But it wasn't until I got older that I realized what a huge compliment her words were, because Catherine is one awesome 14-year-old. As a huge book nerd, I was thrilled to receive a book in general, and I loved Catherine once I read through the book. Personal story: My 5th grade teacher gifted me Catherine, Called Birdy, saying that the protagonist reminded her of me. Yes, as adults, Catherine herself is still the main draw. Relenting on your stubbornness doesn't mean that you're giving up it can sometimes mean you believe in yourself even more. I am who I am wherever I am.Īs a stubborn 10- or 11-year-old girl myself at the time, this hit me hard. And Catherine does something incredible, and unexpected, and I felt like she was actually teaching me something. So when she becomes engaged to Shaggy Bones, we're all cheering alongside her to escape, to run away and become a monk or join the Crusades. And I fell in love with her with each of her silly fill-ins for cursing: Corpus Bones! God's thumbs! She allows Catherine to stand front and center in the book, not just as an observer, but as a full, three-dimensional participant in all the actions. And Cushman tells you so much about Catherine just in those two short sentences.
When her brother tells her to keep a diary, her first entry is: I am bit by fleas and plagued by family. Cushman's heroine is witty, tough, and feminist far ahead of her time.
Teachers, parents, and we students all were fans. (She won the Newbery Award the next year again for The Midwife's Apprentice.) And basically everyone loved this book. This doesn't sit well with Catherine, who then does whatever trickery she can to shoo them away.Ĭatherine, Called Birdy was Cushman's debut novel and set the tone for her historical young adult fiction career. It centers on 14-year-old Lady Catherine, who is the daughter of middle-of-the-road English noblemen during medieval times, and who her father has decided needs to be sold off to a rich husband. It's not that Karen Cushman's Catherine, Called Birdy doesn't get a lot of love - it won the Newbery Honor and Golden Kite Award in 1995 - it's just that Catherine is so awesome we can't possibly talk about the book enough.
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