Book Review: Avi's: Crispin: The End of Time

 

Cover Art by Tristan Elwell

 

Crispin: The End of Time by Avi published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers in 2010 is the third book in the Crispin trilogy. Tristan Elwell illustrated the cover. The first book Crispin: The Cross of Lead was awarded the Newbery Medal in 2003. The End of Time can be read as the first book but it is more satisfying as the conclusion to Crispin’s story. (The second book in the series: Crispin: At the Edge of the World is only available as an audio or e-book.)

Crispin can not catch a break; his adoptive father, Bear, has died. His adopted sister, Troth, joins a convent, an excellent choice for that period in time. She has a roof over head, daily meals and her skills as an herbalist are valued. Unknowingly Crispin joins a murdering troupe of musicians and must figure out a way to escape and to take a fellow captive, a very young Owen with him. The descriptions of middle age life carry the story forward.

For me the most memorable part is the graphic description of the castle moat which is not the grassy ditches of current castle museums or even fish filled waters of some castle museums but ditches filled with raw sewage and mud, emitting a foul stench.

The paperback version, published in 2011, is 223 pages long and includes additional back matter: A Conversation with Avi, a Middle Ages Bibliography with the eye catching Books, Banks and Buttons and Other Middle Age Inventions listed, and discussion questions.

Link to Author Page: Avi Writer

Writing tips: Avi Writing Tips  

Cover Design: Cristine Kettner 

Cover Art: Tristan Elwell   

Review of: Avi: Crispin: The Cross of Lead 

Visit Greg Pattridge host of: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday  

Visit your local book store: Second Star to the Right 

Banana Oat Cake

 

Oats and Chokecherry Blossom by Charles E&T

 

 

Banana Oat Breakfast Cake

1 cup sugar

½ cup unsalted butter

½ cup oats

1 cup flour

2 - 3 bananas, mashed

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 Tablespoon hot water

This is an adaptation of my mother’s, maternal grandmother’s and aunts’ recipe for banana cake. Please scroll down for the original recipe.

Directions: Wash and dry the egg. Put dish towel used to dry egg in the dirty clothes hamper. Crack egg into a separate small bowl and check egg.

Cream sugar and butter, add bananas and cream. Add oats and cream. Add egg and cream. Add flour, cream. Lastly and the baking soda which is dissolved in a Tablespoon of hot water. Using the butter wrapper, grease a 9.5 inch, deep dish pie pan and then dust with flour. Pour batter into the deep dish pan.

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes; insert a knife to test if completely baked in the middle. While cake is baking make the icing. 

This cake is always moist, always falls in the middle which makes for a swimming pool of icing in the middle. We enjoy it.

Icing

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

¼ cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

3 Tablespoons whole milk

¼ - ½ cup powdered sugar

While cake is baking, make the icing. Melt in small sauce pan: butter, brown sugar, vanilla and milk. Stir. Remove from heat and sift in the powdered sugar. Pour icing over cake while cake and icing are still warm.

Serves 8 people.

Notes: This cake assembles quickly and with the oats and triangular slices presents as a breakfast or brunch cake.

Banana Cake

Below are the original ingredient lists for the banana cake and frosting that my mother, her mother and the aunts made and that I made for years. It’s great for backyard birthday parties. The cake was a conversation piece in part because it seems to have originated in a time of shortages: fewer bananas, eggs and fresh milk. In contrast, there were abundant amounts of powdered sugar. I don’t know how the remaining evaporated milk was used. It’s an interesting question.

Note: We always doubled the cake recipe and baked it in a 9.5 x 13.25 inch pan or some similar sized pan. The frosting recipe does Not need to be doubled. It yields a generous amount of frosting.

Banana Cake

1 cup sugar

¼ pound butter or margarine

1 egg

1 cup crushed ripe bananas

1 ½ cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 Tablespoon hot water

Frosting

4 Tablespoons butter or margarine

½ cup brown sugar

5 Tablespoons evaporated milk

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ¾ cups powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ cup chopped walnuts, optional

 

Book Review Rosanne Parry’s: A Wolf Called Wander

 

A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry

 

With A Wolf Called Wander Roseanne Parry has written a fun, page turning, nature novel. This is a work of fiction which was inspired by an Oregon wolf called OR-7 who took an epic hike. Monica Armino’s beautiful black and white illustrations enhance the story. First published in 2019 by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, Ms. Parry’s book became a New York Times best seller. While it may seem disingenuous to review such a book, today’s third graders would have been only two or three years old when this book debuted. Swift, a wolf pup, grows with his siblings to a yearling and then events force him to migrate the length of Eastern Oregon, a long journey. By forming a friendship with a raven, he gains survival and social emotional skills.

A Wolf Called Wander is recommended for grades three through seven although many adults will also enjoy it. The paperback story is 209 pages long with an additional 30 pages of extensive back matter including habitat and animal definitions, a map, photographs and additional resources.

 

Visit author: Roseanne Parry

Visit illustrator: Monica Armino 

Visit cover artist: Cindy Derby

Learn more about cover designer: Sylvie Le Floc'h 

Visit Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Learn more about map illustrator: Ryan O'Rourke 

Visit Greg Pattridge host of: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Visit your local bookstore: Boulder Bookstore 

Book Review: Avi's Crispin: The Cross of Lead

Crispin 2021 cover by Keith Robinson

 

Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi was first published in 2002 by Disney Hyperion, an imprint of Disney Book Group, and awarded the Newbery Medal in 2003 for distinguished contribution to children’s literature. The paperback version was published in 2021 by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group. The book is over 20 years old, still relevant and new to today’s middle graders who were not born in 2003. Crispin a 13 year old orphaned serf lives in 1377 England. This is a tale of survival with themes of death, skills, adoption, and freedom. In spite of its rather grim circumstances this is a fun book to read. The descriptions of thirteenth century England are engrossing and Crispin’s character is captivating. I tend to reread this book during Arctic cold fronts and feel incredibly comfortable as serfs’ houses were cold, wet and drafty as they lacked doors, floors, chimneys and watertight roofs.

Warning: There is a graphic description of a decaying corpse on the gallows.

The back matter includes a Historical Note by Avi, an Interview with Avi and a Glossary. The paperback version is 310 pages long.

 

Poetry

 

Blue sky and Snow photo by ET Charles

 

 

 

  Honored to have my poems published on The Dirigible Balloon

 

Red Fox, The Dirigible Balloon, December 2024

Winter Day, The Dirigible Balloon, December 2024

December Lights, The Dirigible Balloon, December 2024

 

Osprey Chick, The Dirigible Balloon, June 2024

Ruby Throated Hummingbird, The Dirigible Balloon, June 2024