Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley (1998, Hardcover)

She was a child of wartime, for her country had long suffered under the twin horrors of invasion and civil war. At thirteen she began to hear the voices of saints. At seventeen she rode into battle and was proclaimed the savior of France. By nineteen she was dead--burned at the stake as a heretic. Almost five hundred years later she was declared a saint. This is her story, the story of Joan of Arc.

She was an illiterate peasant girl barely in her teens when the voices commanded her to leave her village, take up arms, and go to the aid of the young prince of France. Terrified, she protested--she was "Just a poor girl, who did not know how to ride or lead in war!" Still, she accepted her impossible mission and, during her brief and stunning career, faced hardship and danger, fought with unparalleled bravery, was twice wounded, and became a legend. The English, who began by mocking her as a foolish "cowgirl," soon came to fear her awesome power. The French were so inspired by this miraculous child that the tide of the dreadful war began to turn.

In the latest of her acclaimed series of picture-book biographies, Diane Stanley brings history to life through carefully researched, vivid narrative and sumptuous, gilded illustrations inspired by the illuminated manuscripts of the time. She takes readers to Joan's humble village of Domremy, to the splendid chambers where she first met the timid prince for whom she would sacrifice everything, to the battlefields where Joan fought so bravely, and to the dark and terrifying halls where she was condemned to die.

In this magnificent portrait of Joan of Arc, award-winner Diane Stanley once again reveals to young readers the richness and excitement of history.

00-01 South Carolina Book Award Nomination Masterlist (Grds 3-8)