If You Lived in the Days of the Knights (If You Lived...

by Ann McGovern, Dan Andreasen (Illustrator)

England in the 13th century is an intriguing and superstitious world for magic spells, brave knights, and magnificent castles. But, for many, life is difficult. Through a simple question-and-answer format, this book explores the many aspects of the Middle Ages.

Genres: History, Medieval, Childrens, School, Juvenile, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Ann McGovern Scheiner (née Weinberger) was an American writer of more than 55 children's books, selling over 30 million copies. She may be best known for her adaptation of Stone Soup, as well as Too Much Noise, historical and travel non-fiction, and biographies of figures like Harriet Tubman and Deborah Sampson Gannett and Eugenie Clark.

Reviews

[Vianey Sanchez]

If You Lived in the Days of the Knights by Ann McGovern
Genre: Informational
Interest level: Grades 3-5
Guided reading: Q
Lexile level: 740L
Summary: This book tells of medieval times in the format of question-answer. It includes information on many different aspects of life during medieval times such as beliefs, ceremonies, types of homes, hierarchical systems, entertainment, family life, jobs and more. The book is formatted in question-answer but it also includes maps, paintings and a glossary.

Classroom use: I really liked this book because of the question-answer format; the questions that are presented are those that young students would probably wonder when it comes to medieval times and the information is presented in a clear, student friendly way, usually with a picture to accompany. The maps and diagrams are also great because it gives the students a realistic visual to help them understand the different aspects of medieval times.

[Primadonna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple yet informative.

[Delona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Who knew the Middle Ages were so fascinating? This is one of those perspective books. Maybe now isn't such a bad time to live.

[Liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has a lot of true facts. I liked the words

[Derren]

shit

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an easy to understand explanation of Europe in the 1250s and focuses mostly on the life of a knight, but also gives information about life in general during this time. There is a fun timeline at the beginning with a small explanation of some of the big things that happened in the Middle Ages. The illustrations are well done and the print is large.

[Nichole Ostrander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Filled with questions and answers about the middles ages. My eldest wants to feast, my younger two loved the illustrations. They also loved learning about manners. This books talks about a lot more than knights.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't say this is the most exciting nonfiction book about the Middle Ages, but it definitely is informative.

[JKR · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contains a surprising amount of information for a small book. I don’t recall seeing the meaning of a knight’s dubbing ceremony explained elsewhere: “This was supposed to be the only blow you would ever take without fighting back.”