Historical Fiction: Matilda Bone

Matilda Bone
By Karen Cushman

Cushman, Karen. Matilda Bone. New York, NY: Clarion Books, 2000. 9780395881569

Plot Summary

Matilda finds herself standing in the cold outside in Blood and Bone Alley, feeling frightened and very alone. Father Leufredus was heading for London, and left her to become a bonesetter's apprentice. Red Peg welcomes Matilda warmly but Matilda is weary, and far more concerned with the dear saints that she has studied since she was very young. She thoroughly believed she was "in the wrong place, with the wrong mistress." After all, she was taught to "to seek higher things, like God and Heaven, saintliness and obedience." Peg becomes fond of the girl, despite her distracted nature and sets about to show her the ways of bonesetting. She sends Matilda to the market to buy food for their dinner and is dismayed when Matilda returns with a rotten eel to eat. Old Mother Uffa brings Peg a customer, an old cat named Hag, who has a broken leg. Matilda is revolted by the thought of tending to a cat, because she believes them to be the Devil's creatures. Father Leufredus told her so. She begrudgingly assists Peg in preparing the comfrey and linen to wrap the leg after it has been properly set. She is constantly getting lost in the village as she daydreams of the saints she loves and of perhaps becoming a saint herself one day. Through her many wanderings through the town, she meets another Matilda, called Tildy for short, who is the kitchen maid for Master Theobald. Master Theobald is the town's physician and is called a wonderworker. Matilda also meets Peg's "Old Tom", her husband, and wonders why he is so highly regarded when he is not as well-learned as she had hoped. Matilda trips over Walter Mudd, the apprentice to the apothecary Nathaniel. Each person that she meets sees the world in a different way. Throughout her time at Blood and Bone Alley, Matilda begans to wonder if her own view of the world was too narrow before, and she begins to question what her role is. She only knows reading, writing, and the saints. Eventually, Matilda begins to care very deeply for the people around her. When Tildy has an accident and cannot wake up, she runs to Doctor Margery who she had not been very respectful towards so far. She learns that Master Theobald is not the man he claims to be and that people like Doctor Margery, who are good and kind and use their skills to help the people around them, are truly the people she wants to be like. Again she wonders, what is her place in this world. She decides that her place is right there, in Blood and Bone Alley, perhaps not being a bonesetter's apprentice forever, but using her skills to help those around her, as her friends had helped her.

Analysis

Matilda's worries and fears can be understood by any age of reader. She is thrust into a new place, a scary place, and she sorely misses the life she had before. Karen Cushman has done a very good job highlighting the apprehension that people feel when they are forced into an uncomfortable environment. Cushman includes an author's note at the end of this book, and it details some of the aspects from the book. Blood and Bone Alley most likely did not exist, but because there are places where shoemakers, potters, and weavers gathered together, she thought it was fitting to have the medical practitioners have a place to gather as well. She includes a biography, so that readers can consult with the same books that she consulted with. Matilda's language and the setting of the story feel authentic. Readers will be able to picture exactly what Matilda was experiencing. The front and back covers of this book are also illustrated with some of the characters, which is nice to flip back to to see what that character would have looked like to Matilda. The characters are lovable and believable. They have good times with Matilda but also bad times. This resembles real life, and it is easy to get attached to characters like Peg and Tildy.

The plot of the novel is simplistic enough for younger readers to enjoy, but detailed enough that an older reader would have fun dissecting the novel in greater detail. This novel is written around Matilda's stream of consciousness. The story ebbs and slows through her reaction to the things that happen to her and around her. The struggle to find herself and her purpose is something that a lot of readers can identify with, young or old. Everyone has felt lost and questioned themselves in some way before. 

Deborah Stevenson, who wrote for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books said, "It's a warm and energetic vision nonetheless, with humorous touches even in Matilda's dialogues with her trusty saints, . . . and a stageful of colorful characters. Readers who've appreciated Cushman's medieval visions will want to travel back with her again here."

Stevenson, Deborah. 2000. “Matilda Bone (Book Review) (Undetermined).” Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books 54 (4): 140–41. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.twu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=brd&AN=510147390&site=ehost-live.

Awards

American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists"

New York Public Library, 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing

School Library Journal, Best Books of the Year

Parents' Choice Silver Award

Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies

Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year

Arizona Young Readers’ Master List

Maine Student Book Award Master List

Connections

This novel would make an excellent reader's theater for children of all ages, but older children might enjoy researching the historical facts that Cushman sprinkles throughout her novel. The titles of the characters or the saints that Matilda mentions by name, would make fun topics.

Other historical fiction about the medieval era:

Nikola-Lisa, W.: Magic in the Margins: A Medieval Tale of Bookmaking. 9780618496426

De Angeli, Marguerite: The Door in the Wall. 9780440227793

Schlitz, Laura Amy. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village. 9780763615789

Historical Fiction: Turtle in Paradise

Turtle in Paradise
By Jennifer L. Holm

Holm, Jennifer L. Turtle in Paradise: Key West Bk. 1. New York, NY: Random House, 2010. 9780375836886

Plot Summary

Turtle is to the point and not to be deceived. She thinks that "kids are rotten." She has no desire to go live with her Aunt Minnie but after Mama gets a new job as the housekeeper for a lady who hates children, she is forced to leave Mama behind and move to Key West, where nobody wears shoes and everyone has a nickname like Beans, Pork Chop, or Slow Poke. Her cousins have started a business and call themselves the Diaper Gang. They take care of the island's babies with their secret diaper rash formula. There aren't any girls allowed though, so Turtle only gets to tag along but she doesn't earn any candy. She starts to open up to them and to Slow Poke, who hired her to help out of his boat harvesting sponges. She meets mean old Nana Philly, and uses her quick-wit and determination to win over her affection. After finding buried pirate treasure and getting marooned with her cousins on an island, she is rescued and brought back to her family. Mama and her salesman boyfriend Archie have gotten married and came to pick Turtle up, but once Archie runs away with her share of the treasure, Turtle realizes that she and her mother are meant to stay in Key West with her family.

Analysis

Jennifer Holm has shed a new light on what life was like in Key West in 1935. Holm's great-grandmother emigrated to Key West from the Bahamas in 1897, and part of her story is inspired by some of the tales that have been passed down through her family. She consulted with other Key West residents about the 1935 hurricane that decimated the Upper Keys and the Shadow, which is a game that the kids play on the residents of Key West. She includes her resources and acknowledgments in the back of her novel. 

The characters and dialog in this book are believable and loveable. Each resident, or Conch, or Key West has a nickname, and through those nicknames, the readers learn more about each person. The plot of the story flows well, and follows Turtles adventures during that summer with her family. Turtle's frequent references to Shirley Temple and Orphan Annie help readers to understand the time line of this novel perhaps more so than they would by simply knowing that it was set in 1935. The addition of characters like Little Orphan Annie, which are easily recognizable, help to remember the time. They way that each of the characters walks and talks resembles the life of Key West in the 1930s. No one wore shoes and everyone knew everyone. Holm has not only created a fun tale about a girl named Turtle, but also a tale about real life events and how they affected the people who actually lived through them.

Susan Dove Lempke, writing for Horn Book Magazine said, "Modern-day readers will have no problem relating to Turtle. . . and the fast-moving plot will keep them interested to the end."

Lempke, Susan Dove. 2010. “[Turtle in Paradise].” Horn Book Magazine 86 (3): 81–82. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.twu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=brd&AN=518523099&site=ehost-live.

Awards

John Newberry Medal - 2011

Golden Kite Award for Fiction - 2011

Connections

This novel is sprinkled with so many hidden gems of facts that older readers would enjoy finding these and then researching more about the people or places mentioned in the book. For example, a character who appears briefly and is called Papa, is actually Ernest Hemingway, who lived in Key West at the time of the 1935 hurricane. 

For other historical fiction about major events in history:

Moore, Kate: The Radium Girls: Young Readers' Edition: The Scary but True Story of the Poison that Made People Glow in the Dark. 9781728209470

Park, Linda Sue: When My Name Was Keoko. 9780547722399

Fletcher, Susan: Journey of the Pale Bear. 9781534420779

Historical Fiction: The Hired Girl

The Hired Girl
By Laura Amy Schlitz

Schlitz, Laura Amy. Hired Girl: Novel. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2015. 9780763678180

Plot Summary

Joan Skraggs, a fourteen-year-old living at Steeple Hill Farm in Pennsylvania, longs for a better life. A life full of adventure, beauty, and art. Under the direction of a tyrannical father and with no help from her three brothers, Joan feels as if she is stuck in her loathsome life forever. After the devastating loss of her beloved books from Miss Chandler, Joan takes her doll Belinda and the money that her mother had saved for her and runs away to Baltimore. After a harrowing adventure getting to the city, she is rescued from sleeping in a park by Solomon Rosenbach. He takes her to his mother, who allows her to stay and become their hired girl, only if Malka the housekeeper likes her. Malka takes a liking to the strong and strong-willed girl, and Joan tries her very best to please her. Under the name Janet Lovelace, and pretending to be eighteen years old, she scrubs their floors, beats out their rugs, cooks their food and is their Shabbos goy. She struggles to learn about their Jewish faith while also becoming a true Catholic herself. She becomes close friends with their youngest daughter Mimi, and soon falls head-over-heels in love with their son David, as he flirtatiously takes her along on some adventures to the park and the opera. Temporarily forgetting her original ambitions, she fumbles and makes mistakes, causing conflict in the household often, before finally coming back around. Remembering her mother's wishes, she is more determined than ever to get her education and become a schoolteacher.

Analysis

Laura Amy Schlitz was inspired to write this novel by her grandmother's journal. It is written in a diary format, and is conversational. Each entry in the diary shows Joan/Janet's thought process and frame of mind. The characters are not necessarily likable, such as her father or the confusing Mrs. Rosenbach who may or may not like Joan/Janet that much at all, but they are necessary to the story, and help readers to really connect with Joan/Janet as she struggles to find herself in this strange new world. Set in the summer of 1911, there are some stereotypes or stereotypical words about people that Schlitz does address in the back of her book. She was attempting to stay true to the times, but also refrains from using the words more than the story called for. Joan/Janet's understanding of the world around shifts throughout the story as she learns more about her Jewish employers and realizes that she really ought to fix her "deportment." Exploring a different religion throughout this novel was bold, but it was done well. 

Joan/Janet's struggles to do what she thinks is right is something that many readers can relate to. Her feelings of vanity, shame, excitement at the prospects of love, and suddenly loss are felt strongly through the words in her diary. Using a diary format suited this story because it allowed readers to feel as if they were listening to a friend. Joan/Janet is just as clumsy, awkward, but real as they are.

Elizabeth Baskeyfield, writing in the School Librarian journal said, "The Hired Girl draws the reader in and throughout the story there were times I feared for Joan, cringed for her, was excited for her, and felt sad for her. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it most highly for students KS3 and over. Brilliant!"

Baskeyfield, Elizabeth. 2016. “The Hired Girl.” School Librarian 64 (1): 59. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.twu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=brd&AN=113659104&site=ehost-live.

Awards

Scott O'Dell Award - 2016

National Jewish Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature - 2016

Sydney Taylor Book Award for Teen Readers - 2016

Connections

This book is a surprisingly interesting introduction into the differences in faith, and even information about the Jewish faith. Readers might be interested in keeping Google handy, to search for terms or holidays to better understand Joan's experiences.

For other books about the early 1900s:

Donnelly, Jennifer: A Northern Light. 9780152053109

Winters, Cat: The Cure for Dreaming. 9781419712166

Biggs Waller, Sharon: A Mad, Wicked Folly. 9780670014682