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.
 本書獲得了1943年度的紐伯瑞兒童文學(xué)獎
在13世紀(jì)的英國，11歲的男孩亞當(dāng)好不容易和四處流浪的父親重逢，他們一起帶著長耳朵小狗尼克去旅行。不幸的是，心愛的小狗尼克在途中被偷，而亞當(dāng)?shù)母赣H也突然失蹤。突如其來的變化，把亞當(dāng)一個人留在孤獨的大道上。他穿越城鎮(zhèn)市集，尋找父親和小狗的夏洛。一路上，亞當(dāng)遇到形形色色的人們，帶給他很多啟發(fā)，讓他變得越來越聰明和自信。他變得勇敢、獨自自主，而且助人為樂。但最終，亞當(dāng)能找回父親和小狗嗎？