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.
Book Recommendations
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
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!
Thanks to A Mighty Girl
I appreciate the shout-out about Catherine, Called Birdy. It’s a thrill to find my book on your wonderful site. Readers, be sure to visit A Mighty Girl for more book recommendations.
Post by A Mighty Girl.
Busy Weekend
In the past three days I have battled hurricane and pirates, floods and evil kings, false friends and kind strangers. I was angry, frightened, discouraged, and determined. All this while I rode a train from here to Portland and back. Yup, I was reading—two amazingly good books.
Rodman Philbrick, author of the entirely splendid Freak the Mighty, took me to New Orleans in Zane and the Hurricane, just in time to to be trapped by Hurricane Katrina. Zane and his dog, Bandy, also encounter a feisty young girl and an elderly musician, dangerous drug lords, uncaring officials, and generous strangers. I could feel the wet and the cold and the hunger. Great book.
Entirely different but equally compelling is The Shadow Throne, the third book in the Ascendance trilogy that started with The False Prince. Jennifer Nielsen has done it again, given us a rip-roaring adventure about good and evil, courage, loyalty, and love. I read this one much too late into the night. Great book.
I recommend you get these titles from your local independent bookstore. What would we do without them?
I love to do research.
There is no one reviewing or editing or criticizing my research. It is just me and a hundred thousand interesting bits of information. And I discover things I love knowing, like the fact that an unknown Egyptian laborer invented beer when his bread fermented. Or that Saint Simeon Stylites lived for thirty-seven years atop a pillar. Or that in the eighteenth century, children were punished for not smoking, it being thought that tobacco smoke warded off plague germs.
Although I now can do much of my research online, a shelf in my study still holds the basics: The Oxford Book of Slang, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England, The Oxford Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms, The Oxford Historical Thesaurus, and, of course, the invaluable Oxford English Dictionary.
And here are the books I used frequently to research my medieval books:
Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages, Sherrilyn Kenyon
The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century, Ian Mortimer
Growing Up in Medieval London, Barbara A. Hanawalt
A World Lit Only By Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance, William Manchester
A Medieval Home Companion: Housekeeping in the14th Century, translated by Tania Bayard
Lost Country Life, Dorothy Hartley
Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony, Madeleine Pelner Cosman
Gerard’s Herbal: A History of Plants, Marcus Woodward, editor
Castle, David Macaulay
Oxford Dictionary of Saints
My Own Favorite Medieval Novels
Happy Birthday, Birdy
2014 is the 20th anniversary of Catherine, Called Birdy. There will be celebrations all year, there will be hoopla, there will be cake. Here for your reading pleasure is a list, in no particular order, of my own favorite medieval novels for young people.
Crossing to Paradise — Kevin Crossley-Holland
Gatty, the engaging peasant girl from Crossley-Holland’s Arthur trilogy, accompanies her mistress on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When tragedy hits, it is Gatty who leads the group to the fulfillment of its pilgrimage and, by the time she returns home, she is much changed. The story is compelling, and the writing is gorgeous.
Blood Red Horse — K.M. Grant
Will and his brother Gavin follow the king on crusade to the Holy Land. Blood is shed, lives are changed and lost, but two things are constant—his love for Eleanor and the blood-red horse called Hosanna. Lovely, thoughtful depiction of the Muslims and their side of the conflict.
Book of the Maidservant — Rebecca Barnhouse
Johanna, serving girl to Dame Margery Kempe, a renowned and difficult medieval holy woman, accompanies her mistress on a pilgrimage to Rome. But Dame Margery abandons Johanna, who must journey through fear and anger and physical hardship to find her own way.
Knight’s Fee — Rosemary Sutcliff
A game of chess, a brave minstrel, a kind old knight, and a friend lead the orphaned Randal to squirehood, and his own courage paves his path to becoming a knight.
The Puppeteer’s Apprentice — D. Anne Love
Mouse, a timid orphan, joins the company of a master puppeteer, and she, too, learns to make the puppets dance. Searching for her own identity, Mouse ultimately receives a name and experiences great joy and great sorrow on her way to fulfilling her dreams.
The Ramsay Scallop — Frances Temple
Eleanor and her betrothed, Thomas, are sent on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James and come to realize the glorious possibilities of the world around them … and within each other.
The Wicked and the Just — J. Anderson Coats
Cecily’s family moves to Wales, where the king needs loyal Englishmen to control the rebellious Welsh. The Welsh Gwenhwyfar, struggling to survive under the hostile English, is taken as servant to the bratty Cecily … until tensions explode and the tables are turned.
Sorrow’s Knot
Last year, you may remember, I waxed eloquent over a book by Canadian writer Erin Bow called Plain Kate. It remains one of my three favorite fantasy novels (the other two are Seraphina by Rachel Hartman and Something Red by Douglas Nicholas). Erin kindly sent me a copy of her new book, Sorrow’s Knot, a lovely, sad, beautifully written fantasy based in an imaginary world that is reminiscent of early North American native cultures but still entirely new. That world is unravelling, and Otter, Kestrel, and Cricket, likable and believable young people, face fear, danger, death, and unanswerable questions together as they struggle to hold it together. Erin’s incredible imagination and exquisite writing skills have resulted in a wonder of a book that captured me with the first sentence: The girl who remade the world was born in winter. I recommend it—great reading for a winter night.