My Digital Classroom

Last year we decided to change one of our novels at Year Eight. We had been teaching Master of the Grove by Victor Kelleher as part of our Medieval interdisciplinary unit of work. The novel was more fantasy than medieval and it polarised the class. At the beginning of last year, we were advised that the novel was out of print so we quickly had to scramble around and locate enough copies of the novel for students. The decision was then made to look for another ‘medieval’ book which we could use instead of Master of the Grove in 2010.

We first found out that it wasn’t easy to find a lot of medieval books that other schools were using. Below are some of the books we considered and a brief comment on each one.

The Ruins of Gorlan (Book 1 of the Ranger’s Apprentice series)-  John Flanagan

As a read, this series is really enjoyable. Students have a likeable character they can follow and there is enough action to keep them entertained. As it is a series, students have the option of reading the sequels which are all of a high quality. Like Master of the Grove, the story is more fantasy than medieval, although it does include more aspects of medieval life. After consultation with a number of teachers, it was decided that The Ranger’s Apprentice was a bit too easy to study as a Year Eight text.

Girl in a Cage - Jane Yolen & Robert Harris

This novel is set during the reign of Edward I and tells the story of Marjorie, the eleven-year-old daughter of newly crowned Scottish King, Robert the Bruce. She is captured and imprisoned in an iron cage in the town of Lanercost. The story is told through the eyes of Marjorie and details her captivity and the events that preceded it.

This was a really enjoyable book and contained a lot of historically accurate details of the time. This is a text that we were very interested in using. Unfortunately this text was out of print. It is well worth a read if you are able to find a copy in your school or local library.

Pagan’s Crusade (Book one of Pagan’s Chronicles)- Catherine Jinks

This was a text I really wanted to like. From my research I had discovered that there were some schools which had or were still using this text at Year Eight. From the very outset, however, I did not feel any attachment to the main character. He was rude, sly and continued to make stupid decisions. Added to that, there wasn’t enough going on in the story to sustain the interest of thirteen/fourteen year olds. On the plus side, it does contain a lot of historical details about the Crusades which would add to the background knowledge gained in History.

The Seeing Stone (Book one of the Arthur series) – Kevin Crossley Holland.

To me, this book seemed like it was written to teach children about medieval life and as a vessel for retelling the Arthurian legends. It was an easy read and the main character is likeable enough. The existence of the obsidian seeing stone and presence of the mysterious Merlin add interest to a pretty mundane story. I read the second book in the trilogy, hoping that it would be more exciting but came away disappointed again.

Rosemary for Remembrance & Rue for Repentance (Books 1 & 2 of The Janna Mysteries)- Felicity Pulman

Rosemary for Remembrance follows 16 year old Janna who lives on the edge of Gravelinges forest with her mother, the local healer. Janna’s world is turned upside down following the death of her mother. Janna investigates the circumstances of her mother’s death while tending at the manor of Dame Alice but discovers that she too is in danger of suffering the same fate as her mother.

I enjoyed reading both of these medieval mysteries. There is enough in this series to appeal to teenage readers, especially teenage girls. The story is well paced and the author has also included two love-interests for Janna, which adds an extra dimension to the plot. One thing that did annoy me, however, was Janna’s tendency to jump to conclusions (usually wrong) about who might be responsible for her mother’s death. While it does contain a lot of medieval detail, we decided against using this text as there is not enough to sustain a novel study in sufficient depth. There were also concerns that it would not appeal to Year Eight boys.

Crispin: The Cross of Lead- Avi

This was quite a good read and had enough action to keep you interested. I was a little disappointed with the ending, though, as I thought it ended with a whimper rather than a bang. It contains a lot of historically accurate information and there are many potential links with both R.E. and History. We ended up selecting this novel towards the end of the year as any flaws in the ending were compensated by the links to other subjects. Unfortunately, just before we returned to school in January, we were informed that this novel was also out of print!

As we teach Medieval history in term one, we did not have time to select as suitable medieval replacement. We were free to choose a book based on its merits, not constrained by whether it fit in with any particular theme. We focused our attentions on three potential books: Claire Carmichael’s Ads R Us, Robert Newton’s Runner and Jane Godwin’s Falling From Grace. After much deliberation, it was decided that Runner would be our Year Eight novel for 2010. It is a great read and one that students loved- more than I anticipated. This whole saga begs the question- Should the benefits of interdisciplinary learning override the need for a quality novel?