description: Karen Cushman likes to write with her tongue firmly planted in her cheek, and her feisty female characters firmly planted in history. In The Midwife's Apprentice, which earned the 1996 Newbery Medal, this makes a winning combination for children and adult readers alike. Like her award-winning book Catherine, Called Birdy, the story takes place in medieval England. This time our protagonist is Alyce, who rises from the dung heap (literally) of homelessness and namelessness to find a station in life--apprentice to the crotchety, snaggletoothed midwife Jane Sharp. On Alyce's first solo outing as a midwife, she fails to deliver. Instead of facing her ignorance, Alyce chooses to run from failure--never a good choice. Disappointingly, Cushman does not offer any hardships or internal wrestling to warrant Alyce's final epiphanies, and one of the book's climactic insights is when Alyce discovers that lo and behold she is actually pretty! Still, Cushman redeems her writing, as always, with historical accuracy, saucy dialogue, fast-paced action, and plucky, original characters that older readers will eagerly devour. (Ages 12 and older) --Gail Hudson
language: English
title: The Midwife's Apprentice
titlecomplete: The Midwife's Apprentice
characters: Jane the Midwife, Magister Richard Reese, Alyce, Will Russet
genres: British Literature, Historical, Childrens, Juvenile, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Historical Fiction, Coming Of Age, Fiction, Medieval
ratings_count: 42074
places: United Kingdom
awards: awardedAt: 820483200000
name: Newbery Medal, awardedAt: 852105600000
name: Vermont Golden Dome Book Award, awardedAt: 883641600000
name: Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award
category: Senior
publisher: Listening Library (Audio)