Customer Reviews

Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

These diary books by Richard Platt are absolutely wonderful! I can't praise them highly enough as great works of historical fiction for young children. My five year old son can't get enough of this book. He loves it so much that I recently purchased the Pirate Diary for him. I didn't pay attention to editions or dimensions. I just purchased it. Well, it was tiny, about 5x6 compared to the large and lavish 10x13 first edition Castle Diary that we own. Also, instead of full page, full color illustrations there were black and white sketches here and there. So, I checked out the Castle Diary book again on Amazon and the same thing has been done. Look carefully at what you're ordering. The first editions are very large and gorgeously illustrated in full color with the text interspersed throughout. The editions available now are much smaller. They are mainly text with a few black and white sketches.

I am so saddened by what they have done to these books. In their original form, they are five star books for sure. I can only give four stars to the newer editions, however. The writing is the same but they have lost their picture book charm which made them accessible to younger kids. Even for older kids, however, a picture is worth a thousand words and would surely be greatly appreciated.

In short, I would rather own a used first edition of these books than a brand new copy of the modified version. I just wanted to point out the difference to prospective buyers.

Why do I say "amazing"?

Author Richard Platt writes a fictional diary for young readers based on ACADEMIC RESEARCH. The diary is a brilliant vehicle to make the facts fun, digestable, and memorable. Platt makes the history of a medieval castle come to life with vivid characters, action, and suspense.

Why do I say "pathetic"?

I'm a language arts teacher and therefore have some insight on the following scenario: If you ask a young reader to pick out a book, he'll inexorably choose junk like Animorphs or something by R.L. Stine, and adults are inclined to think, "Well, at least he's reading." Yeah, he's reading junk, and as he grows older he'll continue to read junk. I spent a weekend hunting down this incredible book, Castle Diary. Barnes & Noble didn't carry it, and only one of three Borders bookstores in town had it---and only one copy, at that. And yet they carry enough R.L. Stine, Animorphs, and other trash to sink a battleship. Pathetic.

Parents, expect a little more from your child's reading habits. Buy this book for starters.

An extremely descriptive book, both in text and illustrations. Each page is riddled with short passages (by day) and small illustrations to follow most passages. The text is exploding with vocabulary used by the people of the year 1285 (The Dark Ages). The illustrations are very detailed and descriptive. There are many double page illustrations that add a lot to the book. The detail, color, and facial expressions used in the illustrations catch an observer's eye and force their eyes to wander throughout the illustration to acquire all the information it has to give. Illustrations include the layout of the castle, as well as the inside of many rooms. The text is broken up into easy to read and find sections and a glossary and index is included to aid the reader. At the end is a great section titled "Toby's World". This is a small section that goes into good detail about weapons, armor, houses, castles, and titles of the day. An informative short novel that could be enjoyed by children age 9 to 99. It can be used as a reference, an enjoyable reader, or as an addition to a Dark Ages discussion or curriculum.

It's always a challenge to find elementary-level quality literature for earlier time periods, but this was perfect. The illustrations in this hardback edition are wonderful. My kids couldn't wait to read it each day. I recommend it highly to homeschoolers.

Castle Diary is a wonderful book about the Middle Ages. It is the diary of a young boy, Tobias Burgess, who spends a year as a page in a castle. He hopes to later become a knight. Tobias has many fun adventures and enjoys the castle life. He gets to ride in a hunt and discovers a poacher near the castle. He is always getting into trouble, as he is not used to the castle rules. His punishments are very harsh. Tobias always keeps up with his journal, because he always wants to remember his experience. I loved this book because I learned so much about the Middle Ages, and the illustrations were absolutely wonderful!

This is an amazing story with beautiful illustrations. This follows the life of a paige throughout one day in his life. A must have for those that are interested in midevial times!

This is a fun story about a year in the life of a castle page. 3rd or 4th grade reading level (mostly because of archaic phrasing: "mayhap" etc.). And oh, the illustrations! Every detail is there -- your child will lose himself in the middle ages.

There is a clever section at the back with more information about medieval living, and a combination index/glossary.

Fun, instructive, creative book.

I originally saw this bk in the library and was thrilled that Amazon carried it. Was shocked to see how small in size it actually is and the illustrations are miniscule. Sorry. am returning it. Where's the large edition with colored illustrations???

My son just finished this book as an assignment for our study on medieval times. He was engrossed in it from beginning to end. I was pleased at all he learned about medieval times just from reading this book and would recommend it to anyone teaching about this time period to ages 3rd to 5th grade.

I highly recommend this book as a reader on its own or as part of a unit on the Middle Ages. The readability is appropriate for 9-11 year olds. It is informative yet interesting and children can easily relate to it. A few middle english words and phraseology are included to give the book some type of realistic writing and the terms are explained as they are used. It is also a great book to use as a springboard for writing. My students couldn't wait to start their own castle diary after finishing this one.