Customer Reviews

The Silver Cup

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

 

 

This book caused me to realize how few realms kids' books currently cover. This is a richly nuanced, interesting book for upper middle school and first years of high school readers. I heartily recommend it for its thought-provoking slice of christians and jews in the middle ages.

What a wonderfully educational book! Rich storylines. Good drama and complex characters. Obviously very carefully researched. You must buy this book -- either for yourself or for your kids. You'll both love it!

When Anna's father married the blacksmith's daughter, his noble family cast him out. Anna's mother died when Anna was ten, and she became the responsibility of her harsh, bitter aunt who lived next door. At
fifteen, she takes care of her merchant father and cousin, Martin - never to the satisfaction of Aunt Agnes. Greatly delighted when her father takes her to the city of Worms, she becomes nervous when her
father enters the Jewish Quarter to deliver small, intricate tools crafted by his in-laws to a silversmith. Despite her apprehensions, Anna is awed by the beauty of the silversmith's home and elegantly dressed daughter of about her age. She is too shy to return the daughter's smile.


Set in Germany of 1095, Anna's quiet village life is disrupted by Martin, who runs away to join a renegade branch of the Crusades, led by the brutal Count Emich. When Count Emich's army massacres the eight hundred Jews in Worms, Anna rescues the silversmith's surviving daughter. In this author's first novel, she has not plunked characters with modern sensibilities into a medieval setting. The protagonist, while astute
and kind, is of a piece with her times. The author has written an excellent historical fiction which shines a light on an all-but-forgotten infamy of the Crusades.

This was a great book. It was informative, suspenseful and very intersting. It makes me want to learn more about the crusades. The descriptions of the massacre are graphic, but real.

excellent book!

Book Talk: Anna lives with her father and her cousin in a small hut on her uncle's property. Her uncle is a successful blacksmith and her father makes a living traveling to different towns trading his goods. He is apprenticing her cousin to the art, which often takes them on long trips and leaves Anna at home while her cousin and Father see the world. She longs for more excitement than her small world provides, but when the monotony of her life is finally broken it isn't glamorous excitement that she finds. First her youngest cousin disappears, then the one that's living with her runs off to join a questionable cause in his search for glory, a cause that ends up ruining the lives of many and leaves Anna with a difficult decision. How much is she willing to sacrifice to do what she knows to be right? How can you help someone who doesn't want to be helped? Anna isn't sure what to do, but whatever she decides she knows that her life will never be the same again.

Rocks My Socks: Leeds obviously did her research on the book, down to the smallest details (who knew they hadn't invented pockets yet?) and it makes for a very interesting read . I didn't know much about life in the Middle Ages, so it was fun to see daily life in a small town re-created. I also found the description of the crusade leading to the mass murdering of Jewish communities compelling and it was an aspect of history that I had never heard about before. I enjoyed the interaction between Anna and the Jewish girl, Leah. It brought up some interesting and valuable issues for teens to explore. I also like them both separately as characters. Anna's commitment to do what is right in the face of a society that is wrong is inspiring and Leah's commitment to her people and her traditions even at a time of such turmoil is admirable.

Rocks In My Socks: The summary on the jacket made it sound like the focus of the book was the relationship between Anna and Leah, which is why I picked it up, but most of it was actually just description of Anna's daily life. Leah doesn't even really appear until halfway through the book, and even then she's written out of the storyline before the end. The part of the book dealing with their relationship also seemed a bit overly sentimental to me at times, but I don't have much of a sweet tooth as far as my fiction goes so it's easy for a book to get overly saccharine for my tastes. It might have seemed more realistic and justified to me if Leeds taken more time on this part of the narrative to really develop their relationship over time. The ending was also wrapped up a bit too easily and neatly for me.

Every Book Its Reader: I'd recommend the book to middle to high school students with an interest in the Middle Ages. I think this book would also make an interesting companion piece to a unit on Anne Frank. The book does revolve around female characters, but I don't think that the book is overly girly.

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A worthwhile book! The characters are well developped, the story line is creative without losing credibility, the descriptions are rich, and the oddities of old language and customs brought forth in an engaging way.

I do not see this as appropriate for younger than 6th or 7th grade. Even then it may be too much for the sensitive child. Unfortunately the scene of destruction and pillage in Worms is elucidated in a gut wrenching way. It should not have been. The brutal tone of pages 111-113 are incongruent with rest of the book. There is another short passage on page 191 that also goes over the edge of decency, although it is far less offensive.

Example: ""Wait, there's more," said Hagan. "In the square near the Martinstor, I saw, with my own eyes, two Jewish girls younger than your Anna, raped over and over, and then beheaded while people laughed."" page 112 I find it hard to believe that Hagan would have spoken that way with a young girl present. He could have said the "two Jewish girls were ill-used or physically degraded or violated by many men, and then beheaded in front of a callous crowd."
This could have been toned down in keeping with the rest of the book and its' success at writing to its' intended audience. The kind of language above should be left out or saved for 10th grade and up. The world is brutal enough without dwelling on atrocities at a young age.

So, I would deduct 1/2 a star for this aberration in the writing if I could. Otherwise, as I have already stated, it is an excellent, captivating, original work with a rich historical backdrop. This writer should contribute more to children's literature.

Note: My 12 year old daughter did not care for this book as much. She thought the storyline with the missing half wit child was strange and the tone of the book a little offputting.

The beauty of historical fiction is that it allows the reader to learn about a particular time and culture that's been woven into a fascinating story. While I am well beyond the juvenile fiction stage, I was attracted by both the story and the history. I was drawn into this family and the issues they faced in terms of their social and economic survival. From the perspective of the younger reader, potential questions about how people lived during the Middle Ages were answered with the inclusion of the glossary at the end of the book - a terrific teaching tool. This book was a great read and parents should make a point of reading it after their children are done.