By Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Illustrations by Ian Schoenherr
4RBooks: 3/6, grades 6-8
Amazon rating: 4.5/5, grade level 3-7
Good Reads: 3.8/5
Common Sense Media: 4/5, age 10+
278 pages
Synopsis:
The year is 1350 A.D. Europe is being devastated by pestilence (The Plague). People are making pilgrimages throughout various countries looking for religious relics and making pilgrimages to holy sites hoping for miracles. Violence, disease, and death seem to be around every corner.
In France, there is a boy with a hump on his back. He doesn’t have a real name; he’s just known as Boy. He works for Sir Jacques, a former knight who is now an invalid after getting kicked in his head by a horse during a joust. Boy has one special talent that no one knows, he can talk to animals, and they can talk to him.
One day a pilgrim named Secundus sees him climb a tree and arranges for him to leave Sir Jacques and come with him. Boy is excited for a chance to leave and see the world, especially when he learns they are going on a pilgrimage that might lead to Rome. He is sure that if he makes it to St. Peter’s tomb, he will have his prayer answered, to be a normal boy.
The two begin a journey through France, across the sea, and finally to Rome. Secundus is trying to collect relics of St. Peter to present to his tomb and secure his miracle, too. They face many dangers and learn many things about themselves. Boy, in particular, is going to come to realize that he is not deformed, he’s just different, and will soon become what he was always meant to be.
Parental Guidance: medium-high (spoiler alert)
· The trials, tribulations, dangers, and unsanitary conditions of Europe in the 1300’s are detailed.
· Secundus is a thief stealing relics of St. Peter. He enlists Boy’s help.
· Secundus is a 1000-year-old escapee from hell who stole the key to the gates of hell on his way out.
· Boy is regularly taunted and abused because of the hump on his back. He is trapped in a tomb for several days and has people trying to capture him and dissect him. He and Secundus are often on the run and in danger from people they have stolen from.
· Piss is a common word throughout the story describing both the act, the stench, and the pot used as a toilet.
· The word bitch is used in connection with a female dog.
· Alcohol is a regular beverage for many of the characters.
· One of the themes of the story is the greed associated with the selling and buying of relics.
Recommendation:
When I first started reading this book, I thought it was going to be a hard recommendation to make. The setting and topic seemed too obscure to interest most children (searching for relics in medieval France). I then remembered that 7th grade history, at least in California, covers medieval Europe so this could possibly be a good core novel to add flavor to the history lessons.
After finishing the novel, I’m concerned about recommending the book, especially as a Christian man. The story is interesting enough, an epic quest with unique characters. There are twists and turns connected to Secundus and Boy that are slowly revealed throughout the pages. Its portrayal of medieval Europe is graphic enough I wouldn’t recommend this for an elementary classroom. It’s a middle school appropriate novel.
The problem I have with the book is its completely inaccurate details regarding certain Christian beliefs. Secundus escapes from hell. No one escapes from hell. Secundus is collecting relics believing that returning them to St. Peter will guarantee him entrance to heaven. No one can work or buy their way into heaven. Boy learns that his hump is actually his unfolded wings, he is an angel. Angels do not grow up on earth and then remain here to do good work. They are heavenly beings.
With Christian parent’s guidance this could be an acceptable novel, but I would feel uncomfortable with students reading it on their own and getting wrong impressions about Biblical truths.
It was a Newberry Honor Book. I purchased this book at Peregrine Books in Prescott, AZ.
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