittany and the good fortune it brought to little Gabriel, Brother Stephen's color grinder.

Inspired by the bunch of violets and cuckoo-buds Gabriel brings into the workroom, Brother Stephen conceives a new idea for an illuminated border. Instead of painting the border with scrolls and birds and flowers in the conventional way, he would decorate the book with borders of gold on which he would paint in realistic fashion the meadow wildflowers, and bees and butterflies, and all the little flying creatures. As Brother Stephen's color grinder, Gabriel makes the ink, grinds the gold, gathers the flowers, and prepares the colors for him. After the book is completed, Gabriel slips into the book a sheet on which he has penned a prayer to Lady Anne: "I, Gabriel Viaud, am Brother Stephen's colour-grinder; and I have made the ink for this book, and the glue, and caught the eels, and ground the gold and colours, and ruled the lines and gathered the flowers for the borders, and so I pray the Lord God will be kind and let my father out of prison in Count Pierre's castle, and tell Count Pierre to give us back our meadow and sheep, for we cannot pay the tax, and mother says we will starve." How his prayer is answered unfolds in the ensuing chapters.

Evaleen Stein brings the medieval world to life for younger students through her stories set in the Middle Ages. A century ago when this book was first published, a reviewer in the Louisville Daily Courier wrote, "No works in juvenile fiction contain so many of the elements that stir the hearts of children and grown-ups as well as do the stories so admirably told by this author." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.