Most Popular Books by Karen Cushman

In a small village in medieval England, a young homeless girl acquires a home and a new career when she becomes the apprentice to a sharp-tempered midwife.

The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.

Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski, a strong and stubborn Polish orphan, leaves Chicago on an orphan train, expecting to be adopted and turned into a slave—or worse, not to be adopted at all. As the train rattles westward, she begins to develop attachments to her fellow travelers, even the frosty orphan guardian, and to accept the idea that there might be good homes for orphans—maybe even for a big, combative Polish girl. But no placement seems right for the formidable Rodzina, and she cleverly finds a way out of one unfortunate situation after another until at last she finds the family that is right for her. Like Karen Cushman's other young girl protagonists, Rodzina is trying to find her place in the world—and she does. The compelling narrative is laced with wry humor and keen observation, full of memorable characters, and a thoroughly researched Afterword.

Originally published: [New York]: Clarion Books, 1994.

In 1949, thirteen-year-old Francine goes to Catholic school in Los Angeles where she becomes best friends with a girl who questions authority and is frequently punished by the nuns, causing Francine to question her own values.

Dear Gram and Grampop, Please do not address yours truly as California anymore, California Morning Whipple being a foolish name for a duck much less a girl. I call myself Lucy now. I cannot hate California and be California. I know you will understand. California doesn't suit Lucy Whipple -- not the name, not the place. But moving out West to Lucky Diggins, California, was her mama's dream-come-true. And now her brother, Butte, and sisters, Prairie and Sierra, seem to be Westerners at heart, too. For Lucy, Lucky Diggins is hardly a town at all -- just a bunch of ramshackle tents and tobacco-spitting miners. Even the gold her mama claimed was just lying around in the fields isn't panning out. Worst of all, there's no lending library! Dag diggety! So Lucy vows to be plain miserable until she can hightail it back East where she belongs. But Lucy California Morning Whipple may be in for a surprise -- because home is a lot closer than she thinks... When California Morning Whipple's widowed mother uproots her family from their comfortable Massachusetts environs and moves them to a rough mining camp called Lucky Diggins in the Sierras, California Morning resents the upheaval. Desperately wanting to control something in her own life, she decides to be called Lucy, and as Lucy she grows and changes in her strange and challenging new environment. Here Karen Cushman helps the American Gold Rush spring to colorful life, just as she did for medieval England in her previous two books, Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice, which won Newbery Honor status and a Newbery Medal respectively.

Newbery Medal-Winning Author: A sheltered, self-involved girl finds herself apprenticed to a bonesetter in medieval England in a tale “laced with humor” (Kirkus Reviews). Into the fascinating, pungent setting of Blood and Bone Alley, home of leech, barber-surgeon, and apothecary, comes Matilda, raised by a priest to disdain worldly affairs and focus on spiritual matters. To Matilda’s dismay, her work will not involve Latin or writing, but practical tasks: lighting the fire, going to market, mixing plasters and poultices, and helping Peg treat patients. She is appalled by the worldliness of her new surroundings, and the sharp-tongued saints she turns to for advice are no help at all. Filled with the witty dialogue and richly authentic detail that Karen Cushman’s work is known for, Matilda Bone is a compelling comic novel about a girl who learns to see herself and others clearly, to laugh, and to live contentedly in this world. “Will capture readers’ imaginations and hearts.” —VOYA “This humorous, frank look at life in the medical quarters in medieval times shows readers that love and compassion, laughter and companionship, are indeed the best medicine.” —School Library Journal (starred review)

In his thirteenth year, Will Sparrow, liar and thief, becomes a runaway. On the road, he encounters a series of con artists—a pickpocket, a tooth puller, a pig trainer, a conjurer—and learns that others are more adept than he at lying and thieving. Then he reluctantly joins a traveling troupe of "oddities," including a dwarf and a cat-faced girl, holding himself apart from the "monsters" and resolving to be on guard against further deceptions. At last Will is forced to understand that appearances are misleading and that he has been his own worst deceiver. The rowdy world of market fairs in Elizabethan England is the colorful backdrop for Newbery medalist Cushman's new comic masterpiece. This ebook includes a sample chapter of THE MIDWIFE'S APPRENTICE.

The Newbery Award-winning author of Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice tells a heartfelt and humorous story of WWII on the homefront. Millie McGonigle lives in sunny California, where her days are filled with beach and surf. It should be perfect--but times are tough. Hitler is attacking Europe and it looks like the United States may be going to war. Food is rationed and money is tight. And Millie's sickly little sister gets all the attention and couldn't be more of a pain if she tried. It's all Millie can do to stay calm and feel in control. Still--there's sand beneath her feet. A new neighbor from the city, who has a lot to teach Millie. And surfer boy Rocky to admire--even if she doesn't have the guts to talk to him. It's a time of sunshine, siblings, and stress. Will Millie be able to find her way in her family, and keep her balance as the the world around her loses its own?

The historical fiction classic, told in the form of a diary, has drawn in generations of readers and is a Newbery Honor Book. Catherine feels trapped. Her father is determined to marry her off to a rich man--any rich man, no matter how awful. But by wit, trickery, and luck, Catherine manages to send several would-be husbands packing. Then a shaggy-bearded suitor from the north comes to call--by far the oldest, ugliest, most revolting suitor of them all. Unfortunately, he is also the richest. Can a sharp-tongued, high-spirited, clever young maiden with a mind of her own actually lose the battle against an ill-mannered, piglike lord and an unimaginative, greedy toad of a father? Deus! Not if Catherine has anything to say about it! Catherine, a spirited and inquisitive young woman, narrates in diary form the story of her fourteenth year--the year 1290. In an appreciation in the New York Times, illustrator Vera Brosgol spoke for many fans of this beloved book: "I fell hard for Karen Cushman's Catherine, Called Birdy the second I opened it. More than any other heroine I'd read, this one sounded like me. For Catherine, and for me, there is no easy solution to the cages life makes for you. Sometimes the power is in deciding to be yourself in whatever cage you're in."

Grayling doesn't want to be a hero, but to save her mother from a dark enchantment, she seeks out the few second-string magic makers who haven't been immobilized by the spell and goes off in search of her mother's grimoire, or book of magic. Obstacles both natural and supernatural block their way, and friction within the group delays the journey. Surprising herself, Grayling finds the strength and decisiveness to move the group forward and reach her goal. Eccentric witches and wizards plus a shape-shifting mouse provide moments of high comedy, as do odd practices that date back to the Middle Ages, such as divination with cheese.

Les filles, c'est comme le poisson. Ça se gâche vite et ça ne se garde pas. Ainsi parle Messire Rollo, chevalier du village de Stonebridge, dans l'Angleterre de la fin du XIIIe siècle. Sa fille Catherine a treize ans, et Rollo trouve qu'il est grand temps de la marier. Les soupirants défilent au manoir. Aucun ne trouve grâce aux yeux de Catherine. L'un est moche, l'autre est bête, un troisième est trop vieux, un autre encore sale comme un cochon. Il y a bien le doux oncle Georges, mais son coeur est pris par une autre. En réalité, Catherine ne veut pas se marier du tout. Elle ruse, elle jette des sorts, elle tente des fugues pour échapper au funeste destin qui la guette. Et en attendant d'être vraiment libre, elle consigne ses faits et gestes, ses pensées et les événements du village dans son beau livre de vélin. C'est son frère Edward, futur moine, qui lui a conseillé d'écrire tous les jours pour devenir moins puérile et plus instruite . Alors, pleine de rage parce que son père ivre l'a battue, ou débordante d'espoir à la perspective d'une évasion, Catherine écrit, chaque jour que Dieu fait, et raconte tout en détails, d'autant plus volontiers que, quand elle écrit, sa mère la dispense d'accomplir toutes les corvées ménagères qu'elle déteste : filer la laine, faire bouillir le linge, broder, coudre et ourler. La vie au manoir est rythmée par les travaux, les récoltes, les fausses couches de la Dame, mais aussi les fêtes religieuses et les banquets où défilent les invités de passage qui apportent les nouvelles du monde, et où circulent des plats étranges : anguilles à la gelée de coing, hérissons à la crème, serpents de mer aux pommes. Et le jour où un abbé confie à Catherine un petit livre des saints, elle décide de faire de son journal un livre, aussi héroïque et étonnant qu'une vie de martyre. Ce livre a reçu, en 1995, le Newbery Honor Award et le Golden Kite Award.

From the Newbery-Award winning author of Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice comes the story of an orphan on the American frontier who decides to go west--with nothing but gumption as her guide. Sally O'Malley is an orphan working at a mineral spring hotel in the woods of central Oregon--that is, until she's chucked out like chewed-on chicken bones, due entirely to an unfortunate incident with a pig and some church ladies. And so Sally decides to head west to the sea. Glorious, she's heard. Fierce, she's heard. Why not see for herself? Before long Sally encounters a dangerous bobcat--and that's just the first day! Safe in the knowledge that she's fearless, she continues on her journey with no place to belong and no one to depend on. And that's just fine with her. Then a lady called Major, an old donkey, a loyal dog, and an abominable brat show Sally that she's not quite as brave as she thinks. It turns out that counting on someone else is the scariest thing of all.

Millie McGonigle vive nella soleggiata California, tra lo sciabordio delle onde, lo stridio dei gabbiani e il mondo sommerso dei pesci nella baia. Potrebbe essere tutto perfetto, ma i tempi sono difficili: il padre non trova un lavoro, i soldi sono pochi e, come se non bastasse, la sorellina malaticcia riceve ogni attenzione. Tutto questo, mentre da lontano cominciano ad arrivare gli echi di una guerra terribile: in Europa Hitler sta avanzando con aerei e carri armati. Per non soccombere alla tristezza e alla paura Millie ha un rituale: disegnare nel suo taccuino le cose morte che trova sulla spiaggia e scrivere il suo nome nel fango. Un giorno però, grazie a una nuova amica arrivata da lontano e un surfista da capogiro, capisce che forse è troppo viva e troppo giovane per continuare a pensare a cose tristi e terribili. E che, anche se il mondo sta cambiando travolto dalla guerra, la vita va celebrata in ogni suo momento. Perché ci saranno sempre lo stesso cielo, lo stesso oceano e la stessa baia. E sempre persone straordinarie da festeggiare e amare.

In 1949, thirteen-year-old Francine goes to Catholic school in Los Angeles, where she becomes best friends with a girl who questions authority and is frequently punished by the nuns, causing Francine to question her own values.

On l’appelle La Morveuse. Ou Cafard de fumier. Quelle importance ? Cette fille, personne ne lui connaît de nom : c’est une moins que rien, une fille de 12 ou 13 ans, qui erre toute seule sur les chemins. L’hiver, quand il fait si froid la nuit, elle s’endort, le ventre vide, dans les tas de fumier. Ça pue, le fumier, mais c’est tiède. Et tant pis si au réveil, des gamins la chassent à grands coups de pieds. Un matin pourtant, une femme vient lui parler. C’est la sage-femme du village. Il ne faut pas rêver, elle aussi la traite de cafard. Mais elle est prête à lui donner un quignon de pain, si elle devient son apprentie... Elle ne serait pas en train de se moquer d’elle, par hasard ?

In 1573, the crippled, scorned, and destitute Meggy Swann goes to London and meets her father, a poor alchemist.

Monsieur et Madame Whipple, du Massachusetts, rêvaient si fort d'aller un jour dans l'Ouest, qu'ils avaient baptisé leurs enfants Californie, Canyon, Prairie, Sierra, Promesse Dorée et Océan, et leur chien Rocheuses. Aussi quand son mari et sa fille cadette moururent de pneumonie, Maman Whipple partit seule avec ses enfants. Au bout de cinq mois de bateau, ils arrivèrent dans la baie de San Francisco. Californie appela tout de suite l'endroit " un tas de boue et d'ordures ". Elle comprit que l'or promis devait être caché par les lézards et les crottins de mules. Tandis que sa mère ouvrait sous une tente une pension de famille pour mineurs sales et dépenaillés, elle décida de changer son nom honni en " Lucy ". Et de faire tout ce qui était en son pouvoir pour vite repartir en sens inverse, vers la civilisation, ses maisons et ses bibliothèques. Ce qui était en son pouvoir n'était pas grand-chose : des tartes aux pommes, des économies, des lettres à ses grands-parents, des prières et des rêves fous. Mais une surprise l'attendait.

Consists of typescripts, research materials, notes, and printed material created and accumulated by Karen Cushman from her work on the book The Loud Silence of Francine Green. Some unrelated correspondence is included. The materials are arranged in two series: books and miscellaneous and personal.

A homeless girl is taken as an apprentice by a midwife in the Middle Ages.

Fourteen-year-old Matilda, an apprentice bonesetter and practitioner of medicine in a village in medieval England, tries to reconcile the various aspects of her life, both spiritual and practical.

Gefingeerd dagboek van de veertienjarige dochter van een Engelse ridder in de middeleeuwen over haar leven.

In 1849, twelve-year-old California Morning Whipple, who renames herself Lucy, is distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough California mining town.

The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.

The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.