What If You Met a Knight?

By Jan Adkins

Book Overview

Forget jousts and quests and dragons--a real knight had real work to do, lots of mouths to feed, and trouble could ride over the hill at any moment. Castles were dark, armor was uncomfortable, and jousts and tournaments (not to mention real battles) were dangerous--and expensive. As in the popular and successful What If You Met a Pirate? an informative, entertaining text and energetic illustrations, diagrams, and cross sections combine to explore a subject with loads of kid appeal.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596431482
• ISBN13: 9781596431485
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.3" x 0.3" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 6 to 9 years
• Grade Range: Grades 1 to 4

Customer Reviews

Real Knights

I wanted to read this book to glean more information on Knights. We have a tendency to romanticize that which we don't fully understand. In reality, life in Medieval times was literally grimy and smelly. Being too clean was considered to put one at risk for illness, thus people and places tended to smell bad. This book takes a hard look at what we think about history and then sheds a little extra light on the subject. Medieval people were very much like us, with families, homes, and jobs to tend. One's position was determined by birth than by ability. The author uses one particular knight and dissects his life, showing us the grim reality compared to the normal fantasy. Fun for any age, but great for second to fourth graders.

Great informational book!

This book provides great information about pirates, their lives, their ships, and their activities. The illustrations are detailed. It can be read to younger children a page or two at a time, but is more likely a book for older elementary students.

Poor Sir Guy, he's got a tough life!

What If You Met a Knight? takes the myth out of knighthood and introduces us to a REAL knight, Sir Guy. Sir Guy has a lot of locals depending on him, and he has to answer to his king as well--Poor Sir Guy! This book is a fun, funny, factual look at real life in the Middle Ages. Loved reading it with my children, and my eight-year-old took it to school to share with the other kids. Enjoy!

Arrrr! The gruesome truth about REAL pirates!

I read this book with my children and we all loved it. Guess what, pirates don't wear those silly hats and they hardly ever had peg legs! The parrots-- yes, they did have parrots. Full of fun and fantastic facts, great for any pirate fans. Wait till you see how they went to the bathroom!

Dispelling the knightly myth

Adkins humorously dispels popular myths about knights in shining armor, over viewing some of the most important aspects of knightly life, and offering a picture of what the life of a real medieval knight would have been like (more a farmer, manager and businessman than warrior). A good starting point for children interested in the actual history of knights.