Crispin: The Cross of Lead

• Genre: Fiction; middle grade historical
• Originally Published: 2002
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 780L; grades 3-7
• Structure/Length: 58 chapters; approx. 320 pages; about 6 hours on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: After 13-year-old Crispin, a peasant in medieval England, is wrongfully accused of a crime, he is known as a “wolf’s head.” This title permits anyone to kill him without punishment, so he leaves his village to survive.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Violence; religious undertones; suicidal ideation

Avi, Author

• Bio: Pseudonym for Edward Irving Wortis; born in 1937 in New York City; lives in Colorado with his wife; worked as a librarian before becoming an author; travels around the country to visit schools and meet his readers
• Other Works: Crispin: At the Edge of the World (2006); Nothing But the Truth (1991); The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (1990)
• Awards: Newbery Medal (2003); Boston Globe Horn Book Award; Scott O’Dell Historical Fiction Award

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Will Versus Fate
• The Instability of English Feudalism
• The Elements of a Meaningful Life

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the historical and social contexts regarding English feudalism that drive Crispin’s journey of self-discovery.
• Analyze short paired texts and other resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Will Versus Fate, The Instability of English Feudalism, and The Elements of a Meaningful Life.