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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSA nameless, homeless girl sleeping in a dung heap in medieval England gets taken in by Jane Sharp, the sharp-tongued village midwife, and given the nickname Beetle in exchange for labor and scraps of food. With nothing to her name and no memory of any other life, Beetle starts learning the midwife's trade by watching from cottage windows and gathering herbs in the woods, slowly piecing together both a skill and a sense of who she might be. When a merchant at a summer fair mistakes her for someone else, someone who can read and has a name, Beetle glimpses a different version of herself and decides, quietly but firmly, that she will become that person.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Midwife's Apprentice
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about The Midwife's Apprentice. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book is a stray orange cat with crooked whiskers nearly drowned in a sack with an eel?
✓ Answer
The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
Cruel village boys toss the cat into a pond inside a sack with an eel to see which animal will survive. Beetle rescues the limp cat afterward, beginning their friendship.
- First half
In what book does a girl name herself Alyce because it sounds clean, friendly, and smart?
✓ Answer
The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
Looking at her reflection in a horse trough, Beetle decides she could be someone who can read and someone who could be loved. Choosing her own name is the central turning point of the early book.
- First half
In what book does a girl carve wooden hooves to leave devil tracks and expose villagers' secret sins?
✓ Answer
The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
Alyce learns wood carving from old Gilbert Gray-Head and uses it to stamp prints that lead to people who tormented her. She tosses the carved hooves into the river when the trick is done.
- Second half
In what book does a girl run away from a village after failing to deliver a stubborn baby?
✓ Answer
The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
When Emma Blunt's baby will not come, Alyce admits, "I cannot do it," sends for Jane, and then runs away from the village in shame on a crisp Martinmas afternoon.
- Second half
In what book does a girl stuff a ruined page of vellum into her bodice to study by candlelight?
✓ Answer
The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
When the scholar throws away a page he has spoiled with an inkblot, Alyce snatches it and labors over it each night, picking out the letters and words she now recognizes.
- Near the end
In what book is an old ewe so offended by being washed that she shoves a girl into the river?
✓ Answer
The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
While helping wash the manor's sheep before shearing, Alyce holds the ewe's face for scrubbing. The sheep stands up with her front feet on Alyce's chest and pushes her into the water.
