The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman

I enjoyed The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman, a Newbery-winning novel. Cushman believably created a 1300s scene, and I liked learning about midwifery and superstition in the middle ages. While modern girls won’t face trials as extreme as the girl’s in the novel, they still must develop self-confidence and determine what their own dreams are. The story is therefore highly relevant to pre-teens today, and I only wished it had been longer and more fully developed. Continue reading »

The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin

Sometimes I read nonfiction to get a general idea about something I don’t know anything about or a person who intrigues me. Other times I read nonfiction to learn something specific in depth; such books may be hard to read cover to cover, but they still merit a careful reading.

The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin was a combination of both types of nonfiction. In a general way (for such a topic can hardly be comprehensive), Boorstin discusses the discovery of ideas, concepts, places, and facts from the dawn of time until about 1900. But in a very specific way, he teaches about some of the individuals and eras that make such general concepts important. I felt I read mini-biographies of hundreds of notable people, just by reading one book!

I loved the time I spent reading The Discoverers. It contains sections about the discovery (or, more accurately, the development) of concepts of time, the discovery of different lands, the discovery of science from the cosmos to the circulatory system, and the discovery of social development, from the printing press to vernacular languages. I learned a lot, both general and specific. This is a book to reread! Continue reading »