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starforaging's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
zoeyoey's review against another edition
4.0
A book about the journey of a young girl who finds herself through new people and experiences, Karen Cushman’s The Midwife’s Apprentice is one of those books that you don’t want to finish, yet you can’t put it down. The genre of the book is historical fiction, but there are moments of humor throughout the book. It might also be considered a young adult novel or teen novel, because the intended audience seems to be within this age range.
Taking place in medieval England, the book follows the story of Alyce, who is first introduced as “Beetle.” Alyce is a young beggar girl. She has no family, begs for food (but usually doesn’t receive any), and sleeps where she can find shelter or soft ground. Alyce is spotted sleeping in a pile of dung (for warmth) by Jane Sharp, the village that Alyce is currently roaming-’s midwife. Alyce begs for a job in return for some food and a place to sleep. Jane reluctantly obliges, and assigns Alyce to be her apprentice. As Jane the Midwife’s apprentice, Alyce assists Jane in preparing medicines and remedies for all types of labor issues and scenarios, runs the errands that Jane cannot because she’s birthing a child or has to complete other tasks, and goes to each cottage that Jane does. It is shown throughout the book that Jane and Alyce don’t have much of a relationship. However, we later find out that Jane secretly admires Alyce a little, deep down. While working with Jane, Alyce meets an orange tabby outside of their cottage, who she names Purr. Purr follows Alyce wherever she goes, even when she later runs away from the village. Some other minor characters are Edward, a boy that Alyce nurtures for a day after seeing the homeless boy sleeping in the cold before sending him to the manor to get a job; Will Russet, one of the boys in the village that eventually takes a liking to Alyce after she saves him from drowning in a lake; Jennet, one of the inn owners that takes Alyce as the inn girl after she runs away from the village; and Magister Reese, a man who stays at the inn for seasons and teaches Alyce to read and write some while he’s there.
One of the first significant events to happen in the book is Alyce’s birthing a villager’s baby when Jane the Midwife goes away after deciding that the baby refuses to and will not come out of its mother. Alyce had helped Will Russet to birth calves from his cow not too long before this, so Alyce takes some of those methods and combines them with what she knows from the midwife in order to attempt to birth the baby after Joan, the mother, cries and pleads, then calms and decides to accept death. She is successful, and Joan names the child “Alyce Little.” This is very important because Alyce is first only addressed by the villagers as “Dung Beetle” and other names of the sort. When people do begin to start calling her Alyce, it shows that she is gaining respect from people around the village.
Another significant event is Alyce running away from the village after failing to deliver a baby later on in the book. She is embarrassed and feels like a failure, and sees giving up and running away as the only reasonable outcome of the situation. She and Purr run to an inn, where Jennet brings them in as the inn girl and the mice hunter. This gives Alyce a new job with a new place to sleep and eat. While working as the inn girl, Alyce becomes familiar with Magister Reese, but she is too shy to talk to him. Realizing this, Magister Reese indirectly talks to Alyce through Purr, teaching Purr about the shapes of letters, and words. Eventually, Alyce picks up being able to spell and even read some words. Alyce also realizes that what she wants most in life is “a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.” One day, Jane the Midwife visits the inn where Alyce works, and hears Jane say that Alyce had potential, but gave up instead of continuing to try. This sticks with Alyce, and it shows when she later on delivers the baby of a merchant family who enters the inn, seeking help for the mother, who they thought had a stomach worm. When the family first arrived and it was realized that the mother was pregnant, Alyce hid in the shadows, too afraid to speak up about giving birth out of fear of failing once again.
Alyce eventually returns to the village with a newfound feeling of perseverance to be the midwife’s apprentice once again. She’s prepared to continue trying to be the midwife’s apprentice, even if she has some failures throughout, and maybe even be a midwife herself, someday.
I thought the book was very good. Though the beginning chapters seemed very fast paced, the book eventually slowed down and stuck to the moment. I also say it was a good book because I was able to get lost in it. I could see every chapter playing in my mind, and was able to imagine that I was Alyce or seeing the current chapter I’d been reading from a similar point of view. I’d say the targeted audience for this book is young adults, because the book is a little shorter than most novels and doesn’t show many, if any, signs of more mature humor or scenarios. The humor consists of quotes like, “She has in truth grown stout of late, but that be herring pie and almond puddings. Having a child? Impossible!” (p. 105). This was the response of the husband of the merchant family to Jennet when she suggested to the family that the wife is probably about to go into labor. All in all, the book gets a positive review from me, and I would recommend it to a friend or a classmate, whether or not they seem interested in the historical fiction genre.
Taking place in medieval England, the book follows the story of Alyce, who is first introduced as “Beetle.” Alyce is a young beggar girl. She has no family, begs for food (but usually doesn’t receive any), and sleeps where she can find shelter or soft ground. Alyce is spotted sleeping in a pile of dung (for warmth) by Jane Sharp, the village that Alyce is currently roaming-’s midwife. Alyce begs for a job in return for some food and a place to sleep. Jane reluctantly obliges, and assigns Alyce to be her apprentice. As Jane the Midwife’s apprentice, Alyce assists Jane in preparing medicines and remedies for all types of labor issues and scenarios, runs the errands that Jane cannot because she’s birthing a child or has to complete other tasks, and goes to each cottage that Jane does. It is shown throughout the book that Jane and Alyce don’t have much of a relationship. However, we later find out that Jane secretly admires Alyce a little, deep down. While working with Jane, Alyce meets an orange tabby outside of their cottage, who she names Purr. Purr follows Alyce wherever she goes, even when she later runs away from the village. Some other minor characters are Edward, a boy that Alyce nurtures for a day after seeing the homeless boy sleeping in the cold before sending him to the manor to get a job; Will Russet, one of the boys in the village that eventually takes a liking to Alyce after she saves him from drowning in a lake; Jennet, one of the inn owners that takes Alyce as the inn girl after she runs away from the village; and Magister Reese, a man who stays at the inn for seasons and teaches Alyce to read and write some while he’s there.
One of the first significant events to happen in the book is Alyce’s birthing a villager’s baby when Jane the Midwife goes away after deciding that the baby refuses to and will not come out of its mother. Alyce had helped Will Russet to birth calves from his cow not too long before this, so Alyce takes some of those methods and combines them with what she knows from the midwife in order to attempt to birth the baby after Joan, the mother, cries and pleads, then calms and decides to accept death. She is successful, and Joan names the child “Alyce Little.” This is very important because Alyce is first only addressed by the villagers as “Dung Beetle” and other names of the sort. When people do begin to start calling her Alyce, it shows that she is gaining respect from people around the village.
Another significant event is Alyce running away from the village after failing to deliver a baby later on in the book. She is embarrassed and feels like a failure, and sees giving up and running away as the only reasonable outcome of the situation. She and Purr run to an inn, where Jennet brings them in as the inn girl and the mice hunter. This gives Alyce a new job with a new place to sleep and eat. While working as the inn girl, Alyce becomes familiar with Magister Reese, but she is too shy to talk to him. Realizing this, Magister Reese indirectly talks to Alyce through Purr, teaching Purr about the shapes of letters, and words. Eventually, Alyce picks up being able to spell and even read some words. Alyce also realizes that what she wants most in life is “a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.” One day, Jane the Midwife visits the inn where Alyce works, and hears Jane say that Alyce had potential, but gave up instead of continuing to try. This sticks with Alyce, and it shows when she later on delivers the baby of a merchant family who enters the inn, seeking help for the mother, who they thought had a stomach worm. When the family first arrived and it was realized that the mother was pregnant, Alyce hid in the shadows, too afraid to speak up about giving birth out of fear of failing once again.
Alyce eventually returns to the village with a newfound feeling of perseverance to be the midwife’s apprentice once again. She’s prepared to continue trying to be the midwife’s apprentice, even if she has some failures throughout, and maybe even be a midwife herself, someday.
I thought the book was very good. Though the beginning chapters seemed very fast paced, the book eventually slowed down and stuck to the moment. I also say it was a good book because I was able to get lost in it. I could see every chapter playing in my mind, and was able to imagine that I was Alyce or seeing the current chapter I’d been reading from a similar point of view. I’d say the targeted audience for this book is young adults, because the book is a little shorter than most novels and doesn’t show many, if any, signs of more mature humor or scenarios. The humor consists of quotes like, “She has in truth grown stout of late, but that be herring pie and almond puddings. Having a child? Impossible!” (p. 105). This was the response of the husband of the merchant family to Jennet when she suggested to the family that the wife is probably about to go into labor. All in all, the book gets a positive review from me, and I would recommend it to a friend or a classmate, whether or not they seem interested in the historical fiction genre.
chelseacounsell's review against another edition
4.0
A mostly sweet story about a very down on her luck orphan who finds work assisting a midwife. The narrative was mostly cozy and the cat character as well as Alyce, were sweet, but this doesn’t have as happy or fairytale sweet an ending as Julie Andrews’ Mandy or the stage play Annie. Our protagonist is kind, intelligent, and hardworking to a fault. She is a child who has done nothing wrong and yet bears all manner of wretched cruelty from society. Is it set in medieval times, sure, and some of the historical uses of herbs etc in the text are quite interesting, but I didn’t love the child protagonist getting hit in the face so frequently by everyone with more power than her. I also did not like the ending where she goes back to the midwife who consistently beats her and treats her like trash. I’m sure she could’ve found another midwife in another village who would’ve supported her more. Her connections in the last act that she made at the inn could’ve helped her as well. She doesn’t need to go back to an abusive relationship to follow her passion.
crystenaq's review against another edition
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
jenmangler's review
3.0
I chose to read this one because it won the Newbery, and I'm trying to read as many of the Newbery honor books as I can. I liked it. It gives a very good sense of medieval life. Alyce is the kind of character you definitely root for.
sork's review against another edition
2.0
1.5 stars- from what i remember this novel was incredibly dull, the protagonist was not likable and the general mood of the novel was a fair challenger to watching paint dry
and just for fun here's the essay i wrote years ago after finishing this book:
In every novel character makes a mistake, it makes them seem almost real. However, some authors like Karen Cushman take character flaws too far. Karen Cushman's ' The midwife's Apprentice' follows a girl who goes by the name of Beetle. The book follows and describes the so-called 'evolution' of the character Beetle as she goes from being known as the village scum to a dull midwives apprentice. However, during her so-called evolution Beetle shows her true colors as self-absorbed, and escapist, and even as a narcissist. If there's anything I've learned from this book it's to not be like Beetle.
In the book, The Midwives Apprentice Beetle, the apprentice is a girl who has terrible control of her emotions. One of the emotions she has the most trouble controlling is her pride. Beetle, as seen before in the last paragraph has trouble with fear and failures but the trouble is only mirrored when it comes to her pride. There is nothing wrong with taking pride in work or being proud of an accomplishment. However, Beetle carelessly decided that she was qualified to deliver a child without asking the midwife, a clear professional at her craft if Beetle was prepared enough to go in on her own. Beetle developed this overwhelming false pride after she assisted with one successful birth. Instead of taking a professional standpoint, Beetle decided that she is now certified to deliver children on her own whenever she pleases. Evidence of this can be found on page 60, "Alyce felt so much pride....she felt so good she thought she just might do it again."(page 60, Cushman)This quote shows Alcye's boiling false pride. Which takes present after she helped with the birthing of a single child. Though it is ok to take pride in work Alyce decides that she want to lead a birthing again not even because she might just be lucky to have the birth work out. This tells me that Alyce takes luck and assumes that it is sheer talent, which could either hurt her clients or hurt her relationship with the midwife. By delivering one child successfully Alcye becomes extremely prideful and narcissistic.
Beetle, the so-called protagonist of Karen Cushman, ' The Midwives Apprentice' Has made numerous mistakes based on her self-pity and past misfortunes. In this particular chapter, Beetle lets her negative emotions get the best of her due to a failure in child delivery. She causes an unnecessary scene, takes the failure unprofessionally, and runs away. Leaving behind her past success long with the midwife and even the woman's that baby was meant to be delivered. This shows immaturity. It also tells the reader that Alyce tends to run away from her problems, because of this tendency and utter carelessness the baby and the mother could have lost their lives. Page 70 clearly states,"...Alyce could hear the cries of a baby, the moans of a tired mother, and the laughter of the triumphant midwife. Alyce backed out of the cottage to the side of the road,...Behind her in that cottage was disappointment and failure." (Page 70, Cushman) In this quote Beetle or Alyce is running away from her failure of unsuccessfully delivering the baby. Her tendency to run away when life gets difficult shows that she is an escapist. A greedy escapist who let her problems take a higher place of importance them her clients, leaving her client despite the fact she could have easily still helped with the delivery. This greed could have left the mother and baby without life. This quote also establishes the fact that Alyce inclines to obsess over failure. It establishes this fact during Alyce's sprint, "Alyce backed out of the cottage to the side of the road,...Behind her in that cottage was disappointment and failure." (Page 70, Cushman) During this scene, Alyce is so fixated on her current failure that she doesn't even stop to think once about apologizing to her client, or even the midwife, which in this scenario would be the logical thing to do. Alyce didn't even bring herself to think about where she would be getting food or water. Which of course could ultimately lead Alyce to more hurt. As you can see Alyce's fear of failure has let her demote herself to a point of stupidity and nonsense.
Beetle is everything that a human shouldn't be. She is showered with flaws throughout the book, making her seem an object of pity. Throughout the Midwife's Apprentice, the reader can witness the many flaws of our "protagonist" Beetle. These flaws such as her tendency to be an escapist and run from her problems or her false pride in her abilities only bring down Beetle as a protagonist. This makes her seem extremely inhuman. Over the time of processing this novel the theme has become clear, don't be like Beetle.
and just for fun here's the essay i wrote years ago after finishing this book:
In every novel character makes a mistake, it makes them seem almost real. However, some authors like Karen Cushman take character flaws too far. Karen Cushman's ' The midwife's Apprentice' follows a girl who goes by the name of Beetle. The book follows and describes the so-called 'evolution' of the character Beetle as she goes from being known as the village scum to a dull midwives apprentice. However, during her so-called evolution Beetle shows her true colors as self-absorbed, and escapist, and even as a narcissist. If there's anything I've learned from this book it's to not be like Beetle.
In the book, The Midwives Apprentice Beetle, the apprentice is a girl who has terrible control of her emotions. One of the emotions she has the most trouble controlling is her pride. Beetle, as seen before in the last paragraph has trouble with fear and failures but the trouble is only mirrored when it comes to her pride. There is nothing wrong with taking pride in work or being proud of an accomplishment. However, Beetle carelessly decided that she was qualified to deliver a child without asking the midwife, a clear professional at her craft if Beetle was prepared enough to go in on her own. Beetle developed this overwhelming false pride after she assisted with one successful birth. Instead of taking a professional standpoint, Beetle decided that she is now certified to deliver children on her own whenever she pleases. Evidence of this can be found on page 60, "Alyce felt so much pride....she felt so good she thought she just might do it again."(page 60, Cushman)This quote shows Alcye's boiling false pride. Which takes present after she helped with the birthing of a single child. Though it is ok to take pride in work Alyce decides that she want to lead a birthing again not even because she might just be lucky to have the birth work out. This tells me that Alyce takes luck and assumes that it is sheer talent, which could either hurt her clients or hurt her relationship with the midwife. By delivering one child successfully Alcye becomes extremely prideful and narcissistic.
Beetle, the so-called protagonist of Karen Cushman, ' The Midwives Apprentice' Has made numerous mistakes based on her self-pity and past misfortunes. In this particular chapter, Beetle lets her negative emotions get the best of her due to a failure in child delivery. She causes an unnecessary scene, takes the failure unprofessionally, and runs away. Leaving behind her past success long with the midwife and even the woman's that baby was meant to be delivered. This shows immaturity. It also tells the reader that Alyce tends to run away from her problems, because of this tendency and utter carelessness the baby and the mother could have lost their lives. Page 70 clearly states,"...Alyce could hear the cries of a baby, the moans of a tired mother, and the laughter of the triumphant midwife. Alyce backed out of the cottage to the side of the road,...Behind her in that cottage was disappointment and failure." (Page 70, Cushman) In this quote Beetle or Alyce is running away from her failure of unsuccessfully delivering the baby. Her tendency to run away when life gets difficult shows that she is an escapist. A greedy escapist who let her problems take a higher place of importance them her clients, leaving her client despite the fact she could have easily still helped with the delivery. This greed could have left the mother and baby without life. This quote also establishes the fact that Alyce inclines to obsess over failure. It establishes this fact during Alyce's sprint, "Alyce backed out of the cottage to the side of the road,...Behind her in that cottage was disappointment and failure." (Page 70, Cushman) During this scene, Alyce is so fixated on her current failure that she doesn't even stop to think once about apologizing to her client, or even the midwife, which in this scenario would be the logical thing to do. Alyce didn't even bring herself to think about where she would be getting food or water. Which of course could ultimately lead Alyce to more hurt. As you can see Alyce's fear of failure has let her demote herself to a point of stupidity and nonsense.
Beetle is everything that a human shouldn't be. She is showered with flaws throughout the book, making her seem an object of pity. Throughout the Midwife's Apprentice, the reader can witness the many flaws of our "protagonist" Beetle. These flaws such as her tendency to be an escapist and run from her problems or her false pride in her abilities only bring down Beetle as a protagonist. This makes her seem extremely inhuman. Over the time of processing this novel the theme has become clear, don't be like Beetle.
vtsarahd's review against another edition
4.0
The young girl who is the main character of this story, Brat, Beetle, or Alyce (depending on your page number) has to be admired for her perseverance. This is her story, as she goes from drifter to mid wife's apprentice, with a few bumps and twists along the way. I enjoyed the many details Karen Cushman included that make her historical fiction read so true. The old-fashioned language of the characters would still be readable to young readers. I enjoyed this and would recommend it for middle school aged readers.
megsoap_'s review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0