Magic in the Margins - W. Nikola-Lish

A Medieval Tale of Bookmaking
Illustrator: Bonnie Christensen
For: Grades 3-6
Published: May, 2007
Rating: 3.5

I think the story's too wordy in places but I'll have to read it to my 6th graders to get their opinions. The premise is excellent- telling how books were painstakingly handmade by monks during medieval times, before the printing press. This story tells about the drawings that accompanied the text, how they were clever and creative and even humorous. Simon, a young orphan, is taken in by the monks at a monastery, and it falls upon Brother William to educate him. It so happens that Brother William is a master scribe who works in the scriptorium, creating the parchment, quills, and inks before meticulously putting ink to paper.

The overly long story is how Father Anselem, the head of the monastery, won't let Simon actually work on manuscripts until he's able to "capture" mice. This turns out to be a riddle, he does not want Simon to catch the mice, but observe them and capture them in drawings.

There's lots of information about creating books, the people who created them. and the middle ages. Paired with Marguerite Makes a Book (Bruce Robertson) and Illuminations (Hunt, unfortunately out of print), these are three great picture books to emphasize calligraphy and illumination. I plan to use them, along with some calligraphy and illumination lessons, as I teach about the middle ages using the book Good Masters, Sweet Ladies by Laura Schlitz. Fun, fun fun!

The illustrations are coloful, set off by thick red "frames", with - guess - ILLUMINATIONS in the margins.