Heartland Award

Commonwealth Club of California Silver Medal

Newbery Honor Book

Horn Book Fanfare

Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts (NCTE)

Parenting Magazine Reading Magic Award

American Bookseller Pick of the Lists

South Carolina Children's Book Award

Golden Kite Award

Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award (Vermont)

ALA Notable Children's Book

School Library Journal Best Book

New York Public Library's One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing

 

Read the book behind Lena Dunham’s acclaimed new movie! This historical fiction classic, told in the form of a diary, has drawn in generations of readers and is a Newbery Honor Book. 

 

Catherine feels trapped. Her father is determined to marry her off to a rich man—any rich man, no matter how awful.

 

But by wit, trickery, and luck, Catherine manages to send several would-be husbands packing. Then a shaggy-bearded suitor from the north comes to call—by far the oldest, ugliest, most revolting suitor of them all. Unfortunately, he is also the richest.

 

Can a sharp-tongued, high-spirited, clever young maiden with a mind of her own actually lose the battle against an ill-mannered, piglike lord and an unimaginative, greedy toad of a father? Deus! Not if Catherine has anything to say about it!

Catherine, a spirited and inquisitive young woman, narrates in diary form the story of her fourteenth year—the year 1290.