Picture of author.

Karen Cushman

Autor(a) de Catherine, Called Birdy

13+ Works 13,978 Membros 338 Críticas 15 Favorited

About the Author

Karen Cushman was born on October 4, 1941 and grew up in a working-class family in Chicago, but never put much thought into becoming a writer. Though she wrote poetry and plays as a child, Cushman didn't begin writing professionally for young adults until she was fifty. She holds an MA in both mostrar mais Human Behavior and Museum Studies. Cushman has always been interested in history. It was this interest that led her to her research into medieval England and its culture, which led to both Catherine, Called Birdy, a Newbery Honor Book, and The Midwife's Apprentice, her second book and winner of the prestigious Newbery Award in 1996. Both Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice have earned many awards and honors including the Gold Kite Award for Fiction from the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and was chosen as one of School Library Journal's Best Books of the Year. Cushman's work has also been recognized for excellence by Horn Book, Parenting Magazine, Hungry Mind Review, and the American Library Association. (Bowker Author Biography) mostrar menos
Image credit: Author Karen Cushman at the 2016 Texas Book Festival. By Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53330002

Obras por Karen Cushman

Catherine, Called Birdy (1994) 5,349 exemplares
The Midwife's Apprentice (1995) 4,391 exemplares
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (1996) — Autor — 1,345 exemplares
Matilda Bone (2000) 1,050 exemplares
Rodzina (2003) 653 exemplares
Alchemy and Meggy Swann (2010) 472 exemplares
The Loud Silence of Francine Green (2006) 348 exemplares
Will Sparrow's Road (2012) 176 exemplares
Grayling's Song (2016) 143 exemplares
War and Millie McGonigle (2021) 45 exemplares

Associated Works

Colman (2004) — Introdução, algumas edições340 exemplares
Totally Middle School: Tales of Friends, Family, and Fitting In (2018) — Contribuidor — 17 exemplares

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Data de nascimento
1941-10-04
Sexo
female
Nacionalidade
USA
Local de nascimento
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Locais de residência
Vashon Island, Washington, USA
Educação
Stanford University (MA - Human Behavior, MA - Museum Studies)
Ocupações
novelist
adjunct professor
Relações
Cushman, Philip (husband)
Organizações
John F. Kennedy University (Assistant Director - Museum Studies Department)

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According to Karen Cushman's web site: When I was little, my Polish grandpa took me for walks through the alleys of Chicago. I would collect treasures — rubber bands and marbles, perfectly good pencils, maple leaves and robins’ eggs — and take them home to put in a box under my bed. I think that’s what being a writer is like. The treasures I collect now are bits of information fantasies memories, and imaginings, and I take them and put them in a story.
I write historical fiction, novels that may be about made up characters and events but take place in a real time or place.

Membros

Discussions

Found: Help find a book em Name that Book (Março 2022)

Críticas

I've owned this book for years and have read it a few times, it's always a treat. It was neat having a different perspective of being a "lady" and not fitting in.


Would fit The 52 Book Club's 2021 prompts:
10 - Related to the Word Fire
16 - Set Before the 17th Century
32 - A Selfish Character
42 - An Epistolary
47 - A Character With a Disability
 
Assinalado
Linyarai | 83 outras críticas | Mar 6, 2024 |
been reading the Newbery winners of late, three in a row and all with orphaned children. the first one, the child who already lost both her parents lost the person who took her in ( Missing May). the next one, the kid who lost her mom loses her grandmother ( walk two moons) It was nice to have one with no deaths for a change. Interesting setting ( 14th century)with lessons about persistence and self doubt that are still relevant
 
Assinalado
cspiwak | 112 outras críticas | Mar 6, 2024 |
Surprisingly hilarious! I listened to the audiobook in anticipation of the movie version coming soon. The best part of this book is Birdy's sharp, grumpy, occasionally wise voice. Like a modern teenager, she seems to be annoyed by everything, particularly the limits put on her as a girl. Unlike a modern teenager, she and her community are at the mercy of the politics of the Middle Ages. Her father intends to marry her off regardless of Birdy's wishes. She manages to trick her suitors into rejecting her, but she can't escape her fate.

As Cushman writes in the author's note, in those days you were born into a certain role and you had little choice but to play it. This is not a book with a modern moral like "You can be whatever you want to be if you work hard." Instead, this book imagines how it might have felt for a fiery young lady to be so constrained and powerless. How can she accept such a life?

The unexpected delights of this book are many. It's pretty gross (they eat a lot of eel pie, there are illnesses, injuries, disgusting remedies, so many fleas, etc.). I really enjoyed hearing about all the obscure saints and what they were sainted for. So strange and funny the way Birdy deadpans their miraculous achievements.

The book is also realistically dark like when Birdy attends a hanging. She's excited to see a criminal punished but it's just young boys and it's horrible.

I think the movie will have to give this story a stronger plot. I'm also really confused about the casting of Birdy's father. In the book Birdy describes him as a nasty beast, but he's played by Andrew Scott (AKA hot priest from Fleabag). Does not compute.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
LibrarianDest | 83 outras críticas | Jan 3, 2024 |
Ye toads and vipers, it takes a certain kind of nerd to appreciate a book like this. For example: Shakespeare lovers, language geeks, Renaissance Faire attenders, history buffs, etc. I enjoyed it, but I am your classic Society of Creative Anachronism apologist.

Here we have young Meggy Swann who is transplanted from a country village to the middle of teeming London in the year 1573. Meggy was born with crooked legs, so she walks with the aid of sticks and endures a lot of insults and prejudice. But Meggy is no wilting flower. She has a sharp tongue and dishes out counter insults like a pro ("A pox on you, moldwart, and a plague and an ague, and the pukes!"). Inside, though, poor Meggy does feel like no one wants her. Her mother sent her away. Her father is obsessed with his alchemical pursuits. Her only friend is a goose.

But can Meggy make friends? Aye, belike she can. This is basically the story of a lonely person finding a community to belong to. In the pursuit, Meggy learns about players and plays, printing presses, murder plots, poetry, and alchemy. If the language doesn't completely scare you off, this is a great little book.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
LibrarianDest | 47 outras críticas | Jan 3, 2024 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
13
Also by
2
Membros
13,978
Popularidade
#1,647
Avaliação
½ 3.7
Críticas
338
ISBN
254
Línguas
12
Marcado como favorito
15

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