Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

She also has a friend Aelis who may or may not be in love with her uncle George. And then there are her three brothers, Edward, Thomas, and Robert (in order of favoritism). There's her mother, whose one act of defiance was marrying down to her husband. There's her father, a drunken lout who was apparently quite the heartthrob when he was 15.

We also get to learn a lot about her family. In between hanging out with the sheepherd and practicing being a lady, Catherine conspires on how to rid herself of her suitors, whether it's blacking out one of her teeth and acting like she's crazy or pretending to be a peasant and sowing rumors of her own ill repute while in disguise. Even though she is only fourteen, her father is already planning on marrying her away. I remember this book being like a breath of fresh air because so many of the books we had to read in school were pretty boring because they definitely felt like literature for kids and a lot of them were about boys, as written by men.ĬATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY is about the daughter of a land-holding knight living in medieval England. Since I actually remember reading this one in school, I thought CATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY would be the perfect addition to my rereading project. Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Amazon || Pinterest It's a brilliant book: one that I read over and over when I need a laugh. Birdy is by turns selfish, generous, compassionate, merciless, moody and serene. It has all the elements relevant to 14-year-old girls in America today: the longing for a best friend the parent-related angst the feeling that no one understands you the compulsion to do something that really matters in the world. The book is written as a journal and spans a year, during which Birdy learns to stop fighting against the position she was born to (including the arranged marriage!) Through her eyes, we come to see and know the village peasants as if they were old friends. While her father plots suitable arranged marriages for her and her mother tries to prepare her for being a wife by teaching her manners, needlework and herbal medicine, Birdy, the ultimate tomboy, plots ways to get rid of the suitors and sneak off to the village where she can help with the hay harvest and sing hey-nonny-nonny amongst the peasants.

Birdy is the 14-year old daughter of a 14th-century landowner in Merrie Olde Englande. When it won the Newbery Medal for Children's Literature, it was Cushman's first book. If there were a 6-star rating, I'd give it to this book.

Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman