Rating: Needs Parent Supervision

Reading Level: Middle School

I imagine this win a Newberry Award because the orphan girl learns to advocate for herself and follow her dreams. Nevertheless, it is very raw and I personally wouldn’t let my kids read it before middle school. Possible Concerns:

  • Bullying (we’ll bury you deep in the dung,
  • Name calling (Brat, Dung beetle)
  • Foul language (e.g., pissed myself)
  • Drunkenness (boys drank too much ale)
  • Adultery (the midwife sleeps with the miller)
  • Violence (the midwife slaps her apprentice and others)
  • Poverty; scrounging for a living
  • Sexual harassment (the miller pinches the apprentice’s rump)
  • pretending to be the devil, punishing those who wounded you
  • ghosts on Halloween
  • Curse of being a woman
  • Superstition, Praying to saints, herbal cures that are a bit supernatural

It has been recovered to this fresh new look:

but I read this older edition: