Branded as traitors by the king's authorities, Crispin and his guardian, Bear, flee to coastal towns in fourteenth-century England, where they perform a musical juggling act and bond as a family after befriending a disfigured girl. - (Baker & Taylor)

When Bear's past catches up with him in the form of a secret brotherhood who believe him to be an informer, Crispin, after Bear is badly wounded, must decide their future as they, journeying to the edge of the world to find freedom and safety, encounter a vast array of people who impact their lives. Teacher's Guide available. - (Baker & Taylor)

Avi has published more than seventy books. Winner of many awards, including the 2003 Newbery award for Crispin: the Cross of Lead, two Newbery Honors, two Horn Book awards, and an O’Dell award, as well as many children’s choice awards, Avi frequently travels to schools around the country to talk to his readers. Among his most popular books are Crispin: The Cross of Lead, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Nothing But the Truth, the Poppy books, Midnight Magic, and The Fighting Ground. His most recent books are Ragweed and Poppy, Gold Rush Girl, The End of the World and Beyond (sequel to The Unexpected Life of Oliver Cromwell Pitts), and the somewhat autobiographical Catch You Later, Traitor.  Avi lives in Clark, Colorado, with his wife. He invites you to visit him online at avi-writer.com and on Twitter @avi3writer. - (Grand Central Pub)

Avi has published more than seventy books. Winner of many awards, including the 2003 Newbery award for Crispin: the Cross of Lead, two Newbery Honors, two Horn Book awards, and an O'Dell award, as well as many children's choice awards, Avi frequently travels to schools around the country to talk to his readers. Among his most popular books are Crispin: The Cross of Lead, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Nothing But the Truth, the Poppy books, Midnight Magic, and The Fighting Ground. His most recent books are Ragweed and Poppy, Gold Rush Girl, The End of the World and Beyond (sequel to The Unexpected Life of Oliver Cromwell Pitts), and the somewhat autobiographical Catch You Later, Traitor.  Avi lives in Clark, Colorado, with his wife. He invites you to visit him online at avi-writer.com and on Twitter @avi3writer. - (Grand Central Pub)

Booklist Reviews

/*Starred Review*/ Avi's engrossing follow-up to his Newbery-winning Crispin: The Cross of Lead (2002) begins with Crispin and his father figure, Bear, tasting freedom briefly before Bear is recognized and shot with an arrow. Fleeing into the forest, they meet Troth, a girl shunned because of her cleft lip. Her protector, old Aude, nurses Bear's wound, but when villagers brutally turn against Aude, Crispin and Bear must flee again, this time with Troth. The three, now a family, make a stormy voyage to Brittany, where English soldiers force them to help in a ruthless attack on a church. Unlike many stories set in the Middle Ages, this novel doesn't romanticize the era; instead, it portrays England and France as places where poverty, superstition, and violence were commonplace. Crispin, Bear, and Troth face each new situation with dread born of painful experience, well aware that the people they meet are as likely to harm them as to help them. The love connecting the three main characters is so vital that maintaining the bond and protecting each other become driving forces in their choices. Along with plenty of action and adventure, this displays a solid emotional base. The combination will make fans eager for the final installment. ((Reviewed September 15, 2006)) Copyright 2006 Booklist Reviews

Booklist Reviews

Gr. 5-9. In his fiftieth book, (see interview on p.1609) Avi sets his story in fourteenth-century England and introduces some of his most unforgettable characters--a 13-year-old orphan, seemingly without a name, and a huge, odd juggler named Bear. At first, the boy is known as Asta's Son, but when his mother dies, he learns from a priest that his name is really Crispin. He also quickly comes to realize that he is in grave trouble. John Acliffe, the steward of the manor, reveals himself to be Crispin's mortal enemy and declares the boy a "wolf's-head," which means he is anyone's prey. Clutching his only possession, a lead cross, Crispin flees his village into a vast new world of opportunity--and terror. At his lowest ebb, Crispin meets Bear and reluctantly swears an oath to be his servant. Yet Bear becomes much more than a master--he's Crispin's teacher, protector, and liberator. Avi builds an impressive backdrop for his arresting characters: a tense medieval world in which hostility against the landowners and their cruelties is increasing. There's also other nail-biting tension in the story that builds to a gripping, somewhat confusing ending, which finds Crispin, once weak, now strong. Readers may not understand every nuance of the political machinations that propel the story, but they will feel the shifting winds of change beginning to blow through a feudal society. ((Reviewed May 15, 2002)) Copyright 2002 Booklist Reviews

Horn Book Guide Reviews

Picking up where [cf2]Crispin: The Cross of Lead[cf1] left off, this tale, which reeks with fourteenth-century detail, finds Crispin and the minstrel Bear making their way across the English countryside, one step ahead of Bear's former confederates, who are certain he has sold them out. The somber ending leaves Crispin with the determination to live free. An author's note provides historical context. Copyright 2007 Horn Book Guide Reviews.

Horn Book Guide Reviews

Falsely accused of theft and declared a ""wolf's head"" (whom any man may kill), humble, pious Crispin flees his feudal village. Taken in as an apprentice by an itinerant juggler called Bear, Crispin learns about music and mummery, about freedom and questioning fate, and about his own mysterious parentage. Avi writes a fast-paced, action-packed adventure comfortably immersed in its fourteenth-century setting. Copyright 2003 Horn Book Guide Reviews

Horn Book Magazine Reviews

Picking up directly where Crispin: The Cross of Lead (rev. 9/02) left off, this tale finds Crispin and his newly rescued mentor, the minstrel Bear, making their way across the English countryside, one step ahead of Bear's former confederates in revolution, who are certain he has sold them out. When Bear is wounded in a hostile encounter, the two are forced to seek shelter with Aude, an old wise woman, and Troth, her cleft-lipped apprentice. Avi plays the metaphor of the edge of the world deftly: the literal edge -- the coastline -- offers false hope of escape, while Crispin finds himself continually expanding his own conceptual edges. The deeply Catholic Crispin struggles with Aude and Troth's adherence to older gods; then with the possibility that Bear, like all humans, has feet of clay; and finally with the necessity of living life without his protector. Like its predecessor, this offering fairly reeks with fourteenth-century detail, the offhand brutality of the age showing itself again and again. The inevitably somber ending yet leaves Crispin with a friend -- Troth -- and the determination to live free. An author's note provides historical context. Copyright 2006 Horn Book Magazine Reviews.

Horn Book Magazine Reviews

Falsely accused of theft and declared a "wolf's head" (whom any man may kill) after his mother's death, humble, pious Crispin flees the feudal village where he was raised and the steward who wants him dead. Taken in as an apprentice by a massive, red-haired, itinerant juggler who calls himself Bear, Crispin learns about music and mummery, about freedom and questioning fate, and about his own mysterious parentage that seems to be the reason behind the steward's continuing pursuit of him. Avi writes a fast-paced, action-packed adventure comfortably submerged in its fourteenth-century setting, giving Crispin a realistic medieval worldview even while subverting it with Bear's revolutionary arguments. Once master and apprentice arrive in Great Wexly for the Midsummer's Day festivities and some seditious intrigue on Bear's part, Avi slows down and offers both the reader and Crispin a chance to look around, but things speed up again with the reappearance of the steward and pursuit through the streets of the medieval city. The cause for the steward's enmity is finally revealed-Crispin is the illegitimate son of the local lord, who recently died without an heir-but the expected ending gets a surprise twist when Crispin trades this birthright for Bear's safety. From Crispin's initial religious dependence and inability to meet others' eyes to his eventual choice of his own path and freedom, the theme of self-determination is carried lightly, giving this quick, easily digested thriller just the right amount of heft. Copyright 2002 Horn Book Magazine Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

An orphan boy continues searching for freedom amid the social and political chaos of 14th-century England in this swiftly paced sequel to Crispin: The Cross of Lead (2004). After discovering his true identity, Crispin and his fierce, but genial, protector Bear seek refuge in the countryside. Pursued as an informer by members of a secret brotherhood, Bear is wounded. Alone and desperate, Crispin is forced to trust an ancient healer and her disfigured young companion Troth. Bear survives, but is greatly diminished. Crispin, Bear and Troth journey to Rye, a coastal city pillaged by the French. But with the brotherhood still tracking Bear, they must flee again, this time aboard a seafaring cog to Brittany. As the tightly bonded trio faces life-threatening events, Crispin "must think and act as a man" to protect those he loves and preserve the freedom he and Bear cherish. This moving, history-packed adventure leaves Crispin on the edge of the world and readers on the edge of their seats. Super storytelling. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 10-14) Copyright Kirkus 2006 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.

Kirkus Reviews

A tale of one boy's coming into self-knowledge is set against a backdrop of increasing peasant unrest in 14th-century England. Crispin does not even know his own name until his mother dies; he and she have lived at the literal margin of their small town, serfs, and therefore beneath notice. Suddenly, he is framed for murder and has a bounty put on his head. Escaping, he encounters the mercurial itinerant juggler Bear, who takes him on as servant and friend, teaching him both performers' tricks and revolutionary ideology-which puts them both in danger. After a rather slow and overwritten start, Avi (The Good Dog, 2001, etc.) moves the plot along deftly, taking the two from a Black Death-devastated countryside into a city oozing with intrigue, from the aristocracy to the peasants. The setting bristles with 14th-century details: a decomposing body hangs at a roadside gallows and gutters overflow with filth. The characters are somewhat less well-developed; although the revolutionary and frequently profane Bear is a fascinating treasure, Crispin himself lurches along, progressing from milquetoast to restless rebel to boy of courage and conviction in fits and starts, driven by plot needs rather than organic character growth. The story is set in the years just prior to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, and one of the secondary characters, the revolutionary priest John Ball, was a key historical figure. Most children will not know this, however, as there is no historical note to contextualize the story. This is a shame, as despite its flaws, this offering is nevertheless a solid adventure and could serve as the jumping-off point for an exploration into a time of great political upheaval. The title hints at a sequel; let us hope that it includes notes. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus 2002 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved

Publishers Weekly Reviews

Crispin: At the Edge of the World by Avi continues the adventures of the hero begun with Crispin: The Cross of Lead (in a starred review, PW wrote, "It's the compellingly drawn relationship between Crispin and Bear that provides the heart of this story"). Just when the duo feels free, events from the past overshadow the pair, and Bear becomes seriously injured, leaving Crispin in charge of both their futures. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

Set in 14th-century England, Avi's (The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle) 50th book begins with a funeral, that of a village outcast whose past is shrouded in mystery and whose adolescent son is known only as "Asta's son." Mired in grief for his mother, the boy learns his given name, Crispin, from the village priest, although his presumably dead father's identity remains obscure. The words etched on his mother's treasured lead cross may provide some clue, but the priest is murdered before he can tell the illiterate lad what they say. Worse, Crispin is fingered for the murder by the manor steward, who declares him a "wolf's head" wanted dead or alive, preferably dead. Crispin flees, and falls in with a traveling juggler. "I have no name," Crispin tells Bear, whose rough manners and appearance mask a tender heart. "No home, no kin, no place in this world." How the boy learns his true identity (he's the bastard son of the lord of the manor) and finds his place in the world makes for a rattling fine yarn. Avi's plot is engineered for maximum thrills, with twists, turns and treachery aplenty, but it's the compellingly drawn relationship between Crispin and Bear that provides the heart of this story. A page turner to delight Avi's fans, it will leave readers hoping for a sequel. Ages 8-12. (June) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 5-9 At the conclusion of Crispin: The Cross of Lead (Hyperion, 2002), Crispin and Bear have escaped and are enjoying their hard-won freedom, planning to resume their 14th-century lifestyle as traveling minstrels and jugglers. But that freedom doesn't last long because they soon find themselves hunted again by men who believe Bear to be a traitor to the Brotherhood (which is planning a revolt against the oppressive rulers of England). And, with Bear severely injured, Crispin has to make crucial decisions about their future, which for Bear means confronting the sins of the past. The thoughtful introduction of Troth, a disfigured girl, and the trio's fearful journey across the Channel add historical relevance and bring home a critical lesson in tolerance. This second book in a planned trilogy explores even more thoughtfully the themes of religion, war, the motives of men, and the meaning of family. This is an extraordinary work of lyrical simplicity, nearly flawless in its execution, and a haunting tale of love and loss. Readers will devour this story and eagerly anticipate the conclusion of Crispin's adventures.Melissa Moore, Union University Library, Jackson, TN

School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 6-9-As with Karen Cushman's The Midwife's Apprentice (Clarion, 1995), the power of a name is apparent in this novel set in 14th-century England. "Asta's son" is all the destitute, illiterate hero has ever been called, but after his mother dies, he learns that his given name is Crispin, and that he is in mortal danger. The local priest is murdered before he can tell him more about his background, and Aycliffe, the evil village steward for Lord Furnival, declares that the boy is a "wolf's head," less than human, and that he should be killed on sight. On the run, with nothing to sustain him but his faith in God, Crispin meets "Bear," a roving entertainer who has ties to an underground movement to improve living conditions for the common people. They make their way to Great Wexley, where Bear has clandestine meetings and Crispin hopes to escape from Aycliffe and his soldiers, who stalk him at every turn. Suspense heightens when the boy learns that the recently deceased Lord Furnival was his father and that Aycliffe is dead set on preventing him from claiming his title. To trap his prey, the villain captures Bear, and Crispin risks his life to save him. Avi has done an excellent job of integrating background and historical information, of pacing the plot so that the book is a page-turner from beginning to end, and of creating characters for whom readers will have great empathy. The result is a meticulously crafted story, full of adventure, mystery, and action.-Cheri Estes, Detroit Country Day Middle School, Beverly Hills, MI Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.