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Karen Cushman's Newbery Honor-winning book tells the story of a medieval girl who works to avoid the marriage her father has arranged for her during her 14th year. Contained in this program is Catherine's diary - Catherine, called Little Bird or Birdy, daughter of Rollo and the lady Aislinn, sister to Thomas, Edward, and the abominable Robert. Against a vivid backdrop of everyday life on a medieval English manor, Catherine's earthy, spirited account of her fourteenth year is a richly entertaining story with an utterly unforgettable heroine.

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.

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.

Millie McGonigle lives in sunny California, where her days are filled with beach and surf. It should be perfect - but times are tough. Hitler is attacking Europe, and it looks like the United States may be going to war. Food is rationed, and money is tight. And Millie's sickly little sister gets all the attention. It's all Millie can do to stay calm and feel in control. Still - there's sand beneath her feet. A new neighbor from the city, who has a lot to teach Millie. And surfer boy Rocky to admire - even if she doesn't have the guts to talk to him.

It's time for Grayling to be a hero. Her mother, a "wise woman" - a sort of witch - has been turned into a tree by evil forces. Tangles and toadstools! Lacking confidence after years of being called "Feeble Wits" by her mother, Grayling heads off dubiously into the wilds in search of help, where she finds a weather witch, an aromatic enchantress, a cheese soothsayer, a slyly foolish apprentice, and a shape-shifting mouse named Pook!

Will Sparrow, liar and thief, is running away—from the father who sold him for beer, from the innkeeper who threatened to sell him as a chimney sweep, from his whole sorry life. Barefoot and penniless, without family, friends, or boots, Will is determined to avoid capture and, of course, to find something to eat. Some of the travelers he meets on the road have a kind word for him and a promise of better things to come, such as coins and juicy beef ribs. Eager to go along, Will repeatedly finds himself tricked by older and wiser tricksters....

Sally O'Malley is an orphan working at a mineral spring hotel in the woods of central Oregon—that is, until she's chucked out like chewed-on chicken bones, due entirely to an unfortunate incident with a pig and some church ladies. And so Sally decides to head west to the sea. Glorious, she's heard. Fierce, she's heard. Why not see for herself? Before long Sally encounters a dangerous bobcat—and that's just the first day! Safe in the knowledge that she's fearless, she continues on her journey with no place to belong and no one to depend on. And that's just fine with her.

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. In reality, she's a "pink and freckled" 13-year-old, and she doesn't always speak up because she's afraid she'll get in trouble. She's comfortable following her father's advice: "Don't get involved".