Rating: 
Summary: From dung heap to Newberry Award Winner
Review: From a dung heap blooms Newberry Award winner The Midwife's Apprentice. Cushman takes young readers on a journey of historical fiction to discover the challenges of the homeless in the Middle Ages while weaving a never-give-up moral.From the first memorable lines, morbit curiosity propels readers forward: "When animal droppings garbage and spoiled straw are piled up in a great heap, the rotting and moiling give forth heat. Usually no one gets close enough to notice because of the stench. But the girl noticed and, on that frosty night, burrowed deep into the warm, rutting muck, heedless of the smell" (1). Cushman artfully engages readers' empathy for the poor heroine who has no family, identity, or concept of her own age. She knows only the name she's been called town after town--Brat. Brat is taken in by a heartless, greedy midwife, Jane Sharp, who appears to want her just for free labor, but as the story develops, our heroine discovers self-worth beneath her filth and realizes Sharp is more than she appears as well. The dialogue is a simplified peasant dialect. For example, Jennett, the inn-keepers wife says, "There is a midwife in the village some walk down the road. I will point your man the way" (106). Although it may be uncomfortable for readers initially, the dialect becomes easier as s/he reads on. Appealing more to a female audience, Cushman's novel reveals the child-birthing dangers of medieval times where medical practices were as much superstition as trial and error. Leeches, herbs, oils, and spices are a few remedies readers will encounter in this enjoyable, brief novel told in third-person narrative.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Positive Girl's Story from Cushman
Review: Beetle is an orphan of indefinite age, wandering from village to village and working for food. At one stop, the midwife takes her on as apprentice and Beetle's life changes dramatically. The midwife is by no means a gentle mother figure, but she feeds Beetle regularly and the life is not hard. The reader follows Beetle (or Alyce as she later calls herself) as she matures, sheds her insecurities, becomes self-confident and self-loving, and finally learns to face up to and conquer her fears. It's a very positive tale, excellent for young girls who need to see positive female role-models face problems and succeed by sheer determination--and not fairy godmothers or money or good looks. While unconsciously absorbing these lessons, young readers will also find themselves learning about Medieval Europe. Cushman manages to slide historical facts in so casually that the reader will come away knowing about Medieval customs and practices, the art of early midwifery and life in a village. This is an excellent tale, well-written, witty and touching. I enjoyed it on many levels and would recommend it (along with Cushman's other excellent novel, Catherine Called Birdy) for pre-teens and teens--and adults like me who enjoy a light story with a postitive girl character.
Rating: 
Summary: so-so book
Review: This book is a great story. It may be confusing with its wording, but it has great themes that stands out. A girl that is a street rat somehow finds a way to becoming the midwife's apprentice. This book is full of only adventures of the girl. It is great for children but a waste of time if you are an adult.
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