The Midwife's Apprentice

This book is Newbery Honor Book

Summary: A young, orphaned girl, living on the streets and sleeping in dung beetle heaps to keep warm, is taken in by a harsh, yet not unkind, midwife. The girl, who calls herself Alyce, learns the art of midwifery as she accompanies Jane Sharp, the midwife. When she births her first baby the townspeople are pleased with her making the midwife jealous. When she is asked to go alone, without the help of Jane, to birth a baby, Alyce soon realizes she is not as experienced as she thought. Doubting herself, she calls for the help of Jane. After the baby is born Alyce is ashamed, full of self-doubt, and believes herself to be a failure and to be too stupid to even be a midwife's apprentice. She and her faithful cat, Purr, run away to the next town where she becomes a worker at an inn. One night a group of travelers arrive at the inn. A man proclaims his wife is being devoured by a stomach worm but the innkeeper and Alyce tell him she is with child. The innkeeper tries to help with the birth but gives up leaving Alyce to step up. She is scared, scared that she will fail again, but she delivers the baby. She realizes that her destiny is to be a midwife, therefore, she must return to Jane Sharp to learn what she can. Whe the cat and Alyce arrive Jane Sharp turns them away. But with persistance and a newfound understand of who she is and what she wants, Alyce will not give up and Jane accepts her back.

Personal Reacation: I really enjoyed this story. I picked it up thinking it was a book that I had read before but quickly realized the story was a new one for me. I really loved the character, Alyce. She was full of such self-doubt and pity but as the reader that is not the side that I saw. I saw her as a fighter, a survivor, and really wanted her to win in the end. The girl slept in dung beetle piles to keep warm for heaven's sake! If that is not resourceful and ingenious, I don't know what is.  I was glad the character of Jane was not overly harsh, as I wanted Alyce to have a little kindness in her life. When Alyce finds the young boy, Edward, and directs him to the manor house where he could find food and shelter, we are given further insight into what a caring heart Alyce has. In the end she is given many choises as to what she can do. But with self-realization, she choises what she was meant to do. Become a midwife's apprentice.

Cushman, K. (1995). The midwife's apprentice. New York: Clarion Books.