If You Were Me and Lived in the Middle Ages by Carole P. Roman

-April

This book is part of the Civilizations Throughout Time series.  These books are meant for children ages 8-12 and are packed with information.  The hope is that later, when a child hears something from a book somewhere else, their brain will make the connection that they've read it before.

I enjoyed this book, as I always do with Carole's stuff.  This one was more interesting to me than any of the others I've read in this series.  There's a lot of class separation in the book, but she tells both sides.  In most of her books, she seems to show the more well-to-do side of the civilization, so it was really interesting to see this civilization through the eyes of a commoner.

The art is more watercolory, but there are darker colors in it.  It's lots of browns and greens, so it's more earthy than light and airy.

Medicine is explained a little bit.  For me, it was intriguing reading this part.  I'm not sure how children would relate to blood-letting, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was really interesting to learn about barber surgeons and the representation of the barber pole.

This is my favorite book in this series so far.  You hear a lot about the artists from the Middle Ages, but for me it was really interesting getting a glimpse of every day life, be it common or wealthy.