### From School Library Journal Gr 4-8–When Kate's wood-carver father dies, she is left to support herself with her woodworking talent while living in her father's former market stall with a cat named Taggle. When Linay, a mysterious and magical stranger, comes to town and buys Kate's shadow, he gives her the money she needs to escape her village home, where people are blaming her for the hard times that have fallen on them. It is rumored that her talent comes from magic, but Kate's journey leads to unexpected consequences and danger for her and the Roamer family whom she joins. It's up to Kate; her new friend, Drina; and Taggle to defeat Linay with their own magic, as they come to discover the truth about his past and his desire for revenge. Kate's journey involves physical, mental, and magical growth, presenting a character who truly matures and changes over the course of her story, and the bittersweet conclusion reflects honest choices and Kate's newfound strength. Supporting characters, from villagers to the tormented Linay, are presented realistically and move the story forward smoothly. Bow's first novel shows a solid control of story and characters, and the careful and evocative writing reflects her work as a published poet. *Beth L. Meister, Milwaukee Jewish Day School, WI* © Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. ### From Booklist Young Kate is plain as a stick but a gifted wood carver. Her father had warned her that foolish people might think that she guides her knife with magic, and after he dies of fever, Kate becomes the target of suspicion and fear. As a plague worsens, Kate realizes that she must flee her village, and she reluctantly makes an odd bargain with a stranger: in exchange for her shadow, the stranger will provide essential supplies and grant a single wish. Soon Plain Kate is entangled in an elaborate noose of magic and revenge. In her debut novel, poet Bow writes with an absorbing cadence, creating evocative images that trigger the senses and pierce the heart. With familiar folktale elements, she examines the dark corners of human fear and creates intriguing, well-drawn characters, including Taggle, Kate's talking cat, who adds a welcome lightness. The taut, bleak tale builds to a climax that unfortunately falters, solving a central dilemma with magical convenience. Still, with this debut, Bow establishes herself as a novelist to watch. Grades 7-12. --Lynn Rutan
Plain Kate
erin bow
arthur a. levine books
an imprint of scholastic inc.
Copyright © 2010 by Erin Bow
Jacket art © 2010 by Juliana Koleslova
All rights reserved. Published by Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.,
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.
For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 558 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bow, Erin.
Plain Kate / by Erin Bow.—1st. ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Plain Kate’s odd appearance and expertise as a woodcarver cause some to think of her a witch, but friendship with a talking cat and, later, with humans help her to survive and even thrive in a world of magic, charms, and fear.
ISBN 978-0-545-16664-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)
[1. Fantasy. 2. Wood carving—Fiction. 3. Cats—Fiction. 4. Human-animal relationships—Fiction. 5. Witchcraft—Fiction. 6. Magic—Fiction. 7. Orphans—Fiction.]
I. Title.
PZ7.B67167Pl 2010
[Fic]–dc22
2009032652
Printed in the U.S.A. 23
First edition, September 2010
Book design by Lillie Howard
The author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council
contents
one: The
two: The Stranger
three: The Fish, the Axe, and the Bargain
four: The Roamers
five: The Road and the Rain
six: Secrets and Roses
seven: Toila
eight: The Bog Camp
nine: The Bear Cage
ten: The Punt, the Pool, and the Empty Road
eleven: A Ghost in the River
twelve: Fog
thirteen: Shadow
fourteen: Blood and Questions
fifteen: The Abandoned Country
sixteen: The Peace of Lov
seventeen: The Stone City
eighteen: An Exchange of Gifts
nineteen: The Names of the Dead
one
the
A long time ago, in a market town by a looping river, there lived an orphan girl called Plain Kate.
She was called this because her father had introduced her to the new butcher, saying: “This is my beloved Katerina Svetlana, after her mother who died birthing her and God rest her soul, but I call her just plain Kate.” And the butcher, swinging a cleaver, answered: “That’s right enough, Plain Kate she is, plain as a stick.” A man who treasured humor, especially his own, the butcher repeated this to everyone. After that, she was called Plain Kate. But her father called her Kate, My Star.
Plain Kate’s father, Piotr, was a wood-carver. He gave Kate a carving knife before most children might be given a spoon. She could whittle before she could walk. When she was still a child, she could carve a rose that strangers would stop to smell, a dragonfly that a trout would rise to strike.
In Kate’s little town of Samilae, people thought that there was magic in a knife. A person who could wield a knife well was, in their eyes, halfway to a witch. So Plain Kate was very small the first time someone spat at her and crooked their fingers.
Her father sat her down and spoke to her with great seriousness. “You are not a witch, Katerina. There is magic in the world, and some of it is wholesome, and some of it is not, but it is a thing that is in the blood, and it is not in yours.
“The foolish will always treat you badly, because they think you are not beautiful,” he said, and she knew this was true. Plain Kate: She
“I will never give it up,” she answered.
And he laughed and called her his Brave Star, and taught her to carve even better.
They were busy. Everyone in that country, no matter how poor, wore a talisman called an objarka. Those who could, hung larger objarka on horse stalls and doorposts and above their marriage beds. No lintel was uncarved in that place; walls bore saints in niches; and roads were marked with little shrines on posts, which housed sometimes saints, and sometimes older, stranger things. Plain Kate’s father was even given the honor of replacing Samilae’s weizi, the great column at the center of the market that showed the town’s angels and coat of arms, and at the top, supported the carved wooden roof that sheltered the carved wooden gods. The new weizi was such a good work that the guild masters sent a man from Lov to see it. The man made Kate’s father a full master on the spot.
