Historical Fiction-Book Review #3

 Historical Fiction-Book Review #3

The Midwife's Apprentice

By Karen Cushman

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cushman, Karen. 1995. THE MIDWIFE'S APPRENTICE. New York, NY: Houghton Mufflin. ISBN 0395692296

PLOT SUMMARY

In a village somewhere in England, a homeless girl who is only known as Brat is found sleeping in a dung heap.  An ill tempered village midwife finds her and takes her to be her apprentice.  She takes her in, Brat works for food and shelter, something she has never had.  The midwife calls her Beetle and as she works helping the midwife.  Beetle begins to learn about herbs and potions she gathers and soon she begins to sneak into rooms to watch how the midwife does her work. Through her learning process, the girl begins to develop a small amount of belief  in herself and decides she should have a real name, she names herself Alyce.  Soon she is placed into a situation where she is the only one who can help a dying mother and her unborn child, Alyce successfully delivers the baby. Soon after this she is requested to deliver a baby, but it goes horribly wrong.  Alyce runs away devastated with her failure.  She leaves the village and walks until she comes to  an inn where she finds a job in exchange for food.  During her time at the inn she meets several interesting people, here in this inn Alyce will have to find the strength and confidence in herself in order to make the right decision and find her place in the world.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Karen Cushman engages the reader and takes them on a journey to a place somewhere in England.  Cushman does a great job describing the time and place where this occurs, the setting is vivid throughout the story and characters are entertaining. Cushman's writing style is great, she keeps the reader engaged and eager to continue reading.

The story portrays a homeless girl who with her hard work and determination achieves a name and identify for herself.  In the same way the author has a message attached for the readers, not to give up when they feel discouraged.  The readers will enjoy the journey of Brat from being a scared girl to Beetle where she learns and forgets her past to finally becoming Alyce who becomes confident and courageous. The readers can be enjoyed by readers 12 and above, in my opinion girls will enjoy reading it more than boys.

Some of the content in the story may not be appropriate for the young reader.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: "Cushman has an almost unrivaled ability to build atmosphere, and her evocation of a medieval village, if not scholarly in its authenticity, is supremely colorful and pungent."

KIRKUS: "Fortunately, Cushman does the fathoming for them, rendering in Brat a character as fully fleshed and real as Katherine Paterson's best, in language that is simple, poetic, and funny.  From the rebirth in the dung heap to Brat's renaming herself Alyce after a heady visit to a mediaeval fair, this is not for fans of historical drama only.  It's a rouser for all times."

THE HORN BOOK: "Catherine's rebellious nature, questioning mind, and underlying kindness to all creatures make her an amusing and sympathetic figure; the vivid picture of medieval life presents a seemingly eye-witness view of a culture remote from contemporary beliefs. Fascinating and thought-provoking."

CONNECTIONS

*Encourage students to make personal connections of a time they have failed in something and how they handled failure.

*Discuss the message attached with the story.

*Have the student paint a picture of the Mediaeval era in the story and the setting of the story.

*Encourage students to read other books by Karen Cushman:

Cushman, Karen. 1995. CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780547722184

Cushman, Karen. 2002. MATILDA BONE. Yearling. ISBN 9780807287387