The Midwife's Apprentice
By Karen Cushman
Genre: Middle Grade Historical Fiction
Personal Rating: 10/10

A young girl with no home and no family finds purpose as an apprentice to the village midwife. Known as only Brat or Dungbeetle, this girl eventually finds her place in the world and discovers her own worth. A medieval historical fiction for children and a Newbery medal winner.

I started reading this book with some children I babysat, but I ended up reading ahead because I enjoyed it so much. I love historical fiction and even though this is a children's book I felt like I gained something by reading it. It was very well researched and the language of the writing felt genuine for the medieval era. This book teaches that every life has purpose, and that you can achieve more than you think you can.

The only reservation I have with this book is that I don't know how appropriate some parts are for small children. This book is about midwifery, so there is a lot of discussion about giving birth. While there wasn't any graphic description, but I still wouldn't feel great about reading this to a classroom of students. There are also a few uses of mild swears like hell and damn. The girls I read it to really enjoyed the story, but I did have to edit a bit as I read out loud.

Overall I was very impressed with this book and I plan and reading the rest of Karen Cushman's historical works.

The Glittering Court
By Richelle Mead
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Personal Rating: 7/10

The Glittering Court is a school that takes girls from lower classes and raises them up to become the nobility of the new world. Adelaide, a countess, isn't the ideal candidate for such school, but in order to escape an arranged marriage she takes on the identity of one of her servants and runs away to the Glittering Court. The only person who knows of her identity at the school is Cedric, son of the owner. When Adelaide discovers Cedric's dangerous secret, they work together to come up with a way to save both of them from being discovered. But complications arise when a forbidden attraction forms between the two.

This book was very entertaining. It's written likes it's about America and England but with a surprisingly enjoyable fantasy twist. I loved all the details about the school--the fashion, etiquette lessons, ect. It was very entertaining for a history nut like me, even if it wasn't supposed to be a historical novel. The description in this book was amazing!

This world had a weird religious system set up, but overall I felt like a main theme was about religious freedom, and what we do to fight for it. There were some other aspects in this book I didn't agree with, but the language was clean, and there were
no explicit scenes.

 I've herd a lot of good things about Richelle Mead,, but this was the first book of hers I've read. There were certain elements in this book that I wasn't crazy about, but I did really enjoy her writing style. I look forward to reading the rest of her work.