About this title: Catherine, a feisty, outspoken and most unladylike 14-year-old living in the Middle Ages, chronicles her life over one year in a diary given to her by her brother in an attempt to make her more ladylike. Alas, alack, the plan does not work, but one does get to see what life in the middle ages was like, and how woman are subjected to a life full of dull tasks. Readers will root for Catherine (called Birdy because of the birds she keeps in her room) as she thwarts suitors and tries to find her life on her own.
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Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780064405843ISBN:0064405842
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 224 p. Audience: Children/juvenile; Young adult. Spine is mostly in tact, with a small tear, bk is tight, clean, shiny, with some chipped edging and a crease along the bottom right hand corner, inside pages are clean and bright. read more
Description: Good. 0060739428 Good condition paperback book, some creases to spine, some edge/corner rubs, may have corner crease, small edge tear or spine slant, a good book for reading. Shop & Save With US. read more
Description: Good. 0064405842 Good condition soft cover book, some creases to spine, some edge/corner rubs, may have corner crease, small edge tear or spine slant, a good book for reading. Shop & Save With US. read more
"Throw away your history textbooks! Well, don't really, but this book is an awesome way to supplement your learning of this period of time--1290, England. It's got one of the spunkiest heroines I've ever encountered in a book. It's funny, it's suspenseful, it's gross (in an informative kind of way!). Catherine, or Birdy, as her family calls her, is a feisty 14-year-old. She doesn't want to do anything a girl her age is supposed to do--spinning, embroidering, and learning to act like a lady. Her mother strikes a deal with her. Birdy can forgo spinning as long as she writes an account of family life for her brother, Edward. Lucky us--we get to read it too. Birdy's entries are funny, sly, and observant. When she sees the young people of the village returning from gathering willow branches for Palm Sunday with more greenery stuck in their hair and clothes than in their baskets, she predicts a large crop of babies next Christmas! She writes of her disgust at a public hanging, about her meals and village festivals, her friends and enemies, and her constant battle against fleas and her father's attempts to marry her off to the highest bidder. Despite the humor, Cushman doesn't shy away from the unsavory aspects of 1290. The perpetrators being hanged are only 12 years old. Birdy's brother, Robert, impregnates a 12-year-old, who then dies in childbirth. I must mention how compelling the plot was. I anxiously awaited finding out if Birdy would be forced to marry the distasteful Shaggy Beard. And I thought I had guessed what the ending would be, but I was wrong. Cushman cleverly gives the story a twist at the end which is not "and-they-lived-happily-ever-after" but is certainly hopeful. Highly recommended for young adults and adults!"
"This book was a very fun read. I'm always a sucker for diary style fiction and this one was done especially well. Cushman really did her research about the time period and that's essential. I think this book wouldn't have been so effective if Birdy had modern ideals and attitudes.
I remember reading a book in high school that was supposed to be set during the Industrial Revolution but the main character acted as though she was living in modern times. She traveled where she wanted, did what she wanted and talked about birth control so much I suspected that the book was put out by planned parenthood. In the end I couldn't connect with the book because I was too busy getting frustrated with the author's historical bloopers.
Birdy, on the other hand, is a pure delight and leaves you with the texture of that time period in England. This book is a jewel!"
"Fourth of five books I'm previewing for social studies curriculum. The diary format has to be one you like if you're going to venture here. The main plot, if plot it is, details Catherine "Birdy" and her efforts to resist her Dad's choice of her mate (apparently she's a girl ahead of her time). Each entry starts with italicized info on the saint whose day it is. This gets a bit tiresome after awhile and I found myself skipping the italics. Some humor, some history, and some ho-hum, all in all. The ending employs deus ex machina, a particular annoyance of mine. Ah, well. Girls, especially, should like it, and young readers do seem partial to diary books."
"This is one of the "classic" books that they like you to read in late elementary school or early junior high. I'm sure it would hold the attention for that age. And it is rather intriguing to read a book set in medieval times, especially with a spunky heroine. But there were quite a few bawdy references, though they were made to be light or humourous. Perhaps it was like that back then, I don't know. I do know that I don't like that kind of humor, or that kind of talk in general.
I certainly did not like the incessant taking of the name of deity in vain. I've never been all right hearing that in daily life, and I'm certainly not all right reading it in books. As I was listening to this book, it made it twice as hard for me to bear through it.
I was also rather bored (and even disgusted) by the mentioning of each saints' day and why they were saints. Interesting, but still boring. Don't ask how, that's just the way it was for me.
What I did like was the journal format. That the main character was spunky and did not want to conform to the role that everyone expected of her. That she grew quite a bit over the course of the book. How she learned to understand other people. How much she loved her mother. How loyal she was as a friend. And that she sought out and clung to hope so dearly.
Perhaps I would have enjoyed and/or appreciated the book more if I'd read it when I was younger. I don't know. I'm not saying it's terrible, and that others shouldn't read it. It just wasn't for me."
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