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A Guide to Teaching Karen Cushman's Novels
Catherine, Called Birdy, The Midwife's Apprentice,
and The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
Newbery Medalist Karen Cushman dedicated her first book
"to the imagination, hope, and tenacity of all young women,"
and her novels introduce complex young heroines who possess these very qualities.
In diverse historical and social settings, Catherine, Alyce, and Lucy embark on personal
journeys to discover who they are and where they belong. In each story historical detail
and diction evoke earlier times, yet the human struggles of the characters are timeless.
Exploring the Lives of Young People in Other Times
Reading Skills and Strategies
Catherine, Called Birdy
Setting the Scene | Questions for Group Discussion
The Midwife's Apprentice
Setting the Scene | Questions for Group Discussion
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
Setting the Scene | Questions for Group Discussion
Discussing Common Themes
Activities Across the Curriculum
Language Arts | Social Studies | Science | Math | Music | Home Economics
An Interview with Karen Cushman
Awards
More Books About Young People in Other Times
Feel free to print this teacher's guide for use in the classroom.
Exploring the Lives of Young People in Other Times
These books introduce readers to young women who are facing personal challenges in different
historical periods. As students read, ask them to think about what life was like for ordinary
young people in the time and place portrayed. You may want to divide the class into groups
and assign one of the novels to each. Alternatively, you might assign all three books to the
whole class.
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Reading Skills and Strategies
Compare and Contrast
Have students choose two characters -- either from one novel or two different ones --
and discuss their similarities and differences.
Make Judgments and Decisions
Ask students to identify an important decision one of the characters makes, and then use their
own judgment: Does the character make the right decision? Why or why not?
Make Predictions
At the end of each chapter, have students pause to predict what they think will happen next.
Afterward, discuss the events they predicted correctly and which ones surprised them.
Recognize Point of View
Have students identify the narrator's point of view. Is the novel written in the first person
or the third? Discuss how point of view affects the way the story is told.
Catherine, Called Birdy
Setting the Scene
The story takes place in medieval England in 1290, a time altogether different from ours.
Birdy describes her home as located in "the village of Stonebridge in the shire of Lincoln,
in the country of England, in the hands of God." Explain that England is part of the country
today called the United Kingdom. Have students locate the United Kingdom on a globe or world
map. On a map of England, have them locate the present-day county of Lincoln in eastern
England. Explain the fictional village of Stonebridge is based on real villages of the time.
An instructive Author's Note in the back of the book reveals additional information about
life in medieval English villages.
Read more about Catherine, Called Birdy
Sharing the Book: Questions for Group Discussion
Two older women give Catherine important advice. What does the old Jewish woman tell Birdy?
How does it help her decide what to do later on? What does Madame Joanna want Birdy to
"learn about wings"? Do you think she learns it?
Birdy is engaged against her will to a much older man. Her friend Aelis marries a
seven-year-old child. How is marriage arranged in their society? How are marriage customs
then like and unlike marriage customs today?
Does Birdy's curse work? What do you think actually happened between Aelis and George?
Compare some of Birdy's earlier diary entries to her later ones. How has she changed over
the year? Give examples from her writing.
The Midwife's Apprentice
Setting the Scene
Cushman's second novel also takes place in medieval England, but this time our heroine is a
homeless orphan looking for her place in the world. Explain to students that an apprentice is
someone who learns a trade by working under an expert, often for many years, and that in
medieval England jobs requiring special skills were passed down in this manner. You may also
wish to share with students selected details from the Author's Note in the back of the book,
which provides fascinating information about midwifery through the ages.
Read more about The Midwife's Apprentice
Sharing the Book: Questions for Group Discussion
"Brat," "dung beetle," "a saint," "lackwit fool," "skinny girl . . . afraid to say boo" are just a few of the things Alyce is
called over the course of the novel. "By the bones of Saint Polycarp, who is Alyce?" the midwife asks one day. How would you answer
the question?
"And what, Inn Girl, do you want?" asks Magister Reese. Why is the question so surprising to Alyce? How does her answer surprise
Magister Reese?
Alyce runs away, telling herself that she is a failure. "I can do nothing and learn nothing." Why does Alyce believe she is a failure?
When and why is she willing to try again?
"From a girl with no place in the world, she had suddenly become someone with a surfeit of places." Do you think Alyce chooses the right
place for herself? Why or why not?
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
Setting the Scene
The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848 set off a huge rush of people to California. Gold seekers -- more than a quarter million
of them -- came from many states and countries hoping to find their wealth in California's rivers, streams, and mining towns.
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple is set in one such community. Cushman's afterword explains what inspired her to tell this story and
discusses some myths and realities of the California gold rush. You may wish to share selected details from this Author's Note with
students before they begin.
Read more about The Ballad of Lucy Whipple
Sharing the Book: Questions for Group Discussion
Several times in the book people make assumptions about other people without knowing them. What are some examples of prejudice in the
story? Which of these perceptions are changed, and why? What assumption does Lucy make about California?
When Lizzie calls her abusive father a "varmint," Lucy wonders if "maybe Lizzie didn't just up and shoot him herself."
What do you think truly happened to Mr. Flagg? Explain.
Lucy's mother's decision to relocate her family was unusual for women in the 1800s. Lucy does not want to relocate.
Compare and contrast Lucy and her mother. In what ways are they alike? In what ways are they different?
What did you think of Lucy's decision to stay in Lucky Diggins? Did it surprise you? How does Lucy sign her last letter, and why?
Discussing Common Themes
Communities of the Past
Everyone has a particular role to play in the communities portrayed. Describe some of these roles and the characters who fill them.
How do peoples' roles in their communities influence how they are treated and how they think about themselves? Describe the different
roles of men and women and the relationships between adults and children.
Meeting Challenges
Discuss one challenge faced by each main character. How does she meet this challenge?
Personal Journeys
Each young woman in her own way is trying to find her place in the world. How does she find it? What decisions does she make along
the way?
Turning Points
Identify a major turning point in each novel. How does this event move the story in a new direction?
Activities Across the Curriculum
Language Arts
All three books use vocabulary specific to the era portrayed. Keep a list of unfamiliar words and expressions. First, try to define
each word based on its context, then check your definitions using a dictionary. Keep a separate list of words and expressions you
cannot find in the dictionary. These are most likely old slang or swear words, such as "Corpus Bones."
California names herself Lucy; Beetle names herself Alyce; and Catherine, who's already called Birdy, wants people to call her Aelgifu.
What importance do names have in each of the novels? If you were to rename yourself, what name would you choose, and why?
Choose an event from one of the novels and retell it from the point of view of one of the minor characters.
Social Studies
Do more research into the specific periods in which the novels are set. Pairs of students can report on particular aspects of life
portrayed in the novel, such as religious traditions, marriage customs, education, work, and free-time activities.
In order to write each novel, the author had to research what life was like in another time. Choose a culture and time that you have
studied. Write a letter someone living in that time might have written or dictated. Include details that reveal what life was like in
that periodo'and try to avoid including things that didn't yet exist!
Science
Medicine has changed a great deal since the time of medieval England, and even since the California gold rush. Choose one of the
three novels and make a chart noting all medical treatments described and for what they were used. Which of these might still be used
today? Which would probably not be used? What might be used in their place?
Math
What kind of payments do people make to each other in each novel? Make a list of what people are paid for the work they do, or what
they exchange for an item they want. Then try to determine what things are worth in relation to one another. Record the information
in a diagram.
Music
Music is important in each of the communities described, and the main character of each book plays with writing songs. Write a
song about a character in one of the stories, or about yourself. You can sing your song to a familiar tune or create one of your own.
Home Economics
Food is mentioned frequently in all three novels. What do people eat on a typical day? What do they eat on special occasions? Create
a menu based on a meal described, or a weekly food diary for one of the characters. How would you evaluate the diets described,
based on the nutritional knowledge we have today?
An Interview with Karen Cushman
Q: What did you like to read when you were younger?
A: Lots of different things. I would develop strange passions and weird
enthusiasms and read everything I could about a subject. I didn't like
history that focused on names and dates and memorizing principal exports
and archbishops, but I loved reading about everyday history, learning
about what life was like for ordinary people in other times.
Q: Why did you start writing?
A: Watching my daughter and her friends grow up and struggle, I became
interested in knowing what girls in other times went through. I went to
Renaissance Fairs and listened to medieval music and I started wondering
what it would be like for a girl to rebel against her options at a time
when she really didn't have many options. And that became the idea for
Catherine.
Q: Where do you usually get your ideas?
A: It seems to me ideas are everywhere. They come from looking and listening, reading and living, wondering
and doubting and failing. Ideas pour out of my ears and clutter up the floor all
around my desk and I will never live long enough to write about each one.
Writing -- now that is the hard part.
Q: How do you develop your characters and stories?
A: I think I make the girls the way I wish I had been. They're somewhat like me but they're more independent and outgoing.
The characters come first, then the story. And then I play going back and forth and back and forth between the character and plot,
and also between writing and
research.
Q: Do all of the great old words and expressions you use in your books
like "Corpus Bones!" come from your research?
A: Yes, they're all real. Corpus Bones is a perfect example of how you need to document your research. I found it
somewhere and didn't note where, so now I can never find out exactly.
Q: What about the foods in your books, like "peacock in raisin sauce" and "boiled mirling?"
A: All the foods are from medieval cookbooks.
Q: Have you ever tried to make any of them?
A: No, I'm not that brave. My favorite food is pizza.
Karen Cushman lives in Oakland, California, with her husband and is working on another novel.
Teachers' Guides copyright 1998 by HarperCollins Children's Books
Developed by Summer Street Press
Judy Glickman and Nick Mandelkern, Editorial Directors
Rachel Sheinkin, Writer
Other favorites include...
Catherine, Called Birdy (Clarion, 1994)
Matlilda Bone (Clarion, 2000)
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (Houghtin MIfflin, 1996)
Rodzina (Clarion, 2003)
The Midwife's Apprentice
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