Showing posts with label a tree grows in brooklyn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label a tree grows in brooklyn. Show all posts

Friday, November 23, 2007

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

i finished the seventh of my picks for this challenge last week, and i've posted a general review of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn on my book blog. i can't believe that i never read this book before. it was delightful!

i selected this one from Becky's list. she had only discovered it about six months before this challenge started, but she picked it because she identified with the main character Francie. this is a quote from the book that Becky included in her post - and it's worth repeating here, i think, as many of us book lovers can probably relate:

From that time on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack of intimate friends. Books became her friends and there was one for every mood. There was poetry for quiet companionship. There was adventure when she tired of quiet hours. There would be love stories when she came into adolescence and when she wanted to feel a closeness to someone she could read a biography. On that day when she first knew she could read, she made a vow to read one book a day as long as she lived.


Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Review

I am so glad I picked up A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I even loved the foreward (by Anna Quindlen). This is not a book with a heavy concentration on plot. Instead, the focus is on character, using stories to reveal their lives.

I especially related to Francie. Her love of reading and, eventually, writing spoke straight to my own little-girl-self. I had no fire escape or magic-feeling tree to hide out with, but I did use books as friends when I was growing up. Still, today, books are how I travel and how I continue my education. They are beautifully efficient teachers - both accepting and challenging to the reader.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn will be added to my list of all-time favorites, without a doubt. I got my copy off of the Borders Bargain Shelf for just one dollar. If only all of my money was so well spent. If only all bargain shelves yielded such treasures.


Heather T


* I chose it from Becky's List.