“[Francie] was the books she read in the library. She was the flower in the brown bowl. Part of her life was made from the tree growing rankly in the yard. She was the bitter quarrels she had with her brother whom she loved deeply. She was Katie’s secret, despairing weeping. She was the shame of her father staggering home drunk. She was all of these things and of something more…It was something that had been born into her and her only – the something different from anyone else…It was what God or...

During my adolescent years, there was a short-run TV show called *Brooklyn Bridge*, about life in Brooklyn during the 1950s. The last line of the show's theme song, "that place just over the Brooklyn Bridge," will always be home to me. When I think of Brooklyn, my mind goes back to a more innocent time when city kids could stay out late and parents didn't have to worry about their well-being, where kids frequented the penny candy store and delivered newspapers after school. This was the Brooklyn...

For the longest time, whenever someone asked, "What's your favorite book?" I never had a specific title immediately come to mind. So, I guess I could say I hadn't found it yet. ****************************** July 26, 2016 At twenty-two years old, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is officially my favorite book. Francie Nolan is the most beautiful girl in the world. I love her. [Image of book cover]

Some books fill young girls' heads with dreams of ponies, kittens, and eternal love. "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith is not one of those books. If I were to use a metaphor, reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" would be like taking the ice bucket challenge. It offers no easy answers; it's harsh and brutally realistic. It slaps you in the face with a reality that's rarely pleasant. And yet, it's also one of the best young adult books I've ever read. I first read "A Tree Grows in Brookly...

Betty Smith's *A Tree Grows in Brooklyn* is a quiet, gentle, understated, and yet unexpectedly scathing book that offers a window (or a view from a fire escape, if you please) into a little corner of the world a century ago. Yet, it still resonates deeply with today's readers. After all, the world has moved forward, yes, but the essential human soul remains the same. The obstacles in human lives—poverty, inequality, cruelty, and blind self-righteousness—are, sadly, in no danger of disappearing...

Well, the tree grows very slowly and with exhaustive detail. Couldn't get through this one. Actually, that's not entirely true. I could have. And I don't mean that in the way of a mountain climber who just couldn't make it to the top and then warps reality by looking back at it. No, it's more like "couldn't" as in "I couldn't eat another hash brown from my McDonald's breakfast." Sure, I COULD have. It just didn't seem worth the pain. I get why Betty Smith's *A Tree Grows in Brooklyn* is a clas...

I'd heard of "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" quite a bit, but for some reason, I never picked it up. Then, years ago, my book club decided to read it. What a joy! What a pleasure! I loved reading about this young girl who loved to read as much as I did. How I could relate to her love of going to the library and finding that special book – that treasure! Thus, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith became my treasure. It holds a place on my favorite book list! Francie Nolan is a very poor young gi...

“Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first time or last time: Then your time on earth will be filed with glory.”A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ~~ Betty SmithThis is genuinely one of the best books I have ever read. It's an absolutely amazing piece of fiction and one of those stories that sticks with you long after you've turned the final page. If you're looking for great book recommendations, start here.Betty Smith’s novel, *A Tree Grows in Brooklyn*, was her debut and quick...

"Dear God, let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well-dressed. Let me be sincere—be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.""Don't say that. It's not better to die. Wh...

{Yup, I'm reading it AGAIN.}I sob, and I mean *sob*, every time I read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith. It's such a simple story--Francie Nolan is a smart little girl who's trying to find beauty in her sometimes ugly, always poverty-stricken life. Her adored father is wonderful, but too plagued by his own demons to support his family. Her mother loves her children fiercely but is often harsh because she thinks it's her job to keep them grounded in reality (oh, and she seems to love Fra...