Adam of the Road (Puffin Modern Classics) by Elizabeth Janet Gray

Skip to product information
1 of 1

Click to look inside

Adam of the Road (Puffin Modern Classics) by Elizabeth Janet Gray

Regular price
Checking stock...
Regular price
Checking stock...

Part of Puffin Modern Classics series

Proud to be B-Corp

Our business meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. In short, we care about people and the planet.

The feel-good place to buy books
  • Free delivery in Australia
  • Supporting authors with AuthorSHARE
  • 100% recyclable packaging
  • Proud to be a B Corp – A Business for good
  • Buy-back with Ziffit

Adam of the Road (Puffin Modern Classics) by Elizabeth Janet Gray

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 winner Adam 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 read Windows for the Crown Prince. She is the author of several novels and biographies and two autobiographical works.

Robert Lawson (1892-1957) received his art training at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art. His favorite medium, pen and ink, is used expressively and with detail in his black and white illustrations in The Story of Ferdinand (by Munro Leaf). In addition to illustrating many children's books, including Mr. Popper's Penguins, Lawson also wrote and illustrated a number of his own books for children. In 1940, he was awarded the Caldecott Medal for his picture book illustrations in They Were Strong and Good; and in 1944, he was awarded the Newbery Medal for his middle-grade novel Rabbit Hill.

SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780142406595
ISBN 10 0142406597
Title Adam of the Road (Puffin Modern Classics)
Author Elizabeth Janet Gray
Series Puffin Modern Classics
Condition Unavailable
Binding type Paperback
Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published 2006-10-05
Number of pages 320
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note Unavailable