Rating: 
Summary: This book was very boring.
Review: I found the book to be very uninteresting. The characters were poorly written and the plot seemed illogical at times. It is ashame that this book couldn't be one of the books burned in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. If it any book deserves to be trashed, then it's this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Better the second time through.
Review: I read this little book in an afternoon during my student's reading time. I wasn't too impressed the first time around. Cushman tends to bog the reader down, sharing all the NEAT research she has done instead of focusing on the story. As a reader, I got bogged down, too. The second time I read it for a class and found it a much more enjoyable read. I no longer paid attention to the factual content and enjoyed the story. Parents will likely want to read and discuss it with their children.
Rating: 
Summary: Fairly told tale, but still needs work
Review: I'm a big history reader and enjoy historic fiction like everything happened the next day. The charaters, I thought, weren't to well developed and the plot was to lose for a strong hold. Still you left with a good impression of being accepted into society and being "someone." There should be more books like these! What I wish was there would be a little more involvment around the characters, too! Such as the girl and the boy, to me she basically hung out with the cat and kept it that way. But I'm still saying, the book could have been expanded and told in a stronger voice.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Alyce is truly a wonderful character. Starved, alone, and sleeping in a dung heap, she saves a cat, a boy, and a baby. But when her first time at being a midwife on her own, the child dies, and she flees. Then her spirit returns, and she goes back, and refuses top give up, winning herself a home and place as the Midwife's Aprentice. A must read!
Rating:
Summary: a book with a purpose
Review: this book was one of the best i ever read. it portrayed life in the middle ages as it was for many of the common people. it wasnt to detailed, and kept your interest the whole time. it was about a girl called beetle, who later called herself alyce, and her quest to become a midewifes apprentice with a place in the world, and a place she could call home.
Rating:
Summary: FROM DUNG HEAP TO DIGNITY
Review: Unlike BIRDY, this book is not written in diary form or even the first person, but it is just as delightful, presenting us with a gutsy young girl in the harsh Middle Ages. Alhtough she's a social outcast, homeless, nameless Beetle makes her personal pilgrimage to a useful occupation and the discovery of her self worth. This unlikely heroine from the muck of society acquires skills to survive, chooses a new name, and discovers her own personal value as she struggles against the callous villagers and a real midwife whose tongue is as sharp as her name. Despite her employer's brutal treatment, Alyce acquires the civilizing touch of humanity, as she is gradually accepted into the life of her new village. She shows compassion toward animals, helps a stray waif of a boy and ingeniously bests "the Devil" himself when he causes an uproar in the village. What's in a name? Well, for Alyce, it is a new persona, to matter to other people, to Belong at last. This is a clever and well-written tale which will amuse readers of all ages. It's a shame that Alyce can never meet her literary cousin, who started life as CATHERINE, but was CALLED BIRDY.
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: This is a wonderful story for kids about the courage of an orphan, Alyce, with a dream. Easy reading and descriptive...very enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: This is a very good book!
Review: The main characters are Alyce, the apprentice, and Jane, the midwife. Alyce comes from nowhere, really. A homeless girl, about 14, she gets made fun of a lot by Jane and the village boys. She finally does befriend one of them, though. The setting is a small, quaint village in the 1800's, and the story starts with Alyce, who one day finds herself at the door of a midwife's house. The midwife, named Jane, sets her about the house doing small chores, until one day, she is told to go deliver a baby. She tries and fails, so she runs away, thinking she is a loser and is of no help to anyone. She goes to work at an inn, and one day walks in to find a woman in labor on the table. She tries once more to deliver a baby and... If you want to find out what happens, read the book! I think this book is very well written, and the story and characters pulled me in right away. The author really makes the story seem real! My only complaint is that there were too many little details I didn't care about.
Rating:
Summary: This is a VERY good book!!!!!!
Review: This book is about a girl, who eventually names herself Alyce, who is homeless in the Mideval times. She gets a midwife to take her in and becones her apprentice. She discovers her self-worth in the process. This is an overall good book and is very worthy of the Newberry award it won.
Rating:
Summary: The glass is now half full!
Review: A young girl named Dung Beetle had no family and no close friends except the orange and white cat. Dung Beetle spent most of her time (because it kept her warm.) That is why she received that horrible name. One day a Midwife passed Beetle sitting in Dung, and she quickly asked for a job as a apprentice. She received the job and went to work. With her head held highshe pleased the Midwife. However, one day when the Midwife was out having a affair, a townsman's wife was going into labor. The Midwife was not there to deliver the baby so the townsman dragged Dung Beetle to his house and tried to force her to deliver the baby. Dung Beetle refused and a fiasco occorred. Soon the Midwife appeared and delivered the baby. This was when Beetle made herself a enemy of the Midwife. Although this was a hard time for Beetle her luck changed and she got to travel to a fair and reveal her true beauty and true name. She even got a kitten comb for free from a merchant who said she is so pretty that she had a lover by night. This intrigued Beetle and she had a new point of view for herself.
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