Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

Length: 212 pages, 12 chapters


This book is about a 13 year old girl set in Medieval times. Her family is of nobility and she has come of age in a time when her father feels that she should be married to someone of his choice. She dislikes many of her suitors and torments many of them until they give up and leave, in one instance she blackens out her teeth with soot and puts mouse bones in her hair and eats dinner infront of one of the men that is interested in marrying her. Eventually she finds that her father has promised her to a older man whom she finds digusting but lives nearby and will join lands with her father to increase both mens wealth. She spends much of the novel attempting to overthrow her father's decision on the marriage and growing up in the process.

The book progresses over the span of a year with each chapter reflecting one month and is told through daily journal entries. It is very funny, at times serious, and is entertaining and accurate to the time period. As Birdy grows up the novel becomes more serious. The writing has a little more difficult language than Bella at Midnight but well worth the read. Although this novel is about a girl I would recommend this novel to girls and boys of this age group who would enjoy how much of a tomboy Birdy is and the funny things she does to her potential husbands. Readers should have a good vocabulary as some of the language is written using medieval/renaissance language.

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley

Bella at Midnight is a wonderful example of Medieval times with the proper amount of fairy tale thrown in but still remaining real to the time period. The story is very quick to draw the reader in and hard to put down. Each chapter is told through one of the characters points of view relating to what they're thinking while the events take place. The story is about a girl called Isabelle who is not wanted by her father- a knight of noble wealth, when her mother dies in childbirth. She is placed with a loving peasant family for her early life and doesn't know about her noble background until she grows up. Her father requests her return to his household when he remarries but a new step mother and family are not as pleasant as they seem.