Richie's Picks: Great Books for Children and Young Adults

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"I wonder who they are
The men who really run this land
And I wonder why they run it
With such a thoughtless hand"
--David Crosby, "What are Their Names?"

"What kind of men -- I wondered -- were these that killed by day, drank by night, but prayed each morning?"
(from CRISPIN: AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD)

If you have yet to read CRISPIN: THE CROSS OF LEAD, then I urge you to stop reading this review of the second book (in what will hopefully become a CRISPIN trilogy), and proceed immediately to your library or bookstore for a copy of the first book. You can see what I wrote in March 2002 about the first CRISPIN book, including my desire back then for a sequel, at: http://richiespicks.com/users/stories/picks/crispin_the_cross_of_lead.html.

And if you have already read CRISPIN: THE CROSS OF LEAD, you are in for a wonderful surprise: the second CRISPIN book is even more powerful and moving than the first.

In fact, Avi could have chosen to write a safe and forgettable sequel to his 2003 Newbery Medal-winner, CRISPIN: THE CROSS OF LEAD. Regardless of such a sequel's significance, or lack thereof, school and public librarians everywhere would add to their collections an author's follow-up to a Newbery Medal-winning tale.

But rather than taking that path of least resistance, Avi has, instead, crafted a breathtaking and oft-brutal medieval adventure story that is underlain with some subtle-yet-biting satire. The result is a sequel that could well stand on its own as the most exciting and thought-provoking book of Avi's long and celebrated career.

"It was a June morning when Bear and I passed beyond Great Wexly's walls and left the crowded and treacherous city behind. The June sun was warm, the sky above as blue as my Blessed Lady's spotless robe; our triumphant sense of liberty kept me giddy with joy. Hardly able to contain myself, I more than once cried out, 'My name is Crispin!' for all the world to hear."

With a seamless transition from the first book, CRISPIN: AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD picks up the harrowing adventures of Crispin and Bear exactly where and when the first book left off. It is still 1377, amidst the era of the Hundred Years War, and the pair are trying to leave Great Wexly behind. At the conclusion of the first book, Crispin has completed the deal with the evil John Aycliffe in which Crispin agrees to leave town and forgo any claim to his newly-found heritage as Lord Furnival's son in exchange for Aycliffe's ordering Bear released from prison. Bear, who had been incarcerated as a suspected member of John Ball's secret brotherhood (a group which seeks to win personal liberties for the people), is finally free but greatly weakened from his time in prison followed by the violent finale with the double-crossing Aycliffe.

Further ill-fortune awaits the pair at the onset of the second book. A number of other brotherhood members have just been inexplicably arrested and, so, when a brotherhood member recognizes Bear, realizes he is no longer in prison, and wrongly concludes that the bearded giant of a man has provided the authorities with names in exchange for saving his own skin, he seriously wounds the fleeing Bear and causes initiation of the manhunt (Bearhunt?) that will cast a long shadow over the duo throughout the second book.

And then there were three:

It is as a result of the pair's crossing paths in the middle of the forest with the wise woman, herbalist, and midwife, Aude, a woman who is severely persecuted for her pagan beliefs, that Crispin and Bear are eventually joined in their flight to evade the brotherhood by Aude's young apprentice, a girl with a cleft palate called Toth. It is this trio who evolve into a family and who then proceed to face the terror and insanity, provided in turn by both nature and by man, that sends the story spinning across Britain and out into stormy seas.

" 'Tell us of the attack,' Bear said to this man as he poled us across.
" 'It was a sweet, cloudless day when they came,' was the reply. 'They came by sea, at dawn, swooping in, killing almost seventy. Four men were taken away for ransom. Looting was rampant. Many houses were burned. They burnt our church, stealing everything they could, even taking the bells.' He paused in his poling to lift a fist in anger. 'May God strike them down, hard!' He marked his words with a shove upon his pole, punctuating them by spitting into the water.
" 'And they claim Saint Dennis as their protector, he who is a defense against strife. May Jesus blast them all.'
" 'Was there no resistance?' asked Bear.
" 'We did resist. Fiercely. But were ill-prepared. Those who failed in their responsibility have paid the penalty.'
" 'How so?' asked Bear.
" 'Execution,' said the man. 'God rot them.' He spat into the water.
" 'That,' suggested Bear, 'will surely make them better prepared next time.' "

Once again, as with the first book, I am totally entangled in Avi's medieval world and cannot wait for another installment to be written and published.

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com