Karen Cushman
Forfatter af Catherine, Called Birdy
Om forfatteren
Karen Cushman was born on October 4, 1941 and grew up in a working-class family in Chicago, but never put much thought into becoming a writer. Though she wrote poetry and plays as a child, Cushman didn't begin writing professionally for young adults until she was fifty. She holds an MA in both vis mere Human Behavior and Museum Studies. Cushman has always been interested in history. 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. 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. Cushman's work has also been recognized for excellence by Horn Book, Parenting Magazine, Hungry Mind Review, and the American Library Association. (Bowker Author Biography) vis mindre
Image credit: Author Karen Cushman at the 2016 Texas Book Festival. By Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53330002
Værker af Karen Cushman
Associated Works
Totally Middle School: Tales of Friends, Family, and Fitting In (2018) — Bidragyder — 17 eksemplarer
Satte nøgleord på
Almen Viden
- Fødselsdato
- 1941-10-04
- Køn
- female
- Nationalitet
- USA
- Fødested
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Bopæl
- Vashon Island, Washington, USA
- Uddannelse
- Stanford University (MA - Human Behavior, MA - Museum Studies)
- Erhverv
- novelist
adjunct professor - Relationer
- Cushman, Philip (husband)
- Organisationer
- John F. Kennedy University (Assistant Director - Museum Studies Department)
- Kort biografi
- According to Karen Cushman's web site: When I was little, my Polish grandpa took me for walks through the alleys of Chicago. I would collect treasures — rubber bands and marbles, perfectly good pencils, maple leaves and robins’ eggs — and take them home to put in a box under my bed. I think that’s what being a writer is like. The treasures I collect now are bits of information fantasies memories, and imaginings, and I take them and put them in a story.
I write historical fiction, novels that may be about made up characters and events but take place in a real time or place.
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Found: Help find a book i Name that Book (marts 2022)
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Catherine Called Birdy af Karen Cushman
AR: 6.4
I've owned this book for years and have read it a few times, it's always a treat. It was neat having a different perspective of being a "lady" and not fitting in.
Would fit The 52 Book Club's 2021 prompts:
10 - Related to the Word Fire
16 - Set Before the 17th Century
32 - A Selfish Character
42 - An Epistolary
47 - A Character With a Disability
Would fit The 52 Book Club's 2021 prompts:
10 - Related to the Word Fire
16 - Set Before the 17th Century
32 - A Selfish Character
42 - An Epistolary
47 - A Character With a Disability
been reading the Newbery winners of late, three in a row and all with orphaned children. the first one, the child who already lost both her parents lost the person who took her in ( Missing May). the next one, the kid who lost her mom loses her grandmother ( walk two moons) It was nice to have one with no deaths for a change. Interesting setting ( 14th century)with lessons about persistence and self doubt that are still relevant
Surprisingly hilarious! I listened to the audiobook in anticipation of the movie version coming soon. The best part of this book is Birdy's sharp, grumpy, occasionally wise voice. Like a modern teenager, she seems to be annoyed by everything, particularly the limits put on her as a girl. Unlike a modern teenager, she and her community are at the mercy of the politics of the Middle Ages. Her father intends to marry her off regardless of Birdy's wishes. She manages to trick her suitors into rejecting her, but she can't escape her fate.
As Cushman writes in the author's note, in those days you were born into a certain role and you had little choice but to play it. This is not a book with a modern moral like "You can be whatever you want to be if you work hard." Instead, this book imagines how it might have felt for a fiery young lady to be so constrained and powerless. How can she accept such a life?
The unexpected delights of this book are many. It's pretty gross (they eat a lot of eel pie, there are illnesses, injuries, disgusting remedies, so many fleas, etc.). I really enjoyed hearing about all the obscure saints and what they were sainted for. So strange and funny the way Birdy deadpans their miraculous achievements.
The book is also realistically dark like when Birdy attends a hanging. She's excited to see a criminal punished but it's just young boys and it's horrible.
I think the movie will have to give this story a stronger plot. I'm also really confused about the casting of Birdy's father. In the book Birdy describes him as a nasty beast, but he's played by Andrew Scott (AKA hot priest from Fleabag). Does not compute.… (mere)
As Cushman writes in the author's note, in those days you were born into a certain role and you had little choice but to play it. This is not a book with a modern moral like "You can be whatever you want to be if you work hard." Instead, this book imagines how it might have felt for a fiery young lady to be so constrained and powerless. How can she accept such a life?
The unexpected delights of this book are many. It's pretty gross (they eat a lot of eel pie, there are illnesses, injuries, disgusting remedies, so many fleas, etc.). I really enjoyed hearing about all the obscure saints and what they were sainted for. So strange and funny the way Birdy deadpans their miraculous achievements.
The book is also realistically dark like when Birdy attends a hanging. She's excited to see a criminal punished but it's just young boys and it's horrible.
I think the movie will have to give this story a stronger plot. I'm also really confused about the casting of Birdy's father. In the book Birdy describes him as a nasty beast, but he's played by Andrew Scott (AKA hot priest from Fleabag). Does not compute.… (mere)
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Statistikker
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- 13
- Also by
- 2
- Medlemmer
- 14,063
- Popularitet
- #1,635
- Vurdering
- 3.7
- Anmeldelser
- 339
- ISBN
- 254
- Sprog
- 12
- Udvalgt
- 15
