Karen Cushman has a long-standing interest in history. Growing tired of hearing about kings, princes, generals, and presidents, she wanted to know what life was like for ordinary young people in other times. Her research into medieval English history and culture led to the writing of Catherine, Called Birdy, her first work.Contained in this program is Catherine's diary -- Catherine, called Little Bird or Birdy, daughter of Rollo and the lady Aislinn, sister to Thomas, Edward, and the abominable Robert.Begun this 12th day of September in the year of Our Lord 1290...I am commanded to write an account of my days. I am bit by fleas and plagued by family...Tangled my spinning again. Corpus bones, what a torture...Spent two hours embroidering a cloth for the church and three hours picking out the stitches after my mother saw it...Picked off twenty-nine fleas today.Catherine's mother wants to teach her the skills of the lady of the manor and to prepare her to be a gentle and patient wife. Her father wants only to see her married off, and profitably. Catherine fancies herself a painter, a Crusader, a maker of songs, a peddler, a minstrel, a monk, a wart charmer...Of all the possibilities, she has ruled out only one: being sold like cheese to the highest bidder.Against a vivid backdrop of everyday life on a medieval English manor, Catherine's earthy, spirited account of her fourteenth year is a richly entertaining story with an utterly unforgettable heroine.Kate Maberly's film credits include The Secret Garden, Friendship Field and Gulliver's Travels. She appeared in the ABC miniseries The Langoliers.

Catherine, Called Birdy (Summer Reading Edition)

Children's Books

CUSHMAN, Karen

Literature & Fiction

HarperTrophy

Read the book behind Lena Dunham’s acclaimed new movie! This historical fiction classic, told in the form of a diary, has drawn in generations of readers and is a Newbery Honor Book. 
Catherine feels trapped. Her father is determined to marry her off to a rich man—any rich man, no matter how awful. 
But by wit, trickery, and luck, Catherine manages to send several would-be husbands packing. Then a shaggy-bearded suitor from the north comes to call—by far the oldest, ugliest, most revolting suitor of them all. Unfortunately, he is also the richest. 
Can a sharp-tongued, high-spirited, clever young maiden with a mind of her own actually lose the battle against an ill-mannered, piglike lord and an unimaginative, greedy toad of a father? Deus! Not if Catherine has anything to say about it! 
Catherine, a spirited and inquisitive young woman, narrates in diary form the story of her fourteenth year—the year 1290. 
In an appreciation in the New York Times, illustrator Vera Brosgol spoke for many fans of this beloved book: "I fell hard for Karen Cushman's Catherine, Called Birdy the second I opened it. More than any other heroine I'd read, this one sounded like me. For Catherine, and for me, there is no easy solution to the cages life makes for you. Sometimes the power is in deciding to be yourself in whatever cage you're in."

Catherine, Called Birdy Movie Tie-in Edition

Teen & Young Adult

Historical Fiction

Clarion Books

Catherine, a spirited and inquisitive young woman of good family, narrates in diary form the story of her fourteenth year--the year 1290. A Newbery Honor Book.

Catherine, Called Birdy (Trophy Newbery)

Harpercollins Childrens Books

'Like Cushman's 1995 Newbery Honor Book, Catherine, Called Birdy, this novel is about a strong young woman in medieval England who finds her own way home. This is a world, like Chaucer's, that's . . . dangerous, primitive and raucous. From the first page you're caught by the spirit of the homeless, nameless waif, somewhere around 12 years old. She gets the village midwife to take her in, befriends a cat, names herself Alyce, and learns something about delivering babies. When she fails, she runs away, but she picks herself up again and returns to work and independence.' --ALA Booklist (starred review). '. . .A fascinating view of a far distant time.' -- The Horn Book (starred review)

The Midwife's Apprentice

Harpercollins

Dear Gram and Grampop, Please do not address yours truly as California anymore, California Morning Whipple being a foolish name for a duck much less a girl. I call myself Lucy now. I cannot hate California and be California. I know you will understand.
California doesn't suit Lucy Whipple -- not the name, not the place. But moving out West to Lucky Diggins, California, was her mama's dream-come-true. And now her brother, Butte, and sisters, Prairie and Sierra, seem to be Westerners at heart, too. For Lucy, Lucky Diggins is hardly a town at all -- just a bunch of ramshackle tents and tobacco-spitting miners. Even the gold her mama claimed was just lying around in the fields isn't panning out. Worst of all, there's no lending library! Dag diggety!
So Lucy vows to be plain miserable until she can hightail it back East where she belongs. But Lucy California Morning Whipple may be in for a surprise -- because home is a lot closer than she thinks... When California Morning Whipple's widowed mother uproots her family from their comfortable Massachusetts environs and moves them to a rough mining camp called Lucky Diggins in the Sierras, California Morning resents the upheaval. Desperately wanting to control something in her own life, she decides to be called Lucy, and as Lucy she grows and changes in her strange and challenging new environment. Here Karen Cushman helps the American Gold Rush spring to colorful life, just as she did for medieval England in her previous two books, Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice, which won Newbery Honor status and a Newbery Medal respectively.

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple

HarperColl

Catherine, Called Birdy

A personal diary follows the fourteenth year of Catherine, a young woman of the medieval period, depicting in authentic detail her spirited rebellion against the factors that would transform her into a proper young maiden. Newbery Honor Book. Reprint. SLJ. AB. H. K.

Trophy Newbery

Fans of Karen Cushman's witty, satisfying novels will welcome Meggy Swann, newly come to London with her only friend, a goose named Louise. Meggy's mother was glad to be rid of her; her father, who sent for her, doesn't want her after all. Meggy is appalled by London,dirty and noisy, full of rogues and thieves, and difficult to get around in—not that getting around is ever easy for someone who walks with the help of two sticks.Just as her alchemist father pursues his Great Work of transforming base metal into gold, Meggy finds herself pursuing her own transformation. Earthy and colorful, Elizabethan London has its dark side, but it also has gifts in store for Meggy Swann.

Alchemy and Meggy Swann

Listening Library (Audio)

History

Macmillan Children`s Books

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. The 13-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married.

The Midwife's Apprentice (pb)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by CUSHMAN, Karen. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by CUSHMAN, Karen

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by CUSHMAN, Karen. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Catherine, Called Birdy (Summer Reading Edition)

Catherine, Called Birdy Movie Tie-in Edition

Catherine, Called Birdy (Trophy Newbery)

The Midwife's Apprentice

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple

Catherine, Called Birdy

Alchemy and Meggy Swann

The Midwife's Apprentice

Catherine, Called Birdy

The Midwife's Apprentice (pb)