Book Review Genre 5
TWU assignment
LS 5603 – 20
The Midwife’s Apprentice
Bibliographic Data:
Cushman, Karen. 1995. The Midwife’s Apprentice. New York: Clarion. ISBN 0395776082
Plot Summary:
In a village in fourteenth century England, a twelve or thirteen year old wandering homeless child finds a midwife to let her work for room and board. After meeting her basic needs, the girl begins to grow in other ways, and tries to find out where she belongs.
Analysis:
Absolutely worthy of its Caldecott Medal, The Midwife’s Apprentice is a fine historical novel that is centered upon the early life of a young pauper girl in Medieval England.
The novel is fantastic in its description of what medieval life in a small village was like, and does not try to make it prettier, or cleaner, than it was. In fact, our young heroine is first found sleeping in a dung pile, because it is the warmest place she can find.
She has no name, except for what people have called her in the past, which is “Brat.” After Brat wakes up, she is taunted by local village boys; a woman finds her and she is so hungry that she musters up the courage to beg the woman for food. The woman denies her this, but decides to let her work for food. Jane is a midwife, and although she is somewhat cruel, starts “Brat,” who soon takes on the name of “Beetle” in the village, on her journey to discover who she is and where she belongs.
Jane’s character is expertly crafted by passages like the following:
“Taking Beetle gave her cheap labor and an apprentice too stupid and scared to be any competition. This suited the midwife.”
However, Beetle soon starts to find a little bit of self esteem and makes a life long friend, a cat, who like Beetle, is alone in the world. Beetle begins to learn skills and to develop as a good person, despite her place in the world.
During this young girl’s journey, the reader is immersed in a completely realistic medieval world; Cushman does this so well that the reader is not even aware of the unnatural time warp he or she has delved into.
For example, Beetle is unexpectedly sent to a fair to get supplies for the midwife. Cushman describes the event as follows:
“She passed through the forest of bright booths and pennants flying, offering
for sale every manner of wondrous thing – copper, kettles, rubies and pearls,
ivory tusks from mysterious animals, cinnamon and ginger from faraway lands, tin from Cornwall, and bright-green woolen cloth from Lincoln. She laughed at the puppets, wondered at the soothsayers, applauded the singers, and cheered for the racing horses.”
At this nearby town, Beetle also acquires her new name – Alice. She begins to form a new identity and gain some courage. This allows her to see the importance of having a name, and the related significance of having a place in the world. She names the cat “Purr,” and gives a homeless six-year-old boy the name Edward, after the king.
One of the many things that make this novel great is the way Cushman makes the characters of yesteryear come alive as if they were the people of today. The reader really feels for the people in the book, and can see exactly how they could know these people today.
Review Excerpts
School Library Journal, 05/01/1995
Gr 6-9 “With simplicity, wit, and humor, Cushman presents another tale of medieval England. Here readers follow the satisfying, literal and figurative journey of a homeless, nameless child called Brat, who might be 12 or 13 - no one really knows.” --Sara Miller, Rye County Day School, NY
BookList, 03/15/1995
Gr. 7-12. “this novel is about a strong, young woman in medieval England who finds her own way home.” ((Reviewed Mar. 15, 1995)) -- Hazel Rochman. Booklist, published by the American Library Association.
The above reviews are from Book Index with Reviews. 2007http://online.twu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_142_1 on October 28, 2007).
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Connections:
Some books with similar themes: CATHARINE, CALLED BIRDY by Karen Cushman, OUTRAGEOUS WOMEN OF THE MIDDLE AGES by Vicki Leon, THE MIDDLE AGES: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY by Barbara A. Hanawalt.
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