By Colorado Kids Advisory Board member Billy Coberly

Title: The Medieval World
Author: Philip Steele
Publisher: Kingfisher
Number of Pages: 96 pages

The Medieval World talks about knights and castles in the Middle Ages. It explains what a boy would have to do to become a knight, talks about castles, noble marriages, and many other things.

My favorite part is when it describes coats-of-arms and heraldry. One knight's coat-of-arms is passed down to his sons and daughters, but there are ways of telling them apart. If a knight had a red cross on a black background, his eldest son might have had a red cross on a black background with a white star in the middle of the cross. Each child's would have been slightly different. A woman's coat of arms was the same as her father's except that instead of a shield it was diamond-shaped. It changed to her husband's once she married.

The book describes some of the more famous battles and campaigns of the Middle Ages, such as the Crusades, William of Normandy's invasion of England and the Welsh uprisings. It also talks about jousts and tourneys. Did you know that a knight could not see out of his jousting helmet unless he leaned forward? Or that a knight might declare himself a lady's champion and wear her scarf on his sleeve?

Another thing it talks about is some important orders of knights such as the Teutonic Order or the Knights Templar. These were groups of knights who banded together to defend justice. Or, so they said. Most of them did what they said they would, as many had monks among them. But, some of the orders were bad for society. The Teutonic Order rode into Russia at one point to gain influence. The Polish at first welcomed them in, but as the order got more powerful, the Polish got a little scared and slaughtered the Teutonic Order later on. That was one of the orders that made a mistake in judgement at one point.

My mother and father both like the book a lot. Dad liked the part where it describes some of the things the Knights Templar did. Mom liked the whole book and didn't really have a favorite part. I think the book is very good and would recommend it for kids ages 8-15. I think that anyone who would like to learn about the Middle Ages would like The Medieval World. (December, 2000)