Karen Cushman

The Loud Silence of Francine Green (Unabridged)

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Francine lives down the street from a Hollywood film studio, adores screen dreamboat Montgomery Clift, and sometimes sees her home life as a scene from a movie: Dinner at the Greens. She wishes she really were a movie star, brave and glamorous and always ready to say the right thing.

Author: 
Karen Cushman
Grade Level: 
Middle
Lexile: 
750L
Length: 
05:36
The Loud Silence of Francine Green (Unabridged)

Catherine, Called Birdy (Unabridged)

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In 1290, her 14th year, Catherine begins a diary that quickly fills with the irrepressible joys and frustrations of her days. Always looking for ways to avoid drudging hours of embroidery, Birdy fills her time with pranks, celebrations of feast days, and local gossip. Wriggling out of her father's plans to find a prosperous husband for her proves to be Birdy's greatest challenge.

Author: 
Karen Cushman
Grade Level: 
Middle
Lexile: 
1170L
Length: 
06:31
Catherine, Called Birdy (Unabridged)

Matilda Bone (Unabridged)

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Orphaned Matilda is not at all pleased when she arrives at Blood and Bone Alley to become an assistant to Red Peg the Bonesetter. She is a religious, well-educated girl who can't picture herself doing dirty chores or helping sickly patients.

Author: 
Karen Cushman
Grade Level: 
Middle
Lexile: 
850L
Length: 
04:02
Matilda Bone (Unabridged)

Alchemy and Meggy Swann (Unabridged)

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Fans of Karen Cushman's witty, satisfying novels will welcome Meggy Swann, newly come to London with her only friend, a goose named Louise.

Author: 
Karen Cushman
Grade Level: 
Elementary
Lexile: 
810L
Length: 
04:24
Alchemy and Meggy Swann (Unabridged)

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (Unabridged)

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In the summer of 1849, Lucy Whipple's mother packs up her household and her two young children, and leaves their home in Massachusetts for the gold fields of California.

Author: 
Karen Cushman
Grade Level: 
Middle
High
Lexile: 
1030L
Length: 
04:56
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (Unabridged)

Rodzina (Unabridged)

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In 1881, 12-year-old Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski wishes she didn't have to board the orphan train in Chicago. But she has no home, no family, and no choice. Rodzina doesn't believe the orphans are on their way out West to be adopted by good families. She's sure they will become slaves to strangers. Anyway, who would ever adopt a large, tough, stubborn girl of Polish origin?

Author: 
Karen Cushman
Grade Level: 
Middle
Lexile: 
740L
Length: 
04:48
Rodzina (Unabridged)

The Midwife's Apprentice (Unabridged)

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Lyrical yet unsentimental, The Midwife's Apprentice won the coveted 1996 Newbery Medal. Filled with striking characters, it paints unforgettable pictures of village life in the Middle Ages, the midwife's craft, and a very remarkable girl's growing independence and pride.

Author: 
Karen Cushman
Grade Level: 
Middle
Lexile: 
1240L
Length: 
02:50
The Midwife's Apprentice (Unabridged)