Book Cover
Book Summary
Catherine is the daughter of a knight in 1290. This means that she must be a lady and not a tomboy. It means that she has to marry whomever her parents decide. It means she can't be a crusader or a monk. He brother, who is a monk, teachers her how to read and write because education is important to him even if it is not really to the rest of the family. As she turns 13, Catherine's father begins trying to find her a husband and she resists as much as possible and does everything in her power to get rid of each one in turn, even though it means being punished. Throughout the year covered in the book, Catherine must come to terms with her fate and learn a little more about life along the way.
APA Reference of Book
Cushman, K. (1994). Catherine, called Birdy. New York, NY: Clarion Books.
Impressions
I enjoyed this book. It was well-written, but the diary format was difficult for me at times. I enjoy being completely sucked into the world and story of a book and the dairy format was jumpy and often pulled me out of the story. The setting and descriptions of life in the Middle Ages was very well done. Many things, such as privys, were discussed that are often left out because they are a dirty part of life most people wish to avoid talking about. I feel like all of these descriptions did a good job showing just how different life was then as well as how, even for reasonably well off people like Catherine's family, life was dirty and smelly, baths were infrequent, and medical help was questionable. The book also did a good job showing how limited women were in what they could do with their lives as well as showing how they were able to make the most of those options and make the best life for themselves possible. I do think that Catherine was perhaps a little too free to do as she pleased and was allowed to object to her upcoming marriage more than probably would have been allowed in most families.
Professional Review
"Catherine, called Birdy because she loves animals and keeps caged birds in her room, is in her fourteenth year, the daughter of an impoverished knight, when she begins a record of her daily life. Her diary of the year 1290 is a revealing, amusing, and sometimes horrifying view both of Catherine's thoughts and of life in the Middle Ages. Every entry is preceded with a description, sometimes funny, sometimes obscure, of the saint for that day. The diary is filled with wry comments and presents a candid look at the customs of the times, sparing few appalling details: her mother's long, dangerous labor in giving birth; her father's drinking and consequent suffering from "ale head"; the total lack of privacy; the smells of the cesspool and the rushes on the floor fouled with bones and offal and filth of all kinds; the unabashed selling of a girl in marriage to the highest bidder. The diary relates Catherine's efforts to avoid this fate — altering her appearance with blacked-out teeth and uncombed hair, spreading rumors about herself, setting the privy on fire with a proposed suitor in it, running away — but all to no avail. Although she escapes marriage to a repulsive middle-aged knight she calls "Shaggy Beard," at the end of the novel she is resigned to marrying his son. Catherine's envy of the everyday life of the villagers, hardworking but at least free of the constraints of being a lady, and her lively dislike of her father and her brother Robert are presented in forthright terms. Catherine's rebellious nature, questioning mind, and underlying kindness to all creatures make her an amusing and sympathetic figure; the vivid picture of medieval life presents a seemingly eye-witness view of a culture remote from contemporary beliefs. Fascinating and thought-provoking."
Flowers, A.A. (1994). [Review of Catherine, called Birdy by Karen Cushman]. Horn Book Magazine, 70(4), 457-458. Retrieved from: http://www.hbook.com/horn-book-magazine-2/
Library Uses
This book would be a good book club book. The diary style would be easy for kids to read and follow, while still allowing for good historical description. The discussion of life in the Middle Ages would make the subject more interesting for students when they study it in school and give them a new perspective on their own lives.
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