Catherine, Called Birdy

Catherine, Called Birdy
Cushman, Catherine


New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc, 1994.

Annotation:
Catherine is a thirteen year old "lady" going onto fourteen living in Medieval England in 1290. As a reader, you will find that Catherine does not necessarily fit the profile thought of as a lady of the Medieval period. She has opinions about everything from Jews, to spinning, to farting, thus making her the stereotypical teenager that most young adults can relate to. In addition, Catherine doesn't get along with her father, whom she considers a beast and is in constant battle with him throughout the entire book while he tries to auction her off into marriage to the highest bidder. Catherine successfully fights off all the bidders in question until the richest of them all, Shaggy Beard of the north, comes along to win her hand. As the book draws nearer to the end Catherine starts to realize that she may indeed have to marry the "repulsive" Shaggy Beard and learns more about herself.

Reason for nomination:
Catherine's life is written so simply, but her opinions are deep and filled with wisdom. When she describe the Jews that seek shelter in her home, you can see that she is confused as to why they are being exiled considering that they are not Satanic. Unlike adults, she does not run in fear due to her innocence and comes to really enjoy the company of what the church considers "Devil worshipers". Another interesting moment that really struck me was when she thought that her life was over since she'd never seen an execution, but runs in fear the minute the opportunity comes up. She finds that the criminals being executed for theft are about twelve years old and terrified. From that point, Catherine never mentions executions, nor does she have anymore desire to see one.
In a lot of ways, Catherine embodies the life of the Medieval period, with spinning and hemming, but also the dirt and muck that you don't read about in most books containing knights and lords. She's only fourteen though, and so her opinions and beliefs are clearly that of a young teenager. She's silly, curious, and has temperamental moments like most young adults going through puberty. Her father is her enemy because they don't see eye to eye, and she has opinions about boys and running away to seek adventure.
She also tries to come up with new words to use so that she can have her own curses. Like young adults today that come up with different new forms of slang like "phat" and "caboose slag" she also comes up with her own saying, "God's Knees!" after days and days of trying to find something that fits.
At the end of the story, Catherine reaches the point of "adulthood" when she realizes that no matter where she goes, she'll never be able to run away from herself. She's always going to be Catherine and decides to resign to her future which leads to a happy twist in her life.
I really loved how Catherine's life is so much like the fourteen year olds I know today, even though the time frame is so different. I think it gives perspective to that time frame in ways that a textbook can't, but allow teenagers that are interested to look up the information later.

Genre:
Historical fiction.