The Midwife's Apprentice

Bibliographic Information

The Midwife's Apprentice
Karen Cushman
122p.: 19cm.
Clarion Books, 1995
New York
ISBN: 978039549295
Interest level: YA (grades 7-12) Reading level: 6.0
Subject headings: Middle Ages, homeless, midwives.

Plot summary

A young, homeless girl living in medevil England becomes an apprentice to a rather unpleasant midwife. Despite many obstacles this young girl is able to gain what she wants most in her world; contentment, a place in the world, and , " a full belly." She has successes and failures along the way and these experiences allow her to mature and accept what life has to offer.

Critical Analysis

This is a feminist story set in medevil England. During this time in history women had a very definite place in society. Ms. Cushman manages to round out her characters within the context of this concise narrative. The characters are not idealized images but are very real with flaws and faults. We meet the young orphan when she is found by the midwife in a dung heap trying to keep warm. The description Ms. Cushman provides the reader gives real insight into the life as it was, not as a sugar coated vision. " Tonight she settled for the warm rotting of a dung heap, where she dreamed of nothing, for she hoped for nothing and expected nothing. It was as cold and dark inside her as out in the frosty night."
This is a relatively brief text that can be read in a short amount of time. Although there is some confusion caused due to this bevity. The progression of events does not give the reader time to digest what has happened, particulary if they are not familiar with the history of this period. The events unfold to allow the reader to follow the orphan now named Alyce on her journey to womanhood. The themes of failure and success that are part of everyone's maturation into adulthood are relevant to young people today and they will be able to relate to the text on this level,even if they are not totally comfortable with the history.
Ms. Cushman does an excellent job of supporting the reader's understanding with her notes about midwives down through history. Historical fiction writers are basically writers by craft, who use history as the backdrop for their stories. This means that they are often faced with presenting unfamiliar language, context and density. Ms. Cushman has avoided these problem successfully through clear, concise languagethat giver her readers a view into the window of history.
Students will need to look up some of the terms that are not familiar to children of today such as Saint Swithin and Martinmas because they are not clearly defined within in the context of the text.
Ms. Cushman does provide the reader with clues to the authenticity of her text through the use of such devices as the inclusion of lyrics from the period and the use of actual people who did exist during this time.

Reviews/Excerpts

Award: Newberry Medal 1996

Booklist starred (Vol. 91, No. 14 ( March 15, 1995): "Cushman writes with a sharp simplicity and a pulsating beat."

Kirkus Review starred (1995): "... is a gripping story about a time, place, and society that 20th century readers can hardly fathom. Fortunately Cushman does the fathoming for them."


Publishers Weekly ( February 27,1995): "Cushman has an almost unrivaled ability to build atmosphere and her evocation of a medevil village, ... it is suprisingly colorful and pungent."

School Library Journal (May 1995): "With simplicity, art, and humor, Cushman presents another tale of medevil England."

Connections

This book is one that would be appropriate for 7th-12 grader students The text is short enough to be read by the student on their own and so could be use as independent work. It could also be used effectively as a class read. Older students are otten not given the opportunity to listen to fluent reading and it is a shame that is not often part of literature classes. The teacher could read each chapter and then allow the students to do a response journal. The responses could be in the format of a diary written by Alyce.
Due to the excellent character descriptions this is a good text to use for a project such as a story quilt. Each character could have a square devoted to them. Students could illustrate how that character looks to them. The other squares could consist of illustrations of important events from the tale.
Older students could meet in discussion groups . These groups could look at some of the themes and issues found in the narrative such as medevil life, midwives, poverty and homelessness, or the struggles faced by orphans.. The students could look to the text to help them clarrify what the author says about these issues. They could then do independent research on the topics and use this information to come back to the discussion group ready to take a deeper look at these serious issues.
If it is possible to provide each student with their own copy to keep (paperback), they could annotate to clear up any misunderstandings due to language or gaps in their knowledge pertaining to the history of the time. This is a good way to pull the students into the text and take ownership of their learning.
A fun project for this text would be to have students divide into groups and each group create a timeline of events. These timelines could be put on a bulletin board . They could be placed one under the other and students could compare and discuss what each group put on their timeline as important to the story of the midwifes apprentice.