Rona Arato,
On a Medieval Day (Story Voyages Around the World Series)
Owlkids/Maple Tree Press, 2010.

Rating: G*

On a Medieval Day takes us on a worldwide journey during the medieval period. This esthetically pleasing book is effectively designed to give us a broad overview of this time period using historical fiction and non-fiction text. An introduction in the form of a letter to the reader highlights the vast differences and complexity of this progressive period throughout the world. Each chapter includes a six to seven page fictionalized account of a day in the life of a child and a two page non-fiction segment with four or five headings.

In this chronologically ordered book we meet nine different children. In 720, we meet Kuy in the Mayan civilization as they watch a game of pitz, a precursor to modern day soccer. Next, we meet Hana going through an arranged marriage in the Tang Dynasty of China in 740. From there, we meet Jamal and the famous Doctor Al-Razi from Baghdad in 905 who diagnoses him with measles versus the more serious smallpox. A Sad Departure depicts the life of Ingrid, a Viking girl from Greenland who settles and befriends a Beothuk girl in Vinland in 1002. In 1197, we meet Richard in England who has been studying since he is seven to become a page, squire and then a knight. Next, we meet Kame in Kamakura, Japan who is trying to save her house, land and belongings from the greedy, evil uncles. Kofi from Cairo travels to Timbuktu to trade goods in the Mali Empire with his father in 1345. Later in 1351, we meet Marco stowing away in a ship leaving Venice to go look for his father. Last, but not least, we meet Pedro from Toledo in the Kingdom of Castile (Spain) who is training under a woodcarving master who is likely a converso (Jews who pretended to be Christians to avoid expulsion and execution).

I found certain stories such as Pedro’s Choice, Richard’s Dilemma, A Sad Departure and Kame’s Dispute more captivating than others. Some stories were so heavily laden with factual details that the story seemed to get bogged down with these facts. Most stories had happy endings which seemed sugar coated and contradictory considering some of the difficult situations these people were in. For example in Hana’s Wedding, she worries about leaving her family and having to obey her husband and mother-in-law. Her arranged husband is however very open-minded and liberal thinking, whereas the non-fiction segment states that women had no education, no rights, and had to obey their husbands and mothers-in-law. In Pedro’s Choice, I also wonder about the ending where the young Pedro’s silence and his master’s pretense to be Christian will be enough to save him from being persecuted as a Jew. Since others characters were already calling his master a Jew, it is more than likely this would not be a happy ending. The hopeful happy endings don’t seem authentic and realistic. I think that youth reading these books can handle more serious and likely sad endings that may be closer to the truth.

I think the non-fiction segments should have been placed before the fiction pieces. I found myself always reading them first to build up my background knowledge for the fiction story. An index would also have been a useful addition to complement the non-fiction sections of this book.

A full page colour illustration of the child in the fiction story by artist Peter Ferguson helps you make a personal connection with these children and helps inform you about their physical appearance, clothing and the environment they lived in. Maps, illustrations and photographed artifacts of the period also add interest and help you understand that period. The maps are especially useful as the medieval empires are superimposed on today’s modern day maps. A different coloured ribbon for each section frames the pages and matches the larger coloured font in the titles and subheadings of the non-fiction section. These design elements add some visual interest and beauty to the overall character of the book.

Overall, I applaud Arato’s compilation of varied stories from around the world and the paired non-fiction sections. With this book you get a different and varied appreciation of medieval history and its’ complex nature. The children’s point of view in the historical fiction short stories is also a refreshing and unique approach that will interest young readers.

Vivianne Fogarty
Vol. 16, number 3
February 2011

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.