CRISPIN: The Cross of Lead

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Avi. 2002. CRISPIN: the cross of lead. New York, NY: Hyperion. ISBN 0786826479

SUMMARY
"Falsely accused of theft and murderm an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret" (CIP).

ANALYSIS
I found CRISPIN to be a tense and suspenseful novel, with an engaging story sure to draw in even the most reluctant readers. The plot is full of intrigue and twists and turns. As an adult reader, I could guess where things were going, but for its intended age group, the book should be riveting. I found some of the tension overdone, but still the book was interesting. Two main elements stood out on a first reading: Avi's use of incredibly sophisticated vocabulary, and his willingness to depict graphic and bloody violence. In CRIPSIN, clouds aren't moving across the sky, they're "scudding" (139). Smells are "cloying," sounds "clamor," and the use of period words such as glaives and humors is well done and instructive. An excellent example of sneaking the vitamins into the ice cream- readers will so caught up in the story they won't realize they're absorbing context and word usage until the next time they need a thesarus for a paper.

The main themes are familiar from other Young Adult novels: free will, self determination, identity as seperate from parents or the climate of the time. But in CRISPIN every aspect of the story takes on greater weight because of the quick pace and high stakes. Crispin is left on his own in the world and must make decisions that will affect the rest of his life, when he's been told that as a peasant he should only obey his masters. Crispin finally begins to see his own identity as seperate from his history, and he says of the corrupt steward, "He sought to kill me because of who I was. No, not who I was, but who my father and mother were" (220). Cripin learns to be free thinking and to judge on his own- "perhaps it was time for me to make the decision for myself" (138). In the beginning, Crispin is servile and thinks of himself as a nothing, or even as the "wolf's head" the steward proclaims him to be. But in the end he pits himself against the strength of the steward and a group of armed guards and wins. Crispin goes from thinking the freedom and justice Bear speaks of are treasonous, to embracing those things above a potential for vast wealth as his father's son.

Another theme of the story is political intrigue. Avi gives the book a strong anti-tyranny bias (but really, who's pro-tyranny?) and the as the story evolves we see that the main character Bear is involved in a potential peasant revolt. The reader learns through Avi's somewhat clumsy use of Bear as an info-dumper, that the nobility is evil, the noble blood in Cripsin is poison, and that power corrupts. There is no mention of Crispin embracing the other half of his identity- the Furnival half, in order to do good and ease the suffering his village and the others he passed through. Avi accepts no middle ground or compromise; Crispin must completely cut himself off from that path.

Like MATILDA BONE, CRISPIN does a good job of portraying the preeminence of the church in daily life. the murder of the Cripin's priest- the one person who has been kind to Crispin, is so shocking to Bear that he realizes there must be more to Crispin's history than it seems. Crispin prays nightly to God and to the saints, and indeed he prays and crosses himself before entering any new or unknown situation. Crispin also has complete confidence that the good things that have happened to him are entirely thanks to God. The reader gets the impression that the pious and impious greetings and exclamations between characters are not empty words, but hold meaning for the people speaking them. In addition, Crispin's cross, though eventually becoming the symbol of the life of privlidge he is abdicating, is for most of the story a sign of his love for his mother, and his faith in God. The portrayal of Medieval life is simultaneously more and less realistic than in MATILDA BONE. Avi shows a harsher life- the plague ridden countryside, the starving peasants working a "living death." And yet the intrigue and political machinations are further from the real day to day life of someome living in that time. Peasant revolts were few and far between, and massively unsuccessful until the Industrial Revolution forced the upheaval of England's agrarian society.


Another major theme is the relationship between Crispin and Bear. Although it is intense and terrifying at first, the friendship grows to become the best part of the book. Crispin who has been isolated and scorned find a true companion and father in Bear. Bear is an overwhelming personality, realistically drawn, heroic and full of ideals but perhaps a little naive about the danger of implementing them. Kind hearted and jolly, he is deeply saddened by the misery he sees in his travels.

I didn't have many expectations of this book going in. I know Avi is well known, but I've never read him before. I do know that generally, in a Young Adult novel, when a teenage boy finds out he's the secret son of the Lord of the Manor, the end of the story is a done deal- noble inheritance, looking down on those who scorned him, bringing peace and justice to the land... And yet Avi goes a different direction and thwarts those expectations.

REVIEWS
"Avi builds an impressive backdrop for his arresting characters: a tense medieval world in which hostility against the landowners and their cruelties is increasing. There's also other nail-biting tension in the story that builds to a gripping, somewhat confusing ending, which finds Crispin, once weak, now strong. Readers may not understand every nuance of the political machinations that propel the story, but they will feel the shifting winds of change beginning to blow through a feudal society." BOOKLIST

"Set in 14th-century England, Avi's (The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle) 50th book begins with a funeral, that of a village outcast whose past is shrouded in mystery and whose adolescent son is known only as "Asta's son"...Crispin flees, and falls in with a traveling juggler. "I have no name," Crispin tells Bear, whose rough manners and appearance mask a tender heart. "No home, no kin, no place in this world." How the boy learns his true identity (he's the bastard son of the lord of the manor) and finds his place in the world makes for a rattling fine yarn. Avi's plot is engineered for maximum thrills, with twists, turns and treachery aplenty, but it's the compellingly drawn relationship between Crispin and Bear that provides the heart of this story." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

CONNECTIONS
I think CRISPIN, like MATILDA BONE, works best on a voluntary basis. I can appreciate it now, but as a 6th grade girl, I would have enjoyed it about as much as I enjoyed Hatchett (NOT MUCH). But it's the perfect book to bring in non-readers, specifically boys. And it brings the time period alive, so it would be a wonderful supplement for a unit on medieval history. As one of a list of book report books- this would be a great addition to classroom discussion. And some young readers might need a little help navigating the political intrigue.