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Summary: Catherine, Called Birdy
Review: To me, this book wasn't really interesting. It's about a girl named Catherine who writes in her journal about what happened that day, who's Saints day it is and her feelings. She is really caring and thoughtful but is also pretty stubborn.
Catherine seems to like writing songs and she is usually stuck inside the house to embroid and sew. On occasions, she goes places and she decides to watch things that she never watched before like hangings.
She thinks her father is a mean pig because all he seems to care about is money. Soon he finds her a suitor and like you would've guessed, Catherine didn't want to marry him.
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Summary: A Fairly Good Book
Review: Although the book is a diary of Catherine's life for a year, it gets better as you continue reading. It is boring in parts of the story but is a fairly good book. Catherine's father wanted her to get married so he could get rich. He gave Catherine's hand in marriage to the highest bidding suitor who was an old guy. Catherine uses her wit and trickery to avoid all the other suitors, but the old guy was very persistent. Catherine's father wouldn't let her marry someone else although she tries to avoid him in every way. Find out what happens to her when you read the book.
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Summary: A fairy good book
Review: Although it is a diary of Catherine's life for a year, it gets better as you continue reading. It is boring in parts of the story but is a fairy good book. Catherine's father wanted her to get married so he could get rich. He gave Catherine's to the highest bidder. The highest bidder was an old guy. Catherine uses her wit and trickery to avoid all the other suitors, but the old guy was very persistent. Catherine's father won't let her marry someone else although she tries to avoid him in every way Find out what happens to her when you read the book.
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Summary: Narley!!!!!!!!!!!!........ Dude
Review: I really liked this book because it was very intreeging, and had a lot of meaning 2 it. It also was very good because it is in a woman's point of view in the mideval times, and most women just had to do chores. VERY GOOD. (...)
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Summary: Sherman
Review: This book is about a girl who writes in a diary that her brother Edward gave her. In this diary she is having a problem with getting married to someone she doesn't like. Catherine's father Rollo wants her to marry a rich suitoer no matter how bad. Many suitors have tried to marry her, but she scared them all off. So she now has so much to deal with, and the next suitor is a man Catherine calls Shaggy Beard.
Catherine always wonders what her life would be like if she had it her own way. She keeps trying to get rid of Shaggy Beard, but he keeps coming back to marry her. The only people she can usually trust is her Uncle George and his wife. Later she has to deal with the birth of her newborn sister Eleanor Mary Catherine. In the end Catherin's mother argues with her father so Catherine can marry Stephen, and not Shaggy Beard. Then she leaves her diary to her brother Edward.
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Summary: Cool Time Period, Fiesty Girl, But...
Review: Karen Cushman has done a wonderful thing in setting this young girl's coming-of-age tale in 13th century England, for the details of that era that emerge in Catherine's year-long "diary" (never mind that a 14-year-old girl would likely have been illiterate or, at the very least, writing in Middle English) are the best thing about the book. From the day-to-day realities of pox scars, fleas, and moldy cheese to colorful terms like "lack-wit" (which Catherine uses to describe one of her suitors), "Catherine, Called Birdy" is a fun and fact-filled trip back to a time and place unmined and unknown to modern teens. The book is divided into 12 chapters, each one containing a month's diary entries, so that the book as a whole chronicles Catherine's 14th year from September of 1290 to September, 1291.Cushman is clearly an advocate for fiesty young women, and her heroine is certainly that. Catherine resists her father's attempts to betrothe her to the highest bidder, and her high-spirited and imaginative modes of defiance are delightful on one level, while a bit hackneyed on another. It is unclear how realistic Catherine's behavior is, but it certainly livens up the proceedings. For some reason, though, the book tends to drag. Although the reader is almost immediately introduced to both Catherine's dilemma and her spirit, it takes a whole year (sometimes seemingly in real time) for a resolution to be reached. But Catherine learns some valuable life-lessons along the way, and young readers learn some valuable history lessons in a palatable Taming-of-the-Young-Miss-Shrew format. Cushman's real agenda here, after all, is to promote two things that are dear to her heart: both the era in which the story is set and the "imagination, hope and tenacity of all young women." She does succeed on both these points.
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Summary: The Princess who Married the Frog
Review: "It is Shaggy Beard himself who whishes to take me for wife! What a monstrous joke. That dog assassin whose breath smells like the mouth of hell, who makes wind like others make music, who attacks helpless animals with knives, who is ugly and old!" (122). I have just recently read a book by Karen Cushman, called Catherine, Called Birdy. Catherine is a 14 year old living in 1290, and is daughter of the lord of the Manor. However, her life is not an eloquent poem of respecting her parents, churning butter, and smiling at her simple dramas in life. Instead, Catherine spends her days defying her "toad" father, fleeing her chores and sewing, and most importantly working to make herself the most unattractive girl to any slime ball suitor who comes along. However, the most disgusting of all, Shaggy Beard, might just get his way. Can this clever gal escape the hog, or will her greedy father sell her off to the North to wed the dreaded Shaggy Beard?
Catherine's Diary is both funny and enthralling. I definitely recommend this story because it made the past something I could relate to while providing humor. I really began to care about her and her plights against the unworthy suitors. However I think the story's best quality was Catherine's straightforward narrating. My only complaint is that the chapters right before the end lost my interest. All in all it is light fun reading. Read this book to find out her fate, and then read the others in the series.
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Summary: A Fun "skinny" read
Review: This was one of my first experiences with Cushman. I was sitting at home one day with the book I had been reading left at school, and decided to just pull an easy read off of my bookshelf. I had picked up _Catherine_ at a book sale, but never read it. I couldn't put it down. I wanted to know who and when she would marry (if she would marry). I love historical fiction type books and this one is now one of my favorites. I believe, that for reluctant readers, they could learn a lot about the age from reading this great book. I also think that a great number of guys would enjoy the gross factor of some of the entries.
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Summary: Incredible! Historical fact, Humor, and Beautifully written!
Review: This is my all-time favorite. Not only does Karen Cushman share tons of interesting facts about Midievel life, but she makes it into a touching story about a young woman who must find herself and avoid suitors at the same time! The main characters plots and tricks beat the path to both laughter and tears. Don't even think twice about getting this book!
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Summary: You gotta read this!
Review: Cathrine, Called Birdy follows the life of a rebelous 14yr/old in 13th century europe. Her father is forcing her to marry, and she trys everything to escape all the possible suitors, like setting the privy on fire, or blacking out her teeth. the end wasjust too conveinent for me, though.
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