A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Title: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Author: Betty Smith

Pages: 493

Genre: Classic

Grade: A

Synopsis: Francie Nolan and her younger brother are growing up very poor in Brooklyn at the beginning of the 20th century. Their father is a friendly singing drunk and their mother is a beautiful realist. The children often know what it is like to go to bed hungry and collect scrap metal and junk for pennies. Their parents had very little education, but their mother has her mind set that her children will graduate from high school. On the recommendation of her mother (the children's grandmother) they read a page a day from both the Bible and Shakespeare. This is the story of Francie Nolan growing up.

My Review: There isn't much that happens in this book, but it is a page turner nonetheless. While reading I think that I experienced almost every emotion from happy and sad, anger, love, pity, joy, pain and understanding. One of the most intriguing parts of the book are the parts where the author gives little glimpses into the minds of the characters. While reading this book I often felt like I was watching a movie and wished that others around me could watch with me.

From the Book: "(p. 62) Mary was convinced that because of some sin she had unwittingly committed in her life, she was mated with the devil himself. She really believed this because her husband told her so. "I am the devil himself," he told her frequently."

"(p. 83) The secret lies in the reading and writing. You are able to read. Every day you must read one page from some good book to your child. Every day this must be until the child learns to read. Then she must read every day, I know this is the secret."

"(p. 166) For quite a while, Francie had been spelling out letters, sounding them and then putting the sounds together to mean a word. But one day, she looked at a page and the word "mouse" had instantaneous meaning. She looked at the word, and the picture of a gray mouse scampered through her mind. She looked further and when she saw "horse," she heard him pawing the ground and saw the sun glint on his glossy coat. The word "running" hit her suddenly and she breathed hard as though running herself. The barrier between the individual sound of each letter and the whole meaning of the word was removed and the printed word meant a thing at one quick glance. She read a few pages rapidly and almost became ill with excitement. She wanted to shout it out. She could read! She could read!"

"(p. 297) No, Katie never fumbled. When she used her beautifully shaped but worn-looking hands, she used them with surety, whether it was to put a broken flower into a tumbler of water with one true gesture, or to wring out a scrub cloth with one decisive motion--the right hand turning in, and the left out, simultaneously. When she spoke, she spoke truly with the plain right words. And her thoughts walked in a clear uncompromising line."