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Summary: A fabulous historical fiction novel!
Review: This is a great historical piece of literature. You feel like you're in the medieval time period as you read it. The descriptions are wonderful! This is the story of a young girl who helps a midwife deliver babies. She's called the midwife's apprentice, however, that's not the only thing she is called. Her names consist of girl, Beetle, and Brat. She sleeps with animals in barns and wears old rags. People torment her with names and threats, but she holds her head high and believes inherself. Eventually, she wants to deliver a baby all by herself, but the midwifee tells her she's stupid. However one day she can't find the midwife so she tries to deliver the baby herself but she just can't do it. She has failed and she runs away believing she can rid herself of her problems. This book teaches you not to run away from your problems. It's great historical fiction and is easy to follow. It's a great book to read over and over again.
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Summary: The World of Karen Cushman
Review: I was at my school library, brousing throught the books. I was really in need of a good book to read. I asked the librarian if she could recomend anything. She showed me a book called The Midwife's Apprentice. She said it had won a Newberry Medal, and Newberry books were ussually good. I read it. I've read every other Karen Cushman book now. This is a pretty good book. I felt it was a little too short, but it was very good. It tells the story of Brat, a girl with no home. One day, a midwife says if she'll work for her, she'll give her food and shelter. This is an exciting book for anyone 8+. Anyone can enjoy it, it is just a little to hard to read for anyone under 8. Happy Reading!
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Summary: It's everything I expected.
Review: This is a really good book! Especally if you need to put your life in perspective. Who am I kiddin'...? IT'S GREAT!!! I'd recomend it to any one of my friends. I'd also reccomend "Cathrine, Called Birdy" to anyone who's read this book who hasn't read that. It's so neato! A *good* book.
ps. Email me about this book.
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Summary: A look at the Middle Ages - warts and all!
Review: This young adult Newbery award-winner is thestory of an orphaned teenager who becomes anassistant to a cranky midwife. With a gentle humor and an unblinking look at the reality of medieval life, the book chronicles her journey from self-doubt to confidence. An excellent story and a short read; perfect for that book report due next week.
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Summary: Outrageous
Review: This book was one of the best books I have read. I never wanted to put it down. It was cool but sad of what Beetle/Alyce had to go through. She had to sleep in a dung heap just to stay warm and had to put up with all the beatings from Jane Sharp. I told my friends about this book and they thought it sounded good so they read it. Most rated it high. Review written by Tiffany Guptill in Mrs. Glock's library skills class
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Summary: A "must read" for every youg woman!
Review: This is a fantastic book! It shows what life was like in medieval times for a poor girl living in the streets. Cushman brings the characters to life in such a way that we are right there with Brat/Alyce and the struggles she faces. There is a need for books that characterize strong females. This book does just that. The humor in the book keeps you reading and pulling for Alyce
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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.
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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.
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Summary: A diffrent book
Review: I have never really been interested in history for its own sake, but I have often wondered what daily life was like for people who lived in the past. This book, like Catherine, Called Birdy, gives you a lot of insight into medieval life, in my opinion. Can you imagine what it was like to look upon attending a country fair as the pinnacle of fun, to be in awe of people who could read & write, or to be praised for your intelligence because you sleep in a dung heap? But for the most part, Beetle (later called Alyce) is not that much different from modern people: what she really wants is a purpose & a place in the world. I must also mention that the chapter entitled "The Devil" is hilarious and on its own makes this book worth picking up.
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Summary: discusting buy good
Review: Nothing is ever handed to Beetle. Her journey is one of self-discovery, an evolution from a nobdy to a somebody, guided only by her grit and strength of character. Despite the heart warming theme, there is nothing heavy or preachy about this story. Get the audio version for a great listen during the morning commute.
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