Babylonne
Babylonne
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Publisher's Hardcover ©2008--
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Candlewick Press
Annotation: In the violent and predatory world of thirteenth-century Languedoc, Pagan's sixteen-year-old daughter disguises herself as a boy and runs away with a priest who claims to be a friend of her dead father and mother, not knowing whether or not she can trust him, or anyone.
 
Reviews: 8
Catalog Number: #4013855
Format: Publisher's Hardcover
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Copyright Date: 2008
Edition Date: 2008 Release Date: 11/11/08
Pages: 384 pages
ISBN: 0-7636-3650-9
ISBN 13: 978-0-7636-3650-0
Dewey: Fic
LCCN: 2007021958
Dimensions: 20 cm.
Language: English
Reviews:
ALA Booklist (Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2008)

Jinks continues her cycle of excellent historical novels. In this fifth volume, she introduces Babylonne, the out-of-wedlock daughter of her previous protagonist Pagan Kidrouk, the Christian Arab who has become Archdeacon of Carcassonne. The year is now 1227 and a desperate Babylonne is on the run from her grandmother, who plans to marry her off to an old man. Worse, the 16-year-old Cathar by religion terrified of the seemingly sinister Roman Catholic priest who is following her. Jinks' fans will welcome this latest adventure, which culminates in a blood-curdling reenactment of the Siege of La Becede.

Horn Book (Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)

In 1227 Langedoc, practical and impious Babylonne (daughter of Pagan Kidrouk from the Pagan Chronicles) decides to run away before being married off. A priest helps her escape, and eventually she overcomes her religious scruples to be able to trust him. The characters in this stirring medieval history will touch readers' sympathies while the faultless scholarship steeps them in the era.

Kirkus Reviews

A sharp-tongued protagonist enlivens a medieval tapestry stuffed with mysterious antecedents, religious persecution and gory violence, in this irresistible follow-up to Jinks's beloved quartet about Pagan Kidrouk. Babylonne, the daughter he never knew, has every reason to believe the heretical teaching that this world is Hell, after her childhood as an abused bastard among strict Cathars and having witnessed the vicious reprisals of crusading Catholics. Fleeing marriage to a senile suitor, she reluctantly accepts protection from her despised father's protege, a Catholic priest. Before his gentle wisdom can completely soften her prickly shell, she is swept back into the horrors of religious war, forced to choose between everything she believes and the one thing she most wants. Resourceful and cynical, with a carefully hidden streak of romantic idealism, Babylonne is an engaging heroine, and the grave Father Isidore makes the perfect foil. Twelfth-century Languedoc—sordid, squalid and bawdily beautiful—glows with its own earthy vitality. While Babylonne's story stands well on its own, make sure that interested readers can find the previous titles while hoping for as many sequels. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)

School Library Journal (Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2008)

Gr 9 Up-Faced with an arranged marriage to a senile old man as punishment for her rebellious ways, orphaned 16-year-old Babylonne escapes the clutches of her maternal aunt and heads out on her own. Although she is now disguised as a boy, Father Isadore recognizes her and claims to have known her biological father. She has no choice but to trust the priest. The two begin a journey through the treacherous 13th-century French countryside that turns into a pilgrimage for Babylonne, who comes to know about her deceased parents, her quiet traveling companion, and herself. While readers do learn something about life during the Middle Ages (e.g., the feudal system, struggle between religious factions, lack of power for women), the novel's strength is in its characters. The pacing is slow, but the story serves to introduce and develop the protagonist and the priest in anticipation of future books. Much of the discussion about religion will be lost on teens, but they will find Babylonne's (sometimes vulgar) inner dialogue hilarious. Fans of Jinks's Pagan Kidrouk, featured in four earlier novels, will enjoy this story. Wendy Scalfaro, G. Ray Bodley High School Library, Fulton, NY

Reviewing Agencies: - Find Other Reviewed Titles
ALA Booklist (Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2008)
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Horn Book (Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2009)
Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal (Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2008)
Voice of Youth Advocates
Wilson's High School Catalog
Wilson's Junior High Catalog
Word Count: 71,366
Reading Level: 3.6
Interest Level: 7-12
Accelerated Reader: reading level: 3.6 / points: 10.0 / quiz: 126695 / grade: Upper Grades
Reading Counts!: reading level:3.3 / points:18.0 / quiz:Q45615
Lexile: 570L
Guided Reading Level: Z+
Fountas & Pinnell: Z+
Oh, no.

I've killed the chicken.

How could I have killed it? How could this have happened? I wasn't trying to kill it--I was trying to shut it up, the stupid thing! What was I supposed to do? Let it squawk away until they found me?

It's all floppy now, like a bolster that's lost most of its stuffing. Did I squeeze it too hard? Did I smother it by putting my hand around its beak?This is bad. I'm in so much trouble. If Gran ever finds out about this, I'll be eating wool grease and nutshells for a month

But she won't find out. She won't. I'm going to hold my breath and keep quite still, and with any luck . . . with any luck . . .

They're nowhere near this fowl house. I can hear their footsteps; they’re poking around behind the broad beans. Rustle, rustle. Mumbling to eachother in some strange language that must be Latin. I've heard people praying in Latin, and it's all um and us, like the stuff I'm hearing now. They say that monks speak Latin to each other, and these men are probably monks. Or priests. I wouldn't know. I didn't stand still long enough to get a good look at them.

Let your breath out slowly, Babylonne. That's it. Very slowly. Very quietly. There are feathers everywhere, stuck to my skirt and my sleeves and myhair. Please, God, don’t let me sneeze. Please, God, keep the feathers away from my nose.

Please, God, keep those priests away from this fowl house.

I'm very sorry that I killed the chicken. I honestly didn't mean to. I was only looking for eggs, because eggs aren't animals. I mean, you can't reallykill an egg, can you? Eating an egg isn't like eating a chicken. Not as far as I'm concerned. There might be a chicken inside the egg somewhere, but if this world is truly the Devil's realm--as Gran says--then you're doing that chicken a great service, aren't you? Making sure that it never hatches?

Wait a moment. Those footsteps--are they coming closer or moving away? I think . . . I think . . .

They're moving away.

Listen hard, Babylonne. Is that a door creaking? It is. I know it is. There's a door almost directly opposite the fowl house I'm sitting in. It must bethe door to the cloister. Those priests must have gone back into their cloister.

To fetch some more priests, do you think? Or have they decided that the chickens were making a fuss about nothing?

It's lucky that I'm so small. They probably weren't expecting someone my size. If they had been, they would have had a good look inside this fowl house instead of just glancing through the door. Whoever did that couldn't have seen much. He couldn't have seen me crushed into this corner. Oh, please, please don't be suspicious. Please don't come back.

ust go away and eat up your pork and your cheese and your honey, and forget about the eggs. Would you really miss a few eggs? You'd hardly have room for an egg in those great, swollen guts of yours--not after all the roasted peacocks and spiced pigeons and sugar cakes and whatever else it is that you pack into your paunches day after day, while the rest of us live on bones and millet.

Swinish, bloated, greasy idolaters that you are. It'd be a wonder if you saw me at all over the swell of your own enormous bellies.

I think they've gone. There isn't a sound. And I should make a move now, in case they do come back. Take it slowly, Babylonne. Carefully . . . quietly . . . don’t disturb the chickens. The other chickens. The ones who can still enjoy a nice dust bath before bedtime.

Not like poor old Floppy here.

The fowl-house door is only slightly bigger than my head. Beyond it, the sun blazes down onto rows and rows of peas and beans, leeks, marrows,strawberries, all laid out like a feast on a table. I tell you, these priests of Rome eat like kings. How dare they make a fuss over one poor egg?

Anyway, it's their own fault. If one of those evil priests hadn't dug himself a sec

Excerpted from Babylonne by Catherine Jinks
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Exotic and exciting, this unflinching coming-of-age tale featuring a headstrong heroine weaves a vivid tapestry of life in the Middle Ages.

Early thirteenth-century Languedoc is a place of valor, violence, and persecution. At age sixteen, Babylonne has survived six bloody sieges. She's tough, resourceful, and — now that her strict aunt and abusive grandmother intend to marry her off to a senile old man — desperate. Disguised as a boy, Babylonne embarks on an action-packed adventure that amounts to a choice: trust the mysterious Catholic priest — a sworn enemy to her Cathar faith — who says he's a friend of her dead father, Pagan. Or pursue a fairy-tale version of her future, one in which she'll fight and likely die in a vicious war with the French. Though Babylonne never knew her irreverent father, fans of Catherine Jinks's novels about Pagan Kidrouk will be sure to see the resemblance in his feisty daughter.


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