A review by pagesofpins
The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz
5.0
I thought I would love this story about the adventures of three very young saints because of the way medieval life is seamlessly woven into the story, that the author had the story "illuminated" with border illustrations throughout, and the Canterbury Tales style method of storytelling--and those were indeed well done. Medieval children's books are my jam. But what I really admire about this book is that the three Chosen One characters have to struggle through the biases that they've acquired in their world--are women really sinful temptresses like I learned in the abbey? Are all Christians like the ones who burned down my village? Are peasants fools? Don't all Jews have horns?
Three children leading very different lives (one a Jewish healer living in a world very wary of Jews, one a peasant girl with a holy dog and the ability to see the future in visions--who desperately hopes she isn't a witch, and the giant offspring of a Christian crusader and an African Muslim who has superhuman strength) find themselves on the run together. Soon, everyone is looking for these children who can do amazing (miraculous?) things. Are they saints to be venerated, or devils to be destroyed? The children are thrown together while running for their lives, and must figure out the truth about the lies society has told them, while society figures out the truth about them. We tackle big questions about how God interacts with injustice, why we have religious persecution, orthodoxy, and how many different ideas there are out there about how God works.
All timely today.
Three children leading very different lives (one a Jewish healer living in a world very wary of Jews, one a peasant girl with a holy dog and the ability to see the future in visions--who desperately hopes she isn't a witch, and the giant offspring of a Christian crusader and an African Muslim who has superhuman strength) find themselves on the run together. Soon, everyone is looking for these children who can do amazing (miraculous?) things. Are they saints to be venerated, or devils to be destroyed? The children are thrown together while running for their lives, and must figure out the truth about the lies society has told them, while society figures out the truth about them. We tackle big questions about how God interacts with injustice, why we have religious persecution, orthodoxy, and how many different ideas there are out there about how God works.
All timely today.