One of the best ways I ever found of learning history was to read historical fiction and understand the times through the eyes of a sympathetic character. Here is just such an opportunity. Birdy is a fourteen-year-old girl living in medieval England. She has a great sense of herself, and we get to see into her heart through reading her diary. It's fiction, of course, but it is filled with enough detail to give you a real feel for life back then. You'll delight in Birdy's machinations as she maneuvers to defeat various suitors. She's the daughter of a minor nobleman and, as such, is a worthy prize.
224 pages Ages 10-13
Keywords: historical fiction, England, diary, coming of age, self esteem, self reliance, 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old, 13 year old
Recommended by: Barb Langridge
Read alike: A Season Most Unfair by J. Anderson Coats 978-1665912365
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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."---from the publisher
