Adam of the Road [Paperback]

A Newbery Medal Winner

Awarded the John Newbery Medal as the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children in the year of its publication. A road's a kind of holy thing, said Roger the Minstrel to his son, Adam. That's why it's a good work to keep a road in repair, like giving alms to the poor or tending the sick. It's open to the sun and wind and rain. It brings all kinds of people and all parts of England together. And it's home to a minstrel, even though he may happen to be sleeping in a castle. And Adam, though only eleven, was to remember his father's words when his beloved dog, Nick, was stolen and Roger had disappeared and he found himself traveling alone along these same great roads, searching the fairs and market towns for his father and his dog.

Here is a story of thirteenth-century England, so absorbing and lively that for all its authenticity it scarcely seems historical. Although crammed with odd facts and lore about that time when longen folke to goon on pilgrimages, its scraps of song and hymn and jongleur's tale of the period seem as newminted and fresh as the day they were devised, and Adam is a real boy inside his gay striped surcoat.


Engaging and beautifully written. —Children's Literature

Elizabeth Janet Gray(1902–1999) was born and grew up in Philadelphia. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College, and in the years that followed, under the names Elizabeth Janet Gray and Elizabeth Gray Vining, she wrote many books for adults and children, including the Newbery Award winnerAdam of the Road.   During and immediately after World War II, Elizabeth worked for the American Friends Service Committee. In 1946 she was appointed tutor to Crown Prince Akihito of Japan and later wrote the widely readWindows for the Crown Prince. She is the author of several novels and biographies and two autobiographical works.

Robert Lawson(1892–ló-