Castles and Knights

School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-Beautifully illustrated with reprints of famous medieval works such as the Tres Riches Heures of Jean Duc de Berry and photographs of existing castles, this slight work falls short of its series title. The architecture and building of a castle are mentioned only in the first 10 pages. A double-page diagram of a castle, normally an attraction for young readers, is poorly designed; the font is too light to stand out from the cutaway illustration, making the captions hard to read. This problem appears in other areas where text is superimposed over full-color illustrations or screened photographs. The translation is also problematic. Awkward constructions are used, creating long sentences with many clauses. The remainder of the book gives a superficial overview of life in a castle and the training of a knight. Topics such as "The Kitchen" and "How to become a Knight" are covered in only a few paragraphs. There are many more complete titles on castles available for a wide range of readers including Christopher Gravett's Castle (DK, 2000), David Macaulay's Castle (Houghton, 1977), and Fiona Macdonald's A Medieval Castle (1990). Much has been written on knights as well. Libraries with Christopher Gravett's World of the Medieval Knight (1996, both Peter Bedrick) or Will and Mary Pope Osborne's Knights and Castles (Random, 2000) will not need to add Salley's title.-Rita Hunt Smith, Hershey Public Library, PA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.