Is a novel set in 1988 a historical novel? I’m sure every ten-year-old would say yes although I think of 1988 as just yesterday. Megan Jean Sovern’sThe Meaning of Maggie is set in 1988. I didn’t even think of it as historical until days later. I just thought it a terrific book, charming and touching. Smart, funny, stubborn Maggie deals with her father’s incurable illness as well as all the other vicissitudes of being eleven. The characters are appealing, the situations believable, and the ending realistic but filled with hope. I recommend it to you and all the eleven-year-olds in your life.
Karen Cushman
Meanwhile, at a school for gladiators in Pompeii
Curses and Smoke by Vicky Alvear Schecter introduces us to Lucia, the daughter of the owner of a gladiatorial school in Pompeii, and her childhood friend, Tag, a slave who tends to the wounds of injured gladiators. Lucia is unwillingly betrothed to an older man who will invest in her father’s school, and Tag hopes to become a gladiator and buy his freedom. Mount Etna however has other plans for them. The historical setting is compelling and the story suspenseful. I’d especially recommend it for young readers not familiar with the tragedy of Pompeii.
A Wedge in Her Subconscious
Catherine, Called Birdy blew my mind. It might have been the first time it occurred to me that history was stories and not just dates and proper names. That story wedged its way into my subconscious and I am sure had no small role to play when I set out to write my first story based on history. Karen Cushman showed the way. I’ll just say it, I think she’s a genius.
Thank you, Karen Cushman!
The fleas! The dirt! The dung!
The first time I read Catherine, Called Birdy wasn’t all that long ago, only about six years ago. But the first time I heard about it was in January of 1995, at ALA Midwinter. This was my first time attending ALA, so I was thrilled just to be there and not sure what to expect. I’ll admit to being a little taken aback by all the buzz about one book—Catherine, Called Birdy, by Karen Cushman. Whatever committee meeting I went to the librarians couldn’t say enough good things about this book. The fleas! The dirt! The dung! They were agog over the level of detail in the story. And then there was Catherine, called Birdy. She is so strong, independent, intelligent—someone today’s teens can relate to, even if she is living in a 13th century British manor. (“Today” being twenty years ago, of course. But I would bet those librarians would feel the same in regard to today’s—as in right now—teens too.) All this raving about Birdy made me a bit skeptical. (Seriously, it was a lot.) Can one book be that good?
The answer is yes, most definitely yes, indefatigably yes: A book can be that good. The fleas! The dirt! The dung! I, too, was besotted by every detail. I could taste and feel and smell life in medieval times. And Birdy! I wish Karen had been writing when I was fourteen. I would have completely connected to Birdy’s desire to get out from beneath her parents and the life they want for her. My parents never tried to marry me off, but the life they presented for me felt just as burdensome, and I longed to get out from under it. I wanted to be Julia, not my parents’ daughter. In the end, my life turned out okay, just like Birdy’s does. But I could have used her guidance when I was young. My only regret in regards to this book is that I didn’t read it sooner.
I have my own children now, and I’m sure one day they will feel the same way as Birdy: restless and yearning for something different from the life being offered. When that time comes, I will hand them Catherine, Called Birdy and say, read it; may it guide you on your discovery of whom you are and the path you will take. And then I will thank Birdy and Karen for letting me borrow their words of wisdom.
Happy birthday, Birdy!!!
Love,
Julia Richardson
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers
Editorial Director, Paperbacks
An Amazing Journey
Catherine, Called Birdy is one of my favorite books to recommend. I know the reader will have an amazing journey through history with a strong, tenacious, witty, imaginative character. So often, once they have read Catherine, they come back for more of Karen’s books.
Congratulation, Karen your books are so essential for our Kids.
Thank you,
Nancy Katica
Vashon Bookshop
Picker of Fleas and Maggots and Burrs
Professor Nancy Roser, of the University of Texas at Austin, shaped a poem from her children’s literature seminar students’ resonant phrases after they read Catherine, Called Birdy. Prof. Rosen framed the poem with a page from the original manuscript, which she studied at the Kerlan Collection of the University of Minnesota, where my working materials are housed. Thank you to Nancy and her students! This is a toast I will always cherish.
Those Girls Said What They Meant
When I first came across Karen Cushman’s books, it was the ‘90s. Back then, I was a mess (and that’s putting it nicely). I was a graduate school drop-out who wanted to write fiction. Unfortunately, every time I put pen to paper (or more accurately, fingers to keyboard) I felt physically nauseous. I had a bad case of writer’s block, something to do with graduate school. Hence, I got a job at Borders Bookstore. If I couldn’t write books, I’d read them. The managers, for whatever reason, decided to put me in the children’s section. Since the last children’s book I’d read was Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret I had some reading to do. I read, read, and read. Some of my favorite reads from that time? Two of Karen Cushman’s books come to mind immediately: Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife’s Apprentice.
I loved those books. The heroines were right up my alley. Those girls said what they meant, did what they needed to do, and then got themselves back up when they fell. They didn’t take themselves too seriously either — they acknowledged their foibles, and as they did, the reader couldn’t help but smile.
Did I mention that these books are set in the past? This was important — to me especially. I’d dropped out of a graduate program in history. It was just as well, since I’d never reconciled writing history with wanting to write novels. But reading these books, I was struck by the way the author saw the past.This wasn’t a ‘please-pass-the-tea-dear’ past, the kind with silence punctuated by ticking clocks. No, this stuff set my my heart racing. Something about the way Karen Cushman wrote about the past felt like a way forward for me.
It’s been over a decade since I’ve read Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife’s Apprentice, but the stories have lived on in my imagination. I am indebted to both of these books, and to the author, Karen Cushman, for taking the time to commit them to paper.
Thank you, Karen Cushman!
—Amy Timberlake
Learn more about Amy Timberlake …
Anniversary Greetings from Susan Fletcher
It’s hard to believe it’s been twenty years since Birdy burst upon the scene, tangling her yarn and scaring off suitors, bringing the fleas and rats and dirt of the 14th century into the family rooms of the 20th century, enchanting us with her indomitable spirit and making room in our hearts, as Karen Cushman says in her author’s note, for “all sorts of different people” who are in some ways vastly different from our modern selves. Bravo for Birdy! I imagine Birdy at twenty, perhaps a mother now herself, accomplished in the lady arts but fighting to stay authentically herself despite the expectations of her era, and inspiring us to do the same in ours. —Susan Fletcher
Thoughtful Nerds
I hope you’ll share my delight at the gift of words from librarians, authors, and poets who are helping me celebrate the 20th anniversary of Catherine, Called Birdy. Thanks to everyone who contributed (librarians Edie Ching and Peggy Jackson, poet Julie Larios, authors Gennifer Choldenko, Barbara O’Connor, Augusta Scattergood, and Caroline Starr Rose), to the Nerdy Book Club, and to Kirby Larson who rallied them all together.
Dorothy Love begins the celebration
The month of May begins our countdown to Catherine, Called Birdy‘s 20th birthday. Can it really be that long?
Dorothy writes:
“File this one under ‘good karma.’ First some background: This week, my dear friend, Her Awesomeness Karen Cushman is celebrating the 20th anniversary of her Newbery-honor winning novel, Catherine, Called Birdy. Set in Medieval England, the novel is written in the form of a journal kept by young Catherine who is rebellious, smart, and determined to avoid marriage to the odious man her father has chosen for her.” Read more on Dorothy’s blog.
You’ll want to learn more about Dorothy on her site and read her books if you haven’t yet. She’s delightful!
