Spotlight on Karen Cushman

I thought I would do a spotlight on one of my favorite authors.  Karen Cushman is a historical fiction writer.  We put a lot of trust in historical fiction writers to give us an accurate portrayal of a particular time period and event. I think that Ms. Cushman has proven herself over and over again.

Ms. Cushman started writing books at the age of forty-nine.  Now at age sixty-nine, she has written seven books to date and is currently working on another one.  She says she’s planning on writing books until she’s at least 100 (see author’s website).  I’ve read three of her seven books (I own two more of them, so I need to get cracking).  

The Midwife’s Apprentice (1995)

The Midwife’s Apprentice was the first Cushman book I ever read and I loved it.  Set in medieval Europe, the orphan known as Brat is taken in by the village midwife when she recognizes that the girl has brains (the midwife finds Brat sleeping in a dung heap for its warmth).  Brat becomes the midwife’s apprentice and begins her transformation into Alyce.  She starts to recognize her own strength and courage, only to have it crushed when she fails at an important assignment given to her by the midwife.  

The book is about digging deeper and realizing your potential, no matter who you are or where you’ve been.  The book won the Newbery Medal in 1996 (And it faced tough competition.  I’ve read two of the runner-ups who got the Newbery Honor in 1996 (The Watson’s Go to Birmingham and Yolanda’s Genius) and both are wonderful).  

I’ve also listened to this book on cd and thought the reader (Jenny Sterlin) did a great job.

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (1998)

Much to Lucy California Morning Whipple’s chagrin, her family is leaving her beloved Massachusetts to head west to California during the Gold Rush.  She hates everything about the situation and doesn’t hesitate to tell her mother this.  The best thing about Lucy is her spunk.  Dag diggety!  And it’s her spunk that pulls her through this coming-of-age story as she realizes what is really important.  

Alchemy and Meggy Swann (2010)

It’s 1573 and Meggy Swann has been summoned from her small village to London by her father, a man who deserted her and her alehouse mother before Meggy was even born.  Born a cripple, Meggy has faced scorn her entire life and this has caused her to view the world as a place where she will never belong. She may be weak physically, but not mentally.  She is great at thinking up insulting names and curses (Ye toads and vipers!  Gleeking swag-bellied maggot!). 

Her father, not realizing his child had been born a girl or a cripple, summoned her to help him in his alchemy work.  Meggy soon discovers that his work consumes him and he is willing to do anything to have the funds to continue.  She comes to realize her own abilities to be brave and strong, but also to love and be loved by all kinds of people.  

This book is an excellent example of how Cushman is able to give a clear picture of what a time period was like and intertwine that with a brilliant coming-of-age story.  I didn’t think I would ever like any of Cushman’s books more than I liked The Midwife’s Apprentice, but Meggy might have nudged ahead a bit.  

I originally tried to listen to this on cd when it first came out, but couldn’t do it.  It felt like the reader was shouting at you.  Granted, Meggy shouts a lot, but it was a bit much in my car :)

Other books by Karen Cushman with links to her website:

Catherine, Called Birdy

Rodzina

Matilda Bone

The Loud Silence of Francine Green

It's good to be done...

It’s official…I’m done.  My diploma came in the mail last week.  It feels really good, but I’m finding that I’m having to rediscover my hobbies. I got so used to coming home from work to start on my “second job” these  last two years that I think I’ve forgotten what I like to do for fun :)  The first thing I rediscovered was curling up with a book that *I* want to read.  Not a textbook.  Not even a YA novel that I was assigned to read.  I had a couple of children’s and young adult lit. classes and no, not all of the books we read were horrible…I just think it makes a difference when it’s something you are being forced to read for an assignment vs. something you want to read.

So I’m going to try and get back to this blog and posting about books I’m reading.  I also want to post about some that I read for my classes…but I’ll have to find where I stuck my flash drive with all my assignments before I can do that.  Hahaha – can you tell I was ready to be done?  I came to despise the sight of that flash drive.  Anyway, I did come across plenty of good books in my classes that I want to share.  Some of them I hated and would never recommend to anyone.  Others, I was surprised how much I liked them due to their tough content and would therefore recommend some of them with caution.  Not all books are for everyone.  For example, my sweet baby sister couldn’t even get to “The Games” in The Hunger Games because she started having nightmares.

Here are a couple of books I've read since graduating that I’ve really enjoyed.  And there should be lots more to come now that I’ve got my soul back from the graduate school gods :D

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

Ages 8 and up

Yes, this is by the same author as The Hunger Games. But this series is geared toward a much younger age group.  It was actually Suzanne Collins debut in children’s literature and is the first book in a five-book series.  I’ve read the first two and have the third one on hold at the library.  I liked each of them equally well - - and a lot!  

Gregor is eleven and his dad went missing a few years ago.  Actually, Gregor  can tell you how many years, months, days, hours and minutes ago his dad went missing.  There’s no trace of what happened to him, and Gregor doesn’t believe his dad would run out on them, despite what the cops say.   His mom has to work a lot to make ends meet, which means that during the summer, Gregor is stuck in their tiny, un-air conditioned apartment in New York City for most of the day, taking care of his youngest sister, Boots (her real name is Margaret), who is two, and his senile grandma.

Things take an interesting turn when Gregor is doing laundry in the apartment building’s laundry room.  Boots goes head first through a hole in the wall for her bouncy ball and without thinking, Gregor dives after her.  They keep falling….and falling…and falling…Until they find themselves in the Underland, where they encounter creatures that they are used to encountering at home, except in the Underland, the creatures are as big (or bigger) than the humans.  Cockroaches (crawlers), rats (Gnawers), bats (fliers), spiders (spinners), just to name a few.  Gregor and Boots are initially rescued by the Underlanders: pale-skinned humans with violet eyes who think that the appearance of Gregor and Boots is fulfilling a prophecy made by their founder hundreds of years ago.  By fulfilling the prophecy, not only will Gregor save the Underlanders from being destroyed by the Gnawers, but he’ll also have a chance to save his father who is being held prisoner by the Gnawers.

I couldn’t put these books down and am excited to read the third one.  It’s definitely a page-turner and Gregor’s humor, as well as adorable Boots, kept me laughing out loud.  Suzanne Collins said she got inspiration to write The Underland Chronicles from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.  She wanted city kids to be able to relate more to a story like that.

Time Stops for No Mouse by Michael Hoeye

Ages 10 and up

Hermux Tantamoq is a mouse who takes great pleasure in the simple things of life: a good doughnut, his pet ladybug, and reading a good book at home at the end of the day.  His world is turned upside down though when the beautiful and charming Linka Perflinger, “dashing daredevil aviatrix and adventuress”, comes to his watch shop and asks him to fix her watch.  She stresses that it must keep time perfectly (it is a matter of life or death) and will be back the next day to pick it up.  It was love at first sight for Hermux and he eagerly sets to fixing the watch.

When Ms. Perflinger doesn’t return to pick up her watch, Hermux becomes worried and starts trying to piece together what happened to her.  He is soon in way over his head as he uncovers a trail of kidnapping, betrayal, murder, and cover-ups.  “He must be daring.  He must be vigilant.  And he doesn’t know how.  But as sure as corn is sweet and cheese goes moldy in the rain, Hermux must rescue Ms. Perflinger and, in the process, find out just what kind of mouse he really is.

Time Stops for No Mouse is the first of four books in the Hermux Tantamoq Adventure series.  I’m currently reading the second one and haven’t been disappointed.  I think it is Hermux’s genuineness and inquisitiveness that I like most about the books.  The chapters are short and therefore lead to that problem of…."Well, I’ll just read ONE more chapter before I go to bed…Okay, maybe two more…”.  You know how it is.  :)