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Alchemy and Meggy Swann
Fans of Karen Cushman's witty, satisfying novels will welcome Meggy Swann, newly come to London with her only friend, a goose named Louise. Meggy's mother was glad to be rid of her; her father, who sent for her, doesn't want her after all. Meggy is appalled by London,dirty and noisy, full of rogues and thieves, and difficult to get around in—not that getting around is ever easy for someone who walks with the help of two sticks. Just as her alchemist father pursues his Great Work of transforming base metal into gold, Meggy finds herself pursuing her own transformation. Earthy and colorful, Elizabethan London has its dark side, but it also has gifts in store for Meggy Swann.
Reading Level: Age 10 and Up
Reading Level: Age 10 and Up
166 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
56 people are currently reading
1749 people want to read
About the author
Karen Cushman
34 books699 followersKaren Cushman was born in Chicago, Illinois.
She entered Stanford University on a scholarship in 1959 and graduated with degrees in Greek and English. She later earned master’s degrees in human behavior and museum studies.
For eleven years she was an adjunct professor in the Museum Studies Department at John F. Kennedy University before resigning in 1996 to write full-time.
She lives on Vashon Island, Washington with her husband, Philip.
(source: http://karencushman.com/about/bio.html & http://www.arnenixoncenter.org/findin...)
She entered Stanford University on a scholarship in 1959 and graduated with degrees in Greek and English. She later earned master’s degrees in human behavior and museum studies.
For eleven years she was an adjunct professor in the Museum Studies Department at John F. Kennedy University before resigning in 1996 to write full-time.
She lives on Vashon Island, Washington with her husband, Philip.
(source: http://karencushman.com/about/bio.html & http://www.arnenixoncenter.org/findin...)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 510 reviews
February 19, 2011
While reading Anne Scott MacLeod’s thought-provoking essay on historical fiction in the recent, and excellent, ‘A Family of Readers: The Book Lover’s Guide to Children’s and Young Adult Literature,’ I was a little distressed to learn that MacLeod faults Karen Cushman for copping out on her heroine’s fate in ‘Catherine, Called Birdy.’
At the end of that work, Birdy lucks out when her arranged medieval marriage to an ‘old, ugly, and illiterate’ lecher is cancelled when he dies. Instead, she will wed his young, handsome, and well-read son.
Not a legitimate representation of the time, MacLeod insists. ‘In fairness,’ she admits, ‘I think Cushman knew this; she just flinched at consigning her likable character to her likely fate.’ (MacLeod’s piece is online at The Horn Book’s site: http://www.hbook.com/magazine/article....)
OK, sure. But I loved ‘Catherine, Called Birdy.’ I also believe that children have the wherewithal to distinguish fantasy from history, and to realize that writers of fiction have license to alter the documentary record. Readers of ‘Catherine’ learn a great deal about England in the late thirteenth century. As MacLeod has to acknowledge, ‘Birdy’s world is real enough---rough, dirty, and uncomfortable….’
I suppose ‘Alchemy and Meggy Swann’ could be criticized in the same way. Perhaps Meggy, a poor teenaged girl left orphaned in Elizabethan London, crippled by a congenital birth defect, should have ended up battered and hopeless. That would’ve been a different, and grimmer, tale.
A tale that could not have starred Cushman’s Meggy, a typically and satisfyingly feisty and sharp-tongued protagonist whose hard exterior covers the warmest of hearts. But Meggy’s life in exile is hardly anodynic, and Cushman’s London festers, filthy, stinking, noisy—and alive with color and flavor.
With the death of her beloved granny, Meggy has been ousted from country home and sent to her absent-minded and irresponsible father. He’s the one who practices alchemy. With the end of the period of servitude for the boy who assists the alchemist, he is forced to recognize his daughter and enlist her help.
The boy, Roger, turns out to be Meggy’s first friend in London, other than her pet goose. Unlike others, Roger does not ‘look to…demons’ to explain Meggy’s hip dysplasia. He’s more interested in her eyes than her limp.
Attempting to finance the search to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, worthless material into gold, Meggy’s father gets in too deep with the wrong sort. Meggy is, of course, the one who must try to subvert the nefarious plot that ensues.
As she does, she ‘wabbles’ through the crowded London streets and the reader learns about ballads and broadsides, sausage pies and ale, and that alchemy and natural philosophy were precursors of chemistry and the Scientific Revolution.
The reader is also treated to a marvelous story. In the same way that alchemy blurs the line between magic and reason, Cushman crafts a blend of energetic fiction with an authentic dose of the era’s language, customs, sights, sounds, and smells that earns ‘Alchemy and Meggy Swann’ a place among the best children’s historical fiction.
Highly recommended for fifth graders on up.
At the end of that work, Birdy lucks out when her arranged medieval marriage to an ‘old, ugly, and illiterate’ lecher is cancelled when he dies. Instead, she will wed his young, handsome, and well-read son.
Not a legitimate representation of the time, MacLeod insists. ‘In fairness,’ she admits, ‘I think Cushman knew this; she just flinched at consigning her likable character to her likely fate.’ (MacLeod’s piece is online at The Horn Book’s site: http://www.hbook.com/magazine/article....)
OK, sure. But I loved ‘Catherine, Called Birdy.’ I also believe that children have the wherewithal to distinguish fantasy from history, and to realize that writers of fiction have license to alter the documentary record. Readers of ‘Catherine’ learn a great deal about England in the late thirteenth century. As MacLeod has to acknowledge, ‘Birdy’s world is real enough---rough, dirty, and uncomfortable….’
I suppose ‘Alchemy and Meggy Swann’ could be criticized in the same way. Perhaps Meggy, a poor teenaged girl left orphaned in Elizabethan London, crippled by a congenital birth defect, should have ended up battered and hopeless. That would’ve been a different, and grimmer, tale.
A tale that could not have starred Cushman’s Meggy, a typically and satisfyingly feisty and sharp-tongued protagonist whose hard exterior covers the warmest of hearts. But Meggy’s life in exile is hardly anodynic, and Cushman’s London festers, filthy, stinking, noisy—and alive with color and flavor.
With the death of her beloved granny, Meggy has been ousted from country home and sent to her absent-minded and irresponsible father. He’s the one who practices alchemy. With the end of the period of servitude for the boy who assists the alchemist, he is forced to recognize his daughter and enlist her help.
The boy, Roger, turns out to be Meggy’s first friend in London, other than her pet goose. Unlike others, Roger does not ‘look to…demons’ to explain Meggy’s hip dysplasia. He’s more interested in her eyes than her limp.
Attempting to finance the search to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary, worthless material into gold, Meggy’s father gets in too deep with the wrong sort. Meggy is, of course, the one who must try to subvert the nefarious plot that ensues.
As she does, she ‘wabbles’ through the crowded London streets and the reader learns about ballads and broadsides, sausage pies and ale, and that alchemy and natural philosophy were precursors of chemistry and the Scientific Revolution.
The reader is also treated to a marvelous story. In the same way that alchemy blurs the line between magic and reason, Cushman crafts a blend of energetic fiction with an authentic dose of the era’s language, customs, sights, sounds, and smells that earns ‘Alchemy and Meggy Swann’ a place among the best children’s historical fiction.
Highly recommended for fifth graders on up.
December 28, 2020
What a treat to rediscover this author through a review here on Goodreads!
July 15, 2013
ALCHEMY AND MEGGY SWANN by Karen Cushman, Clarion, April 2010, 176p., ISBN: 978-0-5472-3184-6
You know how you'll be out somewhere and overhear two friends good-naturedly talking trash at one another? Well, here's what it sounded like in the 1570s:
"'I am not your Mistress Swann, you tottering wretch,' Meggy said to Roger as they started down Pudding Lane. She had to struggle to keep up with him, for, being straight and strong, he was not compelled to stick-swing-drag as she was.
"'Fortunate that is for me, you mewling, flap-mouthed flax wench,' he responded, slowing down a bit.
"'Gleeking swag-bellied maggot,' said Meggy.
"'Knoddy-pated whey face.'
"'Fly-bitten --' The girl paused. 'You have yet to say cripplesome or crookleg or leaden foot. Why do you not?'
"He grinned. 'When I look at you, I see not your crooked legs but your black eyes that blaze and snap and those cheeks like apples ripened in the sun,' he said, which irritated but also oddly pleased the girl, which irritated her the more.
""Go to!' she snapped. 'I am right surprised that you required bellows to tend to your master's fire, you bloviating windbag.'"
I can just imagine Karen Cushman's own amusement when she first read aloud what she'd written there.
The first thing that you've got to know about Cushman's latest piece of historical fiction - this one set in London at the dawn of the Elizabethan era -- is that there are wonderful waves of high-spirited discourse providing balance to the dire predicaments in which feisty, different-abled heroine Margaret "Meggy" Swann finds herself.
As Cushman explains in her extensive and illuminating Author Note, Meggy was born with "what is now called bilateral hip dysplasia, an abnormal formation of both hip joints at birth in which the ball at the top of each thighbone is not stable in the socket." Being that such a condition was not routinely diagnosed nor treated in sixteenth century Britain, Meggy grows up moving slowly with an ever-painful waddling gait and an ever-present pair of walking sticks.
Throughout the story we repeatedly encounter a contrasting of the good-hearted versus the ignorant and superstitious in regard to Meggy's very visible condition. It is that contrast that helps set her tale in motion, for Meggy was raised fatherless at a countryside alehouse by her kindly maternal grandmother who protected the child from a beautiful but cold-hearted mother and instilled in Meggy a love for song. After the death of the grandmother, when the absent father in London abruptly sends for the child he has never laid eyes on, that mother is apparently all too happy to see the last of Meggy. And when her father first meets her, he seems all too sorry for having summoned what has turned out to be a daughter, not a son -- a daughter of questionable value who, to top it off, is accompanied by an ill-humored and differently-abled goose named Louise.
Meggy's father is an alchemist who is thoroughly obsessed with his work of turning base metals to gold and thereby discovering the secret of achieving physical immortality through chemistry (I guess we'd now call him a sixteenth century biopharmaceutical entrepreneur of questionable repute.) He first shuns and ignores Meggy, but in the wake of his former and ill-treated apprentice's (Roger's) departure to become a player in a local performing troupe, Meggy determines to make herself useful to her aloof, preoccupied father and, in the process, will come to find her own voice and path in the world -- and way through the chaotic maze and filth of London.
Page after page, the pre-Shakespearian London in which the tale is set is delightfully colorful -- at least if you are having the thrill of reading Meggy's descriptions of it and not actually having to live and breathe and smell and taste and step in it every day. Eww!
And living amidst today's communications and information revolution -- having myself moved in a ridiculously short stretch of years from acquiring my first personal (desktop) computer and getting online to recently purchasing my now ever-necessary and present iPhone -- it is all the more striking to see and consider the pivotal role being played back in those days by the copy-at-a-time printing press and the story ballads being sung on the streets.
"Roger stopped. 'I do believe that the first rule of asking a favor of someone is to call that someone not Oldmeat but instead Roger.'"
Ye toads and vipers! Meggy Swann's coming of age story is way-fun and, thus, my trip through Elizabethan London was come and gone way, way too soon.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_... http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...
You know how you'll be out somewhere and overhear two friends good-naturedly talking trash at one another? Well, here's what it sounded like in the 1570s:
"'I am not your Mistress Swann, you tottering wretch,' Meggy said to Roger as they started down Pudding Lane. She had to struggle to keep up with him, for, being straight and strong, he was not compelled to stick-swing-drag as she was.
"'Fortunate that is for me, you mewling, flap-mouthed flax wench,' he responded, slowing down a bit.
"'Gleeking swag-bellied maggot,' said Meggy.
"'Knoddy-pated whey face.'
"'Fly-bitten --' The girl paused. 'You have yet to say cripplesome or crookleg or leaden foot. Why do you not?'
"He grinned. 'When I look at you, I see not your crooked legs but your black eyes that blaze and snap and those cheeks like apples ripened in the sun,' he said, which irritated but also oddly pleased the girl, which irritated her the more.
""Go to!' she snapped. 'I am right surprised that you required bellows to tend to your master's fire, you bloviating windbag.'"
I can just imagine Karen Cushman's own amusement when she first read aloud what she'd written there.
The first thing that you've got to know about Cushman's latest piece of historical fiction - this one set in London at the dawn of the Elizabethan era -- is that there are wonderful waves of high-spirited discourse providing balance to the dire predicaments in which feisty, different-abled heroine Margaret "Meggy" Swann finds herself.
As Cushman explains in her extensive and illuminating Author Note, Meggy was born with "what is now called bilateral hip dysplasia, an abnormal formation of both hip joints at birth in which the ball at the top of each thighbone is not stable in the socket." Being that such a condition was not routinely diagnosed nor treated in sixteenth century Britain, Meggy grows up moving slowly with an ever-painful waddling gait and an ever-present pair of walking sticks.
Throughout the story we repeatedly encounter a contrasting of the good-hearted versus the ignorant and superstitious in regard to Meggy's very visible condition. It is that contrast that helps set her tale in motion, for Meggy was raised fatherless at a countryside alehouse by her kindly maternal grandmother who protected the child from a beautiful but cold-hearted mother and instilled in Meggy a love for song. After the death of the grandmother, when the absent father in London abruptly sends for the child he has never laid eyes on, that mother is apparently all too happy to see the last of Meggy. And when her father first meets her, he seems all too sorry for having summoned what has turned out to be a daughter, not a son -- a daughter of questionable value who, to top it off, is accompanied by an ill-humored and differently-abled goose named Louise.
Meggy's father is an alchemist who is thoroughly obsessed with his work of turning base metals to gold and thereby discovering the secret of achieving physical immortality through chemistry (I guess we'd now call him a sixteenth century biopharmaceutical entrepreneur of questionable repute.) He first shuns and ignores Meggy, but in the wake of his former and ill-treated apprentice's (Roger's) departure to become a player in a local performing troupe, Meggy determines to make herself useful to her aloof, preoccupied father and, in the process, will come to find her own voice and path in the world -- and way through the chaotic maze and filth of London.
Page after page, the pre-Shakespearian London in which the tale is set is delightfully colorful -- at least if you are having the thrill of reading Meggy's descriptions of it and not actually having to live and breathe and smell and taste and step in it every day. Eww!
And living amidst today's communications and information revolution -- having myself moved in a ridiculously short stretch of years from acquiring my first personal (desktop) computer and getting online to recently purchasing my now ever-necessary and present iPhone -- it is all the more striking to see and consider the pivotal role being played back in those days by the copy-at-a-time printing press and the story ballads being sung on the streets.
"Roger stopped. 'I do believe that the first rule of asking a favor of someone is to call that someone not Oldmeat but instead Roger.'"
Ye toads and vipers! Meggy Swann's coming of age story is way-fun and, thus, my trip through Elizabethan London was come and gone way, way too soon.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_... http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...
December 29, 2011
Talk about warts and all!
I’ll admit, I came to this book reluctantly, pretty sure it was going to be Good, but in a there’ll-be-a-quiz-later, assigned reading kind of way. Surprise! I got really into it and thoroughly enjoyed the tour through Meggy’s world.
Karen Cushman brings 1570’s London to dirty, smelly, grimy life in this book. She’s done her homework, and it shows, but in a way that works for the story, not in a lets-just-jam-in-as-many-anectdotes-and-facts-regardless-if-they-fit-or-not way that so many historical fiction book for kids do.
In an extremely natural way, Cushman introduces the reader to the food, monetary system, shopping, sleeping, eating, household chores, trades, attitudes, suspicions, entertainment, etc. of the era – and shows that even a “golden age” as the time and place was called, had a seedy underbelly.
We met a whole parade of characters who live in London’s poorer district, all of them unique and gaudy and well named as any of Shakespeare’s characters.
The most surprisingly part, for me, was how she accurately shows the language of the time period – it reads as extremely accurate, and yet is readable – quite a feat, considering even college students have to re-read your average Shakespeare play a few times (and the footnotes) to pick up on what’s going on, let alone grade schoolers.
So, the extremely realistic Meggy moves to the extremely realistic London-town, shuffled from mother to father and resenting it, both a very real 16th century child, and yet as relatable as any 21st century kid caught in the middle of a custody battle.
So, she makes friends and enemies, learns about the science of alchemy, the early publishing industry, the London culture, and basically tries to figure out where she fits in the wide world.
Her father is something of a one dimensional caricature of the absent minded professor type, spending all of his time in the lab, trying to turn lead into gold, not noticing anything going on in the real world as he chases after trying to figure out the field of chemistry. Also, like many a modern day researcher – willing to take money from unsavory corporate sponsor to be able to afford his studies, which, understandably, scares Meggy, who catches on a lot quicker than her father that making deals with the devil leads to trouble.
Meggy also has to deal with being physically handicapped in a world that is soooo not handicapped accessible. However, while the reader might be smug and clap herself on the back for living in a more enlightened world, the story is a reminder that we still make judgments just on the surface of things and still have a long way to go before any of us truly live in a golden age with no seedy underbelly.
Meggy is one smart cookie. She knows how to use her brain and puts it to good use, whether in coming up with insults more creative than Shakespeare’s, or fouling evil men’s plots, as well as how one girl, with enough courage, can survive and thrive in the world.
Heartily recommended, ye toads and vipers!
September 26, 2019
A bit anticlimactic and meandering. The audiobook reader did all the heavy lifting in this one. Not sure I would’ve finished if not for her excellent voices and accents.
September 22, 2012
Karen Cushman snuck up and stole my heart with this middle-grade tale. Meggy Swann is an angry girl, who shreds people with her sharp retorts and doesn't easily make friends. But I immediately felt compassion for her and respect for her strength in the face of adversity.
The story opens in Elizabethan England with Meggy cursing, and no wonder. She finds herself alone in a "strange, dark, cold, skinny house." It was the skinny that got my immediate attention. I could see the cramped, inhospitable room and sense her fear of a kind of place outside her experience. She'd ridden from her village in a cart crammed with cabbages and sacks. Only to be greeted with this: "the tall, peevish-looking man who had called her to London but did not want her had wrapped his disappointment around him like a cloak and disappeared up the dark stairway."
The problem is Meggie is a cripple who walks with crutches in a "stick, swing, drag" gait. The man who brought her here is an alchemist and also her father, although she'd never known him. He wanted a son, an able apprentice, not a crippled girl.
It is clear early on that Meggie's prickly nature is a defense against the cruelty and threats from people who think cripples are somehow evil. She battles biogtry, neglect and hunger as she struggles to survive.
I don't like to give spoilers, so I'll just say she not only survives, she transforms herself in the course of this book. It's a fascinating piece of historical fiction and well-told tale.
The story opens in Elizabethan England with Meggy cursing, and no wonder. She finds herself alone in a "strange, dark, cold, skinny house." It was the skinny that got my immediate attention. I could see the cramped, inhospitable room and sense her fear of a kind of place outside her experience. She'd ridden from her village in a cart crammed with cabbages and sacks. Only to be greeted with this: "the tall, peevish-looking man who had called her to London but did not want her had wrapped his disappointment around him like a cloak and disappeared up the dark stairway."
The problem is Meggie is a cripple who walks with crutches in a "stick, swing, drag" gait. The man who brought her here is an alchemist and also her father, although she'd never known him. He wanted a son, an able apprentice, not a crippled girl.
It is clear early on that Meggie's prickly nature is a defense against the cruelty and threats from people who think cripples are somehow evil. She battles biogtry, neglect and hunger as she struggles to survive.
I don't like to give spoilers, so I'll just say she not only survives, she transforms herself in the course of this book. It's a fascinating piece of historical fiction and well-told tale.
December 28, 2011
I had originally looked at this in print form but when I discovered that Katherine Kellegren narrated the audiobook then I just had to listen to it. This one was so worth listening to on audiobook. I would never have done it the same justice reading it. Usually any of the "song" or poetry sections I skim through but Katherine Kellgren sings them which adds an extra level of wonderfulness to the story. Cushman does MG historical fiction well. You can almost smell and taste things that she describes. And as much as I am fascinated with that period of time, I would not want to live in it.
Cushman's story is truly one of transformation...not of the kind of transformation sought after by alchemists (which is also a part of the story) but of the transformation of a 13 year old girl.
Ye toads and vipers....love that line. And all of the other ones Meggy uses throughout the story.
Cushman's story is truly one of transformation...not of the kind of transformation sought after by alchemists (which is also a part of the story) but of the transformation of a 13 year old girl.
Ye toads and vipers....love that line. And all of the other ones Meggy uses throughout the story.
July 30, 2015
I loved this book. I loved Meggy and her smart-aleckyness, I loved the description of the way she walks and could actually picture it in my head. I loved how Meggy changed & grew over the course of the novel(in just the way I was hoping). This is just the sort of book I enjoyed as a child and still enjoy as an adult!
January 28, 2011
by Karen Cushman
Opening line: "'Ye toads and vipers,' the girl said, as her granny often had, 'ye toads and vipers,' and she snuffled a great snuffle that echoed in the empty room."
Is that not a marvelous opening sentence? And the rest of the book doesn't disappoint. I read Alchemy and Meggy Swann right after All Clear, and it was just what I needed. Light enough to not send me back into weeping fits and with enough substance that it didn't annoy me.
Meggy is a great main character. I couldn't help but love Meggy and feel for her as she finds her way through London. I believe that it's supposed to be Elizabethan, but the general sense of time is vague enough that it could really be just about any point from Tudor to Restoration England. (I'm sure you could date it more specifically, based on the players' laws on the point of being enacted. And it's very far from a criticism--I think the lack of tied-down detail allows a certain freedom of story and character.)
I really enjoyed that we got a story that wasn't about the nobility. I have no objection to stories about the nobility in general, but it's nice to get a different flavor. And I think it does tend to be an underrepresented area in mg/YA. It was also nice to see a story that wasn't about the nobility but also didn't have a main message of "Woe are us! We are all so poor and miserable and starving!" Granted, the characters lead difficult lives, often with the source of their livelihood extremely vulnerable. And yet, they're not simply mournful creatures. They do occasionally have fun!
Finally, it's a great glimpse into a lost world. Cushman's language perfectly conveys the patterns of long-ago speech without seeming so different as to be distancing or distracting. It was all beautifully done and I highly enjoyed it.
Book source: public library
Book information: Clarion books, 2010; mg/YA (I think that tolerant YA readers--i.e., the ones who don't immediately shake the dust of middle grade books from their feet--would enjoy this a lot, but there's nothing that I noticed to keep middle grade readers from enjoying it too. SLJ has it as grades 5-8.)
Other reviews:
King County Library
The Hungry Readers
Opening line: "'Ye toads and vipers,' the girl said, as her granny often had, 'ye toads and vipers,' and she snuffled a great snuffle that echoed in the empty room."
Is that not a marvelous opening sentence? And the rest of the book doesn't disappoint. I read Alchemy and Meggy Swann right after All Clear, and it was just what I needed. Light enough to not send me back into weeping fits and with enough substance that it didn't annoy me.
Meggy is a great main character. I couldn't help but love Meggy and feel for her as she finds her way through London. I believe that it's supposed to be Elizabethan, but the general sense of time is vague enough that it could really be just about any point from Tudor to Restoration England. (I'm sure you could date it more specifically, based on the players' laws on the point of being enacted. And it's very far from a criticism--I think the lack of tied-down detail allows a certain freedom of story and character.)
I really enjoyed that we got a story that wasn't about the nobility. I have no objection to stories about the nobility in general, but it's nice to get a different flavor. And I think it does tend to be an underrepresented area in mg/YA. It was also nice to see a story that wasn't about the nobility but also didn't have a main message of "Woe are us! We are all so poor and miserable and starving!" Granted, the characters lead difficult lives, often with the source of their livelihood extremely vulnerable. And yet, they're not simply mournful creatures. They do occasionally have fun!
Finally, it's a great glimpse into a lost world. Cushman's language perfectly conveys the patterns of long-ago speech without seeming so different as to be distancing or distracting. It was all beautifully done and I highly enjoyed it.
Book source: public library
Book information: Clarion books, 2010; mg/YA (I think that tolerant YA readers--i.e., the ones who don't immediately shake the dust of middle grade books from their feet--would enjoy this a lot, but there's nothing that I noticed to keep middle grade readers from enjoying it too. SLJ has it as grades 5-8.)
Other reviews:
King County Library
The Hungry Readers
March 5, 2011
Alchemy and Meggy Swann / 978-0-547-23184-6
I would have loved this lovely tale anyway, but I do confess to loving it even more so for its wonderfully spirited, partially crippled heroine. Hot tempered Meggy has more than a good reason to be so - saddled with hip dysplasia from birth, walking is painfully difficult, and can only be accomplished with the help of her walking sticks. It is so rare to find heroines in novels that are anything less than possessing a perfectly sound mind and body, and children will delight in this physically imperfect heroine, as well as in the unique friends she makes.
Though the title mentions 'alchemy', be aware that this is not a fantasy novel, but rather a historical fiction one. Meggy has been summoned to London to live with her alchemist father, only to find to her deep sadness and regret that she is no more wanted in her new home than she was in her old one. As she scrambles to work with her cold and unfeeling father, she quickly comes to make friends in spite of her natural suspicions of strangers, and through her own bravery and efforts learns to make a home for herself even when those who should provide for her fail to do so.
Underneath the delightful plot that will keep the reader turning pages until the very end, there is so much warmth and wholesomeness about this book that it is impossible not to love it. Though Meggy is often cold and hungry, the reader will be delighted with the many and varied friends that litter the streets of London - several with their own little physical imperfections that help Meggy to understand she is not alone in the world. And the sense of humor and sharp wit that marks the pages will delight the reader, as Meggy bandies sharps words with both those who would curse her for her limp as well as with her closest friends and companions (with, of course, varying degrees of acrimony).
In short, I deeply enjoyed "Alchemy and Meggy Swann" and would recommend it for adults and children alike, but especially for anyone like myself who finds it painful to walk and yet dreams of dancing.
NOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through Amazon Vine.
~ Ana Mardoll
I would have loved this lovely tale anyway, but I do confess to loving it even more so for its wonderfully spirited, partially crippled heroine. Hot tempered Meggy has more than a good reason to be so - saddled with hip dysplasia from birth, walking is painfully difficult, and can only be accomplished with the help of her walking sticks. It is so rare to find heroines in novels that are anything less than possessing a perfectly sound mind and body, and children will delight in this physically imperfect heroine, as well as in the unique friends she makes.
Though the title mentions 'alchemy', be aware that this is not a fantasy novel, but rather a historical fiction one. Meggy has been summoned to London to live with her alchemist father, only to find to her deep sadness and regret that she is no more wanted in her new home than she was in her old one. As she scrambles to work with her cold and unfeeling father, she quickly comes to make friends in spite of her natural suspicions of strangers, and through her own bravery and efforts learns to make a home for herself even when those who should provide for her fail to do so.
Underneath the delightful plot that will keep the reader turning pages until the very end, there is so much warmth and wholesomeness about this book that it is impossible not to love it. Though Meggy is often cold and hungry, the reader will be delighted with the many and varied friends that litter the streets of London - several with their own little physical imperfections that help Meggy to understand she is not alone in the world. And the sense of humor and sharp wit that marks the pages will delight the reader, as Meggy bandies sharps words with both those who would curse her for her limp as well as with her closest friends and companions (with, of course, varying degrees of acrimony).
In short, I deeply enjoyed "Alchemy and Meggy Swann" and would recommend it for adults and children alike, but especially for anyone like myself who finds it painful to walk and yet dreams of dancing.
NOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through Amazon Vine.
~ Ana Mardoll
May 9, 2010
Margret, or Meggy, Swann, is sent to live with her father, an alchemist, in 16th century London. Meggy was born crippled and endures treatment from her own mother and from strangers. She is considered marked by God for her sins, a harbinger of doom, and is subjected to a variety of colorful insults. Luckily for Meggy, she was raised in an alehouse and has a tongue sharper than anyone who crosses her path. Her father is none to pleased to find his child is not a son, but a daughter who hobbles around with the aid of two sticks, but he does his best to tolerate her. She comes to befriend her father's former apprentice, Roger, and a host of other characters, from the cooper to the printer to the band of players Roger becomes apprenticed to later.
I do love Karen Cushmen's ability to bring the past to life in vivid detail. I also appreciate her refusal to brush over the grittiness of life. Just as it was with Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice, she shows all the dirt and grime of life, along with its misfortunes and injustices. Yet her books are always humorous and end on positive notes, almost as if her characters have learned to make lemonade out of the lemons life inevitably throws at them. Meggy's father never shows her any affection, but he is less cruel than her mother, but he does abandon her in the end. Meggy's painful, crippling hip dysplasia cannot be fixed, but after weeks of walking all over London, she realizes that at the very least she is getting stronger, and her friend the cooper makes her new walking sticks that do not hurt her hands so much.
Also of note are the insults throughout the book. I wish Cushman had included a glossary or at least an index of every insult, for they are numerous. "Ugglesome crookleg," "mewling, flap-mouthed flax wench," "gleeking swag-bellied maggot," "knoddy-pated whey face," and "wart-necked mammering clap dish" are some of the best.
Highly enjoyable, and a great read for kids, in my opinion.
I do love Karen Cushmen's ability to bring the past to life in vivid detail. I also appreciate her refusal to brush over the grittiness of life. Just as it was with Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice, she shows all the dirt and grime of life, along with its misfortunes and injustices. Yet her books are always humorous and end on positive notes, almost as if her characters have learned to make lemonade out of the lemons life inevitably throws at them. Meggy's father never shows her any affection, but he is less cruel than her mother, but he does abandon her in the end. Meggy's painful, crippling hip dysplasia cannot be fixed, but after weeks of walking all over London, she realizes that at the very least she is getting stronger, and her friend the cooper makes her new walking sticks that do not hurt her hands so much.
Also of note are the insults throughout the book. I wish Cushman had included a glossary or at least an index of every insult, for they are numerous. "Ugglesome crookleg," "mewling, flap-mouthed flax wench," "gleeking swag-bellied maggot," "knoddy-pated whey face," and "wart-necked mammering clap dish" are some of the best.
Highly enjoyable, and a great read for kids, in my opinion.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2010
From the moment Meggy Swann wabbles on scene with a terse assessment of her new living situation with her long-absent father ("Ye toads and vipers!), I was swept up in this robustius book. Cushman transported me to smelly, raucous and mysterious London in the Elizabethan times with a deft hand and a exuberant use of deliciously old-fashioned words (gallimaufry! belike! laboratorium!). And she piles trouble upon trouble on dear Meggy -- " her legs did not sit right in her hips;" her alchemist father can neither remember her name nor remember to feed her; she's blamed for a neighbor's fire and her best friend, a goose named Louise, is banished from the house for getting her head stuck in a beaker. Meggy's struggle to transform from a country girl to a city girl, from loner to friend, parallels her father's struggle to complete the ultimate transformation: turning liquid into gold and gold into an elixir for eternal life. Meggy is none too fond of Master Peevish, as she calls her father, but she does not want to see his head among those impaled on London Bridge. So what is she to do when she learns he may be involved in a murder plot? She engages in a little alchemy of her own, using words rather than elements.
In addition to being one of the best books I've read in a good long while, it is also very educational and has provided me with ample ammunition the next time someone cuts in front of me in traffic -- I might call out, "Begone, you carbuncled toad!" or "A pestilence take you, you rump-faced knave," or even perhaps my favorite, "Go then, you writhled, beetle-brained knave!"
In addition to being one of the best books I've read in a good long while, it is also very educational and has provided me with ample ammunition the next time someone cuts in front of me in traffic -- I might call out, "Begone, you carbuncled toad!" or "A pestilence take you, you rump-faced knave," or even perhaps my favorite, "Go then, you writhled, beetle-brained knave!"
November 21, 2011
Meggy Swann is yet another of Karen Cushman's bold historical heroines, making her entertaining best of a strange situation. When her mysterious father summons her to London from the country only to ignore her, Meggy, who cannot walk without the aid of two sticks, finds herself stuck, with only her pet goose for company. Skeptical of her father's alchemical experiments and determined to survive on her own in the strange, dirty city, she gathers her wits a few new (human) friends, uncovers a murder plot, and bends life to her own terms.
Cushman's prose and dialogue are, as ever, believable and engaging, making use of Elizabethan speech without obscuring meaning beyond what a young reader can understand. A few of the characters and plot twists don't seem necessary to the overall story--particularly Meggy's goose, who seems only a bundle that must constantly be rescued from the butcher--and the plot goes from dire to golden a bit too quickly. Nevertheless, Meggy's winning bravery and charmingly cranky banter make the reader want to be just as good to her as her new London friends. A fun, quick read for fans of Cushman's other works and an engaging, revealing story about life in Elizabethan London. An author's note at the end gives further details on alchemy, the early press, and the changing language of the era, as well as a list for further reading. Recommended for ages 9 to 12.
Tags: disabled heroine, Elizabethan England, theater, alchemy, printing press, historical fiction, urban setting, neglectful parents, intermediate readers
Cushman's prose and dialogue are, as ever, believable and engaging, making use of Elizabethan speech without obscuring meaning beyond what a young reader can understand. A few of the characters and plot twists don't seem necessary to the overall story--particularly Meggy's goose, who seems only a bundle that must constantly be rescued from the butcher--and the plot goes from dire to golden a bit too quickly. Nevertheless, Meggy's winning bravery and charmingly cranky banter make the reader want to be just as good to her as her new London friends. A fun, quick read for fans of Cushman's other works and an engaging, revealing story about life in Elizabethan London. An author's note at the end gives further details on alchemy, the early press, and the changing language of the era, as well as a list for further reading. Recommended for ages 9 to 12.
Tags: disabled heroine, Elizabethan England, theater, alchemy, printing press, historical fiction, urban setting, neglectful parents, intermediate readers
June 2, 2016
Meggie can't walk without pain. Her pet is a goose, not a swan. And when her daddy summoned her from the farm to London, she finds the worst pain of all: He doesn't want her after all.
Karen Cushman filled this story with the sights and smells of medieval London, lovely non-swearing insults, and a wide variety of characters: cheerful, nasty, indifferent. Maggie is not the feisty heroine who never feels sad. She knows she's too ugly to have friends, and people in the street curse her as a devil-child. Her own dad doesn't have time to talk to her, and forgets to give her food, or money for food. When she makes a friend, she's so surprised that she doesn't know how to respond - and nearly loses the friend.
When Maggie overhears a murder plot, she has to stretch herself beyond her limits and find out what she can really do. And when she solves the mystery and life smacks her down anyhow, she finds a way to keep herself going with the pain - and with friends.
The author note in the back was full of solid historical information, and the suggested reading list in back was great.
Karen Cushman filled this story with the sights and smells of medieval London, lovely non-swearing insults, and a wide variety of characters: cheerful, nasty, indifferent. Maggie is not the feisty heroine who never feels sad. She knows she's too ugly to have friends, and people in the street curse her as a devil-child. Her own dad doesn't have time to talk to her, and forgets to give her food, or money for food. When she makes a friend, she's so surprised that she doesn't know how to respond - and nearly loses the friend.
When Maggie overhears a murder plot, she has to stretch herself beyond her limits and find out what she can really do. And when she solves the mystery and life smacks her down anyhow, she finds a way to keep herself going with the pain - and with friends.
The author note in the back was full of solid historical information, and the suggested reading list in back was great.
February 6, 2010
Very Good. General YA.
Meggy Swann is a young woman growing up in Elizabethan England. She has hip dysplasia and walks painfully with crutches. After her grandmother dies, her mom sends her to live with her absent father in London. He is an alchemist who has no time for anything but his work. Despite her physical difficulties, Meggy begins to make friends and a life for herself. But all of that is put in jeopardy when she overhears a nefarious plot that involves her father.
Meggy Swann is a young woman growing up in Elizabethan England. She has hip dysplasia and walks painfully with crutches. After her grandmother dies, her mom sends her to live with her absent father in London. He is an alchemist who has no time for anything but his work. Despite her physical difficulties, Meggy begins to make friends and a life for herself. But all of that is put in jeopardy when she overhears a nefarious plot that involves her father.
October 7, 2020
"Ye toads and vipers", what a cute book about Tudor London! Thoroughly enjoyed this one, gives you a great feeling for what life must have been like in that fascinating time in history.
Excellent audio narration by my favorite narrator Katherine Kellgren, who left this Earth far too early...
Excellent audio narration by my favorite narrator Katherine Kellgren, who left this Earth far too early...
July 14, 2017
A crippled girl is sent to live with her alchemist father in medieval London. After spending her life as a pariah, branded a witch and blamed for her handicap by superstitious neighbors, she has developed quite a sharp tongue and independent spirit. Her father is mostly indifferent, but she befriends his previous assistant, a boy who leaves shortly after her arrival to join a theater troupe. Like the other Cushman books I've read, this has been thoroughly researched and delights in sharing the tiny details of daily life in those days that are so different from today. The story is charming on its own, but the afterword explaining some historical notes and liberties taken is the icing on top. This may be young adult fiction, but it sure was fun to read as a not-so-young adult.
September 11, 2018
I read this book because I enjoyed The Midwife's Apprentice. I don't this book quite lived up to that but it was fairly enjoyable: hence three stars. The Shakespearian insults were quite enjoyable but I thought they sometimes got in the way of moving the plot along. But I would imagine that a young person would not mind so much.
September 14, 2020
this should have been depressing with all the misfortunes with Meggy, however the tales Cushman writes are filled with humor and optimism. Lots of horrible nasty people including her own family but Meggy rises above despite her vv crappy circumstances and finds some decent humans in this lovely medieval world. Very easy read.
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March 25, 202577%
The story was sweet enough, but what really blew me away was the immersive language used. English of the 1600s is nothing to scoff at, but Cushman not only made it readable, but enjoyable, too. This book is a great primer for whenever you need to get into the Old-English mindset.
The story was sweet enough, but what really blew me away was the immersive language used. English of the 1600s is nothing to scoff at, but Cushman not only made it readable, but enjoyable, too. This book is a great primer for whenever you need to get into the Old-English mindset.
August 3, 2017
the narration was amazing as always, but the content of this particular book was lackluster for me. The main character, while definitely showing growth in some ways, was almost like a caricature. There were certain points of the plot that didn't make sense to me, and some of the relationships felt forced. Not a bad book, not at all, I guess I just was expecting more.
The main character uses crutches, and at the beginning treats her physical crutches like a figurative crutch. She has been taught that she can't do anything for herself. Through the book she does gain a lot of autonomy, but it's through the uncaring nature of her father. She's forced to do things for herself instead of taught how to do things for herself.
There is one point in the plot, where Rodger gets really angry with Meggie and called her selfish and I really didn't see that. It was in order to get her alone for a portion of the plot. I didn't buy it and it felt really weird. But the book is definitely good for someone who likes historical fiction, and it is a clean read. The author's note at the end was excellent.
The main character uses crutches, and at the beginning treats her physical crutches like a figurative crutch. She has been taught that she can't do anything for herself. Through the book she does gain a lot of autonomy, but it's through the uncaring nature of her father. She's forced to do things for herself instead of taught how to do things for herself.
There is one point in the plot, where Rodger gets really angry with Meggie and called her selfish and I really didn't see that. It was in order to get her alone for a portion of the plot. I didn't buy it and it felt really weird. But the book is definitely good for someone who likes historical fiction, and it is a clean read. The author's note at the end was excellent.
November 8, 2017
Toads and Vipers this book wasn't for me.
Meggy's attitude got really annoying and also the book felt to rushed that the ending wasn't satisfactory.
Meggy's attitude got really annoying and also the book felt to rushed that the ending wasn't satisfactory.
March 29, 2014
Originally reviewed on Words in a Teacup
I've read The Midwife's Apprentice and The Ballad of Lucy Whipple more times than I can count, so I was curious when I found out Karen Cushman wrote other books. Plus I was in the mood to read about alchemy. The setting is England in 1573, "after the ascension of Queen Elizabeth to the throne but before London's first theatre and Shakespeare". When Meggy's grandmother dies, her mother sends her to live in London with her father. The book opens with Meggy, holding her goose Louise and her walking sticks, cursing her father very creatively. Master Ambrose has taken one look at her and claimed to have no use for a crippled daughter; he wanted a son to help him with his Great Work, creating the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life. Meggy is equally unimpressed with her new lodgings, and she things London is dirty and noisy and ugly.
I don't want to spoil anything about the plot, because part of the book's charm is exploring London and getting to know all the various characters along with Meggy, so I'll just say that this was a short but very enjoyable read. Karen Cushman writes great books for children because she doesn't dumb down her subject matter. The characters are well-rounded and not in the least stereotypical: Meggy, the protagonist, has a foul temper and a sharp tongue; her father is distant and only concerned with his work, but that doesn't make him completely evil. The other characters too -- Roger, the cooper and his son, the troupe of players, the printer and his family, and all the streetsellers -- are colourful and turn the book's world into a real place filled with all kinds of people.
The language threw me at first, because all the characters talk in archaic words and sentences.
And don't get me started on the creative insults, which are positively Shakespearean. "Bloviating windbag" is probably my favourite. It took me a while to get used to the strange turns of phrase, but after some chapters I stopped noticing it so much.
Overall a great read, witty and never predictable. I'm sure if I'd read it fifteen years ago it would have been an instant favourite with me and Meggy would have joined Lucy and Alice as one of my childhood heroines. Karen Kushman has a talent for writing strong stories and great female characters with their own agency. Definitely a recommended read.
I've read The Midwife's Apprentice and The Ballad of Lucy Whipple more times than I can count, so I was curious when I found out Karen Cushman wrote other books. Plus I was in the mood to read about alchemy. The setting is England in 1573, "after the ascension of Queen Elizabeth to the throne but before London's first theatre and Shakespeare". When Meggy's grandmother dies, her mother sends her to live in London with her father. The book opens with Meggy, holding her goose Louise and her walking sticks, cursing her father very creatively. Master Ambrose has taken one look at her and claimed to have no use for a crippled daughter; he wanted a son to help him with his Great Work, creating the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life. Meggy is equally unimpressed with her new lodgings, and she things London is dirty and noisy and ugly.
I don't want to spoil anything about the plot, because part of the book's charm is exploring London and getting to know all the various characters along with Meggy, so I'll just say that this was a short but very enjoyable read. Karen Cushman writes great books for children because she doesn't dumb down her subject matter. The characters are well-rounded and not in the least stereotypical: Meggy, the protagonist, has a foul temper and a sharp tongue; her father is distant and only concerned with his work, but that doesn't make him completely evil. The other characters too -- Roger, the cooper and his son, the troupe of players, the printer and his family, and all the streetsellers -- are colourful and turn the book's world into a real place filled with all kinds of people.
The language threw me at first, because all the characters talk in archaic words and sentences.
Mayhap this was but a bad dream, she thought. The dark, the cold, the strange noises, and the unfriendly man who had judged her, found her wanting, and left her alone--perhaps these were but part of a dream, and she would wake again in the kitchen of the alehouse. "Sleep well, Louise," said Meggy to her goose, "for tomorrow, I pray, we be home."
And don't get me started on the creative insults, which are positively Shakespearean. "Bloviating windbag" is probably my favourite. It took me a while to get used to the strange turns of phrase, but after some chapters I stopped noticing it so much.
Overall a great read, witty and never predictable. I'm sure if I'd read it fifteen years ago it would have been an instant favourite with me and Meggy would have joined Lucy and Alice as one of my childhood heroines. Karen Kushman has a talent for writing strong stories and great female characters with their own agency. Definitely a recommended read.
August 11, 2011
First Impression:
I remember loving Karen Cushman's books when I was younger and when I saw that Kathryn Kellgren was narrating this one, I had to check it out from the library. I was really excited to start this audiobook and set to some housework right off.
While Listening:
I loved the narrator right off. I expected this and tuned into Meggy's voice as she started off with a curse of "Ye toads and vipers" and went on to describe her predicament. Sent for from her estranged father, Meggy leaves the tavern she was raised in to live with her alchemist father, who thought she was a boy. Meggy is crippled and depends on crutches to get her around. She is to take the place of the handsome Roger, who is off to become a player.
But fate brings her back to Roger, depending on him to take care of her one friend - her goose and then again when she uncovers a plot to kill a political figure in London. A conspiracy that may land her father in jail. Meggy perseveres through it all and her fiery nature helps her keep her head up. I loved watching her in her endeavors around London, the first bonds of friendship made with others when she's used to being shunned for being a cripple.
The plot really moved and I loved all the characters Meggy met along the way. Definitely an entertaining novel and makes me rethink reading some of Cushman's older books to get caught up from my childhood.
Verdict:
Give this one a shot, it's a solid historical fiction that questions the mysteries of life, friendship and learning that there's more to people than first glance can tell. As always, Kellgren does a fantastic job narrating the voice of our courageous Meggy along with the other colorful characters. And there's even some singing in this one.
I remember loving Karen Cushman's books when I was younger and when I saw that Kathryn Kellgren was narrating this one, I had to check it out from the library. I was really excited to start this audiobook and set to some housework right off.
While Listening:
I loved the narrator right off. I expected this and tuned into Meggy's voice as she started off with a curse of "Ye toads and vipers" and went on to describe her predicament. Sent for from her estranged father, Meggy leaves the tavern she was raised in to live with her alchemist father, who thought she was a boy. Meggy is crippled and depends on crutches to get her around. She is to take the place of the handsome Roger, who is off to become a player.
But fate brings her back to Roger, depending on him to take care of her one friend - her goose and then again when she uncovers a plot to kill a political figure in London. A conspiracy that may land her father in jail. Meggy perseveres through it all and her fiery nature helps her keep her head up. I loved watching her in her endeavors around London, the first bonds of friendship made with others when she's used to being shunned for being a cripple.
The plot really moved and I loved all the characters Meggy met along the way. Definitely an entertaining novel and makes me rethink reading some of Cushman's older books to get caught up from my childhood.
Verdict:
Give this one a shot, it's a solid historical fiction that questions the mysteries of life, friendship and learning that there's more to people than first glance can tell. As always, Kellgren does a fantastic job narrating the voice of our courageous Meggy along with the other colorful characters. And there's even some singing in this one.
February 22, 2017
SO disappointed in this book! Not sure it's worth even ONE star! This book left me flat and disinterested. I didn't care for any of the characters. So much potential, but no delivery! Even Louise, Meggy's goose, is taken out of the story too soon for you to get attached to! Karen Cushman spent most of this book creating situations for the two main characters to have a reason to hurl insults at eachother. (in the language of the day, of course) (hmm, I wonder how many pages of just insults there are?) Meggy is a young girl dependent on crutches to help her get around on her "crooked" legs. The book spends a lot of time describing her climbing up and down stairs, going back and forth on the streets of London and working with her disability...but not enough time on the Meggy who is behind the disability. I am a private christian school children's librarian, I picked this book up hoping to add it to my collection. Our 5th grade reads books about people with disabilities and I thought this would be a great addition. There is not enough meat to this story to make it onto the list as far as I am concerned and do not see the advantage of placing this book in my collection.
This could have been a good story. If Karen Cushman had wanted to spend some time on it.
This could have been a good story. If Karen Cushman had wanted to spend some time on it.
August 8, 2011
This is a delightful tale of Meggy Swann, a young girl hobbled by the birth defect of what would now be diagnosed as hip dyplasia. She fends for herself in un merry ole England during Elizabethan days. Those with deformities were looked upon as freaks marked by the devil.
It is obvious that the author researched the time period. Cushman is a Newbery honor and medal winner for good reason.
While the tale may seem gloomy, truly it is a story of the resiliency of the human spirit and the ability to overcome obstacles. Deemed illegitimate and unfit, Meggy's mother ships her from the countryside to live with her biological father in London. Witnessing the sights of England is a true eye opener for Meggy. Her father, an alchemist does not want her and thus she is twice rejected.
Strong and brave, Meggy finds friends who are part of a traveling theater during pre-Shakespeare days.
It is obvious that the author researched the time period. Cushman is a Newbery honor and medal winner for good reason.
While the tale may seem gloomy, truly it is a story of the resiliency of the human spirit and the ability to overcome obstacles. Deemed illegitimate and unfit, Meggy's mother ships her from the countryside to live with her biological father in London. Witnessing the sights of England is a true eye opener for Meggy. Her father, an alchemist does not want her and thus she is twice rejected.
Strong and brave, Meggy finds friends who are part of a traveling theater during pre-Shakespeare days.
April 17, 2016
At first, I assumed this was going to be like any children's book with a fairly linear story, a simple problem, and a satisfying and moral ending. I was pleased to find that there was a complex area of grey in which Meggy Swann lives. Disabled, displaced, and disagreeable, Meggy comes to find out who she really is and what things really have worth as she battles her way through London life. Her character growth is natural and amazing. The setting was just right for something like this, and the author doesn't shy away from painting the realities of her home life. She is neglected and abused but still manages to meet all of her troubles with a good amount of wit and cursing and lands on top in the end. Satisfying is definitely a word to describe this book -- I just wish there was more to read!
November 9, 2014
Lexile Level: 810L
Pages: 176 (4.5 hrs)
Summary: In the 1500’s Meggy traveled to London, from a country village with her goose Louise. She uses two sticks to move about which makes her an outcast to most people. Her mother and father don’t want to take care of her, so she befriends some performers.
Review: It was a short story but I got tired of Meggy’s attitude quickly. The ending felt rushed and even though there was an historical fictional feel, it was too fictional to be realistic for me.
2 out of 5 stars
Reviewed By: Emily K.
Pages: 176 (4.5 hrs)
Summary: In the 1500’s Meggy traveled to London, from a country village with her goose Louise. She uses two sticks to move about which makes her an outcast to most people. Her mother and father don’t want to take care of her, so she befriends some performers.
Review: It was a short story but I got tired of Meggy’s attitude quickly. The ending felt rushed and even though there was an historical fictional feel, it was too fictional to be realistic for me.
2 out of 5 stars
Reviewed By: Emily K.
April 19, 2015
Oh my gosh, I had completely forgotten about this book until it popped up on my dash. But I don't recall much of anything about the book, except that the writing and the atmosphere really pulled you into the time period, so a re-read is definitely due.
January 18, 2010
Cushman's books are reliably good. Excellent for the younger middle years, they are both and easy and enjoyable read, while being informative.
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