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Karen Cushman
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"This is why I write - - so children can begin to grow, to see beyond the edges of their own experience."
--------------------from Newbery Medal Acceptance speech
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Fascinating Facts
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Born October 4, 1941 in Chicago
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Recieved her first typewriter at age 6
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Moved to southern California at age 10,
missing her grandparents, dog and public library
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Tried to teach herself ballet from a library book
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Wrote and held plays with her neighborhood friends
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Wanted to be a librarian, movie star or tap dancer
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Received Bachelor’s degree from Stanford university studying Greek and
English
Received Master's degrees in human behavior and museum studies
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Taught Museum Studies to college students
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Married with one daughter
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Lives on Vashon Island in Washington
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Began her writing career at age 50
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Favorite authors are Jane Yolen, Sharon Creech, Cynthia Rylant and Patricia MacLachlan
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Favorite Newbery book is Sarah, Plain and Tall
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Loves growing tomatoes, reading and medieval music
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Has won many awards for her books including the Newbery Award for The Midwife's Apprentice
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Karen Cushman's Books
This is a list of books written by Karen Cushman. These stories represent "compelling coming-of-age tales as well as history
primers noted for their accuracy and attention to detail."
-------- - from Contemporary Authors Online. Thomson Gale, 2004. Available through
Literature Resource Center, Texas Woman’s University Library. (accessed February 13, 2005).
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Catherine,
called Birdy. 1994. New York:
Harper Trophy. ISBN: 0064405842
Diary of fourteen-year-old daughter of a minor English nobleman. This
book describes what medieval life is like.
Newbery Honor Award
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The midwife’s apprentice.
1995. New York: Harper Trophy. ISBN: 006440630x
A homeless orphan aids a midwife in a medieval village. Describes
what life is like in a medival English village.
Newbery Medal Award
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The ballad
of Lucy Whipple. 1996. New
York: Clarion Books. ISBN: 0395728061
Diary of a twelve-year-old girl who is moved to California in 1849 against
her wishes. Describes life in a California gold rush town.
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Matilda
Bone. 2000. New York: Clarion Books.
ISBN: 0395881560
A fourteen-year-old girl is left to assist a bonesetter after being raised
by a priest. Describes life in the medical quarter of a medieval English village.
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Rodizina. 2003. New York: Clarion Books.
ISBN: 0618133518
A twelve-year-old girl is sent from Chicago west on an orphan train in 1881.
Describes the trials and tribulations of children traveling on the orphan trains.
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Teacher's Resources
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A Guide to Teaching Karen Cushman's - from HarperCollins
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Author Spotlight Book Connections
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Activities from TeacherViews for Catherine, Called Birdy
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Activities from TeacherViews for The midwife's apprentice
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Activities from TeacherViews for The ballad of Lucy Whipple
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Karen Cushman can be contacted through her publisher Houghton Mifflin
Karen Cushman
c/o Houghton Mifflin Children’s Books, 8th Floor
222 Berkeley Street
Boston, MA 02116-3764
The midwife’s apprentice and The ballad of Lucy Whipple
Karen Cushman’s books portray strong young women coping with problems that face all young women growing up but these
novels are set in historical times. The midwife’s apprentice is the story of a girl, about 12 or 13, who is
nameless, motherless and homeless. She lives in a medieval village in England. The ballad of Lucy Whipple is the
story of twelve-year-old California Morning Whipple, a girl who is involuntarily moved from Massachusetts to the California
gold fields in 1849. She dislikes everything California, including her name. Through these novels, Karen Cushman deals with
coming of age issues and uses her historical settings to inform children about what it would be like to live in those times.
The midwife’s apprentice opens with a young girl, Brat, sleeping in a dung pile to keep warm. She is “unwashed,
unnourished, unloved…”. She is taunted by boys, “Dung beetle! Dung beetle! Smelly old dung beetle sleeping
in the dung.” Jane, the local midwife, names her Beetle, commandeers her to be her apprentice and do all the unwanted
chores. Brat is given a new name, food to eat and a place to sleep, “though it was much less warm” (than the
dung heap). Beetle finds and befriends a cat; sharing what little food she has with the cat. As Beetle accompanies the midwife
on her chores, she secretly watches and learns some of the skills of a midwife.
When the midwife broke her ankle, Beetle was sent to Saint Swithin’s Day Fair to replenish the midwife’s stores.
She was given a comb and mistaken for a girl named “Alyce”. “What a day. She had been winked at, complimented,
given a gift, and now mistake for the mysterious Alyce who could read.” That was how she obtained the name Alyce.
Along with her name, the cat was given the name “Purr”. Alyce had various other adventures. She befriended an
orphan boy, whom she named Eugene, and sent to the manor house to help with the harvest. Alyce helped with the delivery of
twin calves and soon came to be known by the villagers.
After an unsuccessful attempt at delivery, Alyce felt a failure and ran away to work in an inn. “I am too stupid to
be a midwife’s apprentice, and too tired to wander again.” When asked what she wanted, she replied, “I know
what I want. A full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.” Alyce realized that her place in the world
was as a midwife’s apprentice. Alyce returned to the midwife. “I know how to try and risk and fail and try again
and not give up.” Alyce found her name and her place and the courage to fight for it. She “gains dignity and
purpose as a human being.” (Blasingame 2001)
The ballad of Lucy Whipple, written through the eyes of a twelve-year-old girl, begins “Summer 1849 - In
which I come to California, fall down a hill, and vow to be miserable here.” Her mother brings California Morning
Whipple, born in Massachusetts, to the gold country of California after her father died. Her mother obtains a job running
a boarding house in Lucky Diggins, a mining town. Lucy is miserable from the beginning, missing her grandparents, her friends,
the school and library. In a letter to her grandparents, she states, “the only inhabitants seem to be prospectors with
loud voices and dirty faces, porcupines and grizzly bears, lizards, snakes, and birds.” “There is no school and
no lending library, no bank, no church, no meetinghouse, no newspaper, no shopping or parties or picnics, no eggs, no milk,
and worst of all, no Gram and Grampop.” She decides to change her name. “Let some Californian be called California;
I would be Lucy. It was a very Massachusetts name.”
In order to return to Massachusetts, Lucy begins baking and selling pies to miners. Life in a California gold rush town is
described in great detail. Lucy starts a lending library and, when the town is burned down, books she had loaned to miners
came back to her. In the end, Lucy learns to accept her situation in life and creates a new identity for herself.
The book The midwife’s apprentice grew out of the book, Catherine, called Birdy. Ms. Cushman wondered
what it would be like to live in the medieval village by the manor. The idea came of a “homeless child sleeping on a
dung heap longing for a name, a full belly and a place in the world.” “And Alyce is every child who is parentless,
homeless, and hungry, who lives on the edges of our world. Who is mocked or excluded for being different.” from her
Newbery Acceptance Speech.
The idea for The ballad of Lucy Whipple came from a quote that Karen Cushman read that the gold rush consisted of about
90% males. She began to wonder about the other ten percent who were women. The story of these women interested her. Lucy,
although she lived with her mother and brother and sisters, also is an outcast in her mind. Lucy Whipple hungers “for
security and stability” similar to Alyce (Perkins 1997). “Cushman's heroines experience a strong need to take
control of their lives and to establish a sense of identity.” (http://www.eduplace.com/author/cushman/activities.html).
Both of these girls learn to accept their stations in life, learn to make a place for themselves in an adverse environment
and learn to take advantage of their individual strengths of character.
These books were extensively researched using many primary sources. Karen Cushman includes historical information about each
book in an author’s note. In The Midwife’s apprentice, there is a brief history of midwifery. “Medieval
midwifery was a combination of common sense, herbal knowledge and superstition, passed from woman to woman through oral tradition
and apprenticeship.” Information on the gold rush is given in The ballad of Lucy Whipple. The ballad of
Lucy Whipple also contains a bibliography of the most helpful books on the Gold Rush.
Like all of her books, a feeling of history can be obtained in each of these books. No details are spared. The settings
are rich, the characters of the girls extensively developed. The books are “full of small details that children will
love” and “Young readers will enjoy this story.” from a review of The ballad of Lucy Whipple (Shook
1996). “Earthy humor, the foibles of humans both high and low, and a fascinating mix of superstition and genuinely
helpful herbal remedies attached to childbirth make this a truly delightful introduction to a world seldom seen in children’s
literature.” from a review of The midwife’s apprentice (Miller 1995). Both books, indeed all of Karen
Cushman’s novels are highly recommended for young adults.
Sources Used
Bowlan, Cheryl. 2000. Karen Cushman: Interview by ACHUKA’s US Correspondent. ACHUKA. http://www.achuka.co.uk/special/Cushman.htm
(accessed February 13, 2005).
Cushman, Karen. 1996. Acceptance Speech: 1996 Newbery Medal for The Midwife’s Apprentice. http://www.eduplace.com/author/cushman/speech.html
(accessed February 13, 2005).
Karen Cushman. 2004. Contemporary Authors Online. Thomson Gale. Available through Literature Resource Center, Texas
Woman’s University Library. (accessed February 13, 2005).
Karen Cushman. IPL Kidspace: The Author Page. http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/askauthor/cushmanbio.html (accessed February
13, 2005)
Lodge, Sally. 1996. A talk with Karen Cushman. Publishers Weekly 243 (35): 46.
Marcus, Leonard S., ed. 2000. Karen Cushman. In Author Talk, 16-21. New York: Simon and Schuster.
McNulty, Mary H. 2001. The girls’ story: adolescent novels set in the Middle Ages. The Alan Review 28 (2):
20. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v28n2/mcnulty.html. (accessed February 13, 2005).
Miller, Sara. 1995. A review of The Midwife’s Apprentice. School Library Journal 41 (5): 118.
Perkins, Linda. 1997. A review of The ballad of Lucy Whipple. The New York Times Book Review February 16:
25.
Rochman, Hazel. 1996. An interview with Karen Cushman. Booklist 92 (19-20): 1700-1701.
Shook, Bruce Anne. 1996. A review of The Ballad of Lucy Whipple. School Library Journal 42(8): 142.
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