Cushman, Karen. Will Sparrow’s Road.

Cushman, Karen.   Will Sparrow’s Road.    Houghton Mifflin/Clarion  2012  216p  ISBN 978-0-547-73962-5        elm/ms      Hardback    E-BN  Historical fiction

Will Sparrow’s father sold him to the innkeeper in exchange for access to free liquor.  The work and living conditions at the inn were not any better than those at home, so Will took off one night for parts unknown.  Along the way, he met many folks.  However, Will was not always able to distinguish trustworthy from unsavory characters.  He did, however, prove to be resourceful in finding food along the way.  When he joined the traveling sideshow, Will learned that people and situations are not always what one thinks they will be.

Readers will connect quickly to Will as his troubles mount.  Characters like the disfigured Cat Girl are very well developed and believable, and readers will have sympathy for them, as well as gaining an understanding of the deceitful nature of some adults.  It is a very well written book that will appeal to many young readers.  It is recommended for any middle-school library, and would make an excellent addition to a basic books list for school libraries.

Summary: Will Sparrow is a liar, thief, and runaway in Elizabethan England. Readers will gain insight into the living conditions of that time and place as Will tries to free himself from the abusive home from which he has run away.

England, Elizabethan-Fiction                                      --Linda McNeil

Alchemy and Meggy Swann

Cushman, Karen. Alchemy and Meggy Swann
Clarion see Houghton Mifflin 2010 167p 16.00
978-0-547-23184-6 ms/hs E-BN
Meggy Swann arrives in sixteenth-century London at the request of her unknown father. Now thirteen, and crippled since birth by a congenital hip disease, she walks slowly with her sticks and has been tormented both by the pain and the belief that her disability is a curse of the devil. When she finally reaches the small barren house in which her alchemist father lives, she is rejected for not being the healthy son that he expected. Her father’s old apprentice Roger, who is leaving to become a player, rescues her from imminent starvation, doling out the remaining housekeeping money, teaching her how to go about the great city, and introducing her to a wide variety of colorful characters. She must find some way of supporting herself and discovers that she has a talent for rhyming and ballad-making. As Meggy becomes more comfortable in her new home, she picks up bits and pieces of overheard conversations and gossip that lead her to believe that her father is being paid to provide a poison to kill a nobleman. Her fears of seeing his head up on London Bridge makes her determined to stop him.
Meggy Swann joins the pantheon of strong and capable young women found in Cushman’s novels. Beautifully written, Cushman combines wit, humor, and mystery with the poignant tale of an unloved child. The plot unfolds gradually and believably and London is vividly evoked. This well-researched and insightful book vividly evokes life in England’s capital and offers a thoughtful and realistic look at the hardships of the time.
This is a powerful book, rich in emotion and feeling, and will surely be snatched off the shelves.
Highly recommended for all middle school collections. Ogintz, Susan
Father and daughters-Fiction