What a rich list! Two favorites of mine for kids are Adam of the Road and A Door in the Wall, both of which are historical fiction. I highly recommend them as read-alouds.
That is so funny, I had literally just added these to my Amazon basket (which I use as an ever-growing booklist no matter where I eventually get the books from), after Kerri’s comment sent me off to look at medal-winning books. Also intrigued by The Midwife’s Apprentice from the same list!
Excellent! I’m just about to start plotting the books we’ll use this year (1600-1850, I think). I always enjoy the guilt-free book splurge/library requests time of year! X
Thank you! Yes, Whitbread became the Costa Children’s Book Award but the whole thing stopped a couple of years ago after Costa was bought by Coca Cola, apparently. You’ve sent me down a rabbit hole looking at previous winners of both awards and now I’ve added more books to my ever-expanding basket!
Interesting - I'll need to check out that list. I've always used Newbery and Caldecott lists, especially from previous decades - both the winners and medalists are usually worth reading!
This is so useful. My blog consists of the same thing but about recommending the best movies of all of cinematic history that align with your family-first values, instead of letting kids accidentally watch stuff that not only fails to contribute to children's education but sometimes actively contradicts and undermines it. Would appreciate your advice!
I love so much here especially Margaret Hodge's books!
We read and loved Ian Serraillier's Beowulf. It preserves a lot of the poetry, the implicit Christian imagery, and it has gorgeous woodcut illustrations. I did waffle on the Michael Morpurgo and Rosemary Sutcliff retellings though. If only I could get away with subjecting my children to them all without tiring them out.
Aliki's Shakespeare's Globe and A Medieval Feast are both visually mermerizing.
And I just discovered and am intrigued by Marcia William's King Arthur and the Knights.
Thank for posting! Just wanted to say “The Inquisitor’s Tale…” was our read aloud last spring, and we loved it. After we finished my reluctant 8 year old son picked up that same author’s Secret Unicorn Society and devoured a few of those after. Now on to adding some holds at the library.
What a rich list! Two favorites of mine for kids are Adam of the Road and A Door in the Wall, both of which are historical fiction. I highly recommend them as read-alouds.
That is so funny, I had literally just added these to my Amazon basket (which I use as an ever-growing booklist no matter where I eventually get the books from), after Kerri’s comment sent me off to look at medal-winning books. Also intrigued by The Midwife’s Apprentice from the same list!
I think I read that book as a kid -- I think I enjoyed it!
This is a great list! I'm a little late in the game here... We did this time period a few years back, and some titles we liked include:
Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle
The Sword in the Tree by Clyde Robert Bulla
Also, a favorite of mine is A Door in the Wall, but someone beat me to mentioning it. :-)
Thank you so much!
A pleasure, I’m so pleased it’s useful!
I always love these lists.
I’m so delighted to hear that!
This is so helpful as we’re doing medieval this coming year! I’ve added a couple of books to my (already unruly) tbr for the year… x
Excellent! I’m just about to start plotting the books we’ll use this year (1600-1850, I think). I always enjoy the guilt-free book splurge/library requests time of year! X
What a great list! I’ve never heard of the Whitbread Children’s Award. Would you say it’s akin to the US Newbery award?
Thank you! Yes, Whitbread became the Costa Children’s Book Award but the whole thing stopped a couple of years ago after Costa was bought by Coca Cola, apparently. You’ve sent me down a rabbit hole looking at previous winners of both awards and now I’ve added more books to my ever-expanding basket!
Interesting - I'll need to check out that list. I've always used Newbery and Caldecott lists, especially from previous decades - both the winners and medalists are usually worth reading!
This is so useful. My blog consists of the same thing but about recommending the best movies of all of cinematic history that align with your family-first values, instead of letting kids accidentally watch stuff that not only fails to contribute to children's education but sometimes actively contradicts and undermines it. Would appreciate your advice!
I love so much here especially Margaret Hodge's books!
We read and loved Ian Serraillier's Beowulf. It preserves a lot of the poetry, the implicit Christian imagery, and it has gorgeous woodcut illustrations. I did waffle on the Michael Morpurgo and Rosemary Sutcliff retellings though. If only I could get away with subjecting my children to them all without tiring them out.
Aliki's Shakespeare's Globe and A Medieval Feast are both visually mermerizing.
And I just discovered and am intrigued by Marcia William's King Arthur and the Knights.
Excellent list. My kids pound through books so finding quality things for them to read is challenging.
Excellent list. My kids pound through books so finding quality things for them to read is challenging.
Your note on the Joan of Arc book made me laugh! Thank you for this list.
Thank for posting! Just wanted to say “The Inquisitor’s Tale…” was our read aloud last spring, and we loved it. After we finished my reluctant 8 year old son picked up that same author’s Secret Unicorn Society and devoured a few of those after. Now on to adding some holds at the library.