Crispin: The Cross of Lead

Crispin: The Lead of Cross by Avi won the Newbery Medal for the Most Distinguished Contribution to American Literature for Children.

Crispin, known as Asta's son (no one ever told him his real name) has just lost his mother and become an orphan. Worse, the local authority has declared his a "wolf's head" - meaning anyone can kill him. He is not sure why he is being hunted. He did not steal the money they say he did.

Set in fourteenth-century England, Crispin cannot move around easily. He is a peasant and had never been outside of his town. But with the alternative being certain death, he ventures out on his own.

He soon meets Bear and becomes a servant once again. But Bear will help him find out who he really is and who his parents were. There must be a reason he is being hunted...

Avi. (2002). Crispin: The Cross of Lead. New York: Hyperion Books.