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Nancy Keane's | Booktalks -- Quick and Simple | |
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Gidwitz, Adam. |
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It is
1242 and we
find ourselves
at the Holy
Cross-Roads
Inn. The story
of the most
famous and
most wanted
children in
France begins
with the
Brewster's
Tale. Here we
first learn
about the
peasant baby,
Jeanne, and
her dog
Gwenforte. The
greyhound is
left to
babysit the
child, an
adder enters
the home,
Gwenforte
defends the
child and the
misunderstandings
begin.
William's
story begins
at the
Monastery
Saint-Marten.
As the
Librarian
recounts,
William was
brought there
as a baby and
is now 11
years old.
Here we first
bear witness
to both his
amazing
strength and
his brilliant
philosophical
mind. Skip
ahead several
chapters to
the Butcher's
Tale and
Jacob. We meet
him on the
night his
village is
burned to the
ground by
Christian
peasants and
he is told by
his parents to
run away and
escape the
fire. As the
threads of the
story continue
to be picked
up by dueling
narrators, we
are caught up
in their
fantastic
journey. Are
they good? Are
they evil? Are
they
performing
miracles and
what will
happen to them
as their story
reaches its
end? (Vermont
Dorothy
Canfield
Fisher Book
Award,
2018) |
| SUBJECTS: Action and adventure fiction. Child oblates -- Fiction. France -- History -- Louis IX, 1226-1270 -- Fiction. Jews -- Fiction. Persecution -- Fiction. Prophets -- Fiction. Quests (Expeditions) -- Fiction. |
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