Birdy's frequent saint's day entries begin with pithy summaries of the saints' claims to fame their dire deaths have a uniquely medieval tang, as do such oddities as St. Her marriage must suit her drunken father's financial needs, and though the 14-year-old scares off several suitors (she pretends to be mad, sets fire to the privy one is using, etc.), in the end she's "betrothed and betrayed.'' Meanwhile, she observes Edward I's England with keen curiosity and an open mind, paints a mural in her chamber, evades womanly tasks whenever possible, reports that-ladylike or no- "I always have strong feelings and they are quite painful until I let them out,'' and chooses her own special profanity, "God's thumbs.'' At year's end she makes peace with her family and acquires, beyond hope, a possibly compatible betrothed (they have yet to meet).
That is all there is to say''-but is soon confiding her pranks and troubles in fascinating detail. Cushman's work has also been recognized for excellence by Horn Book, Parenting Magazine, Hungry Mind Review, and the American Library Association.Unwillingly keeping a journal at the behest of her brother, a monk, Birdy (daughter of a 13th-century knight) makes a terse first entry-"I am bit by fleas and plagued by family. 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. 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. Cushman has always been interested in history.
She holds an MA in both Human Behavior and Museum Studies. Though she wrote poetry and plays as a child, Cushman didn't begin writing professionally for young adults until she was fifty.
Karen Cushman was born on Octoand grew up in a working-class family in Chicago, but never put much thought into becoming a writer.
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