Review: Knight

By Christopher Gravett; Photographed by Geoff Dann

DK Publishing; 2004; 72 Pages

Juvenile Non-Fiction; Single Topic

Grades 2-5

ISBN: 0-7566-0696-9

An in-depth look at all aspects of typical life for a medieval knight, this book discusses everything from how to knights donned their armor to a time line of chivalric history. The text is accompanied by photographs of artifacts and re-enactments.

My Thoughts:
I thought that this book was outstanding. The text is simple, yet rich in details. (For example, armour weighed 45 to 55 pounds, women often married at fourteen, and castles had holes in their stone ceilings so that fires could be put out from above!) More importantly, at least to the modern child's short attention span, the formal text itself is incredibly brief. The majority of the information is delivered via blurbs or captions to the remarkable photographs. This also would aid reluctant readers. The text is chunked in such a way that it is neither overwhelming nor daunting. Both the author and the photographer did a good job in picking subjects (specific suits of armor, ancient weaponry, artwork) that would appeal to children. This book makes history fun!

The best aspect of this book though was the photography. I feel that having the pictures be photos rather than illustrations aids in children's grasp of history as reality. Had the book merely had drawings of knights and ladies, many children could have equated it to the overabundance of illustrated fairy tales and fantasy works. The photos really bring home the fact that knights were real, that they really fought, and that they really wore armour. (I particularly enjoyed the double-page spread that depicted how a knight went about putting the armor on. It was truly an involved process.) I am interested now in looking at some of the other historical eyewitness books in the series, and am confident that I can recommend them to kids doing research, or who are merely interested in learning more about the world around them!

The Thoughts of Others:
I was actually unable to find any critical reviews of this particular edition/eyewitness title. However, overall the series is highly respected. I know that, if you count circulation statistics as a review source, we can't seem to keep any of the eyewitness books on the shelf. This one is particularly popular, with an astronomical circulation rate.

Also, for a very non-critical review, I would like to point out that this book was actually recommended to me by a 3rd grade boy when he found out I wanted an eyewitness book for homework. Peyton said, and I quote: "You should get the knight one. Its my favoritest! There are swords and stuff."