Johnny Tremain Book Clubs

Part 1 - Different Types of Thinkings

Part 2 - Big Ideas and Themes

Part 3 - Johnny's Changes

Crispin - The Cross of Lead - Time Period Interpretation

In the book “Crispin - The Cross of Lead” by Avi (Edward Irving Wortis), a particular “Plague” also known as the black death, that had been in London for 20 years, and appeared in several instances in the book. This depicts that first of all, that the book was set in medieval 1370-1380’s. The plague started in Britain, in 1350, and when the Crispin mentioned that it had been there for a long time - around 13 odd years, so 1350 + 20 was 1370. The plague might have been there 13 years while he was alive, so maybe another 10 years or so would also be the case. Another example of the time period was that there was a so-called Saint Roch, which was Bear’s companion. Saint Roch was born in 1748, and died around 15/16 August 1376/79. Bear was said to have been all around Europe, so Roch could have definitely been Bear’s music partner. A final example is that there is a character, named John Ball, who rebelled against the English government. This, called the Peasant's Revolt, is a famous event that happened while the story took place. The event was also in the story, which reveals that the whole story was based on this event - The last quarter of the book (I think) was the Revolt. As you can see, the book “Crispin - The Cross of Lead” was clearly based on the Peasant's Revolt - which you can see - is what all the evidence links to.

( Quote that Bear said during the book as a joke. This was a famous saying in the medieval times.)