Search results matching tags 'families' and 'growing up'

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:04:00 GMT

When I went home a little while back, I saw a copy of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in my little sister's room. Feeling a bit nostalgic, I went home and started reading the battered copy on my bookshelf. I don't know how many times I have read this book (almost as many as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird), but I always come away feeling like I have just read it for the first time.

Betty Smith published A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in 1943 and it was an immediate success. The story focuses around Francie Nolan, a young girl growing up in the early twentieth century with a fun-loving, but alcoholic father, realistic mother, and younger brother. Struggling against poverty and isolation from her peers, Francie finds solace in the library where she plans to read every book in the collection. The story continues over the next five years of Francie's life. Her struggle to gain her mother's love, her desire to better her own life, and finding love are all issues that Francie encounters growing up in Brooklyn.

I don't want to give away too much of the story for those of you that haven't read it because A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a book that I believe everyone should read at least once. Francie and her family have struggles that many people can relate to, and you can't help but wish to be the friend Francie so desperately needed. If you are wandering around the library one day searching for something to read, remember to grab a copy of this book.

The Night of the Roundtable

kiya@evpl — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:11:00 GMT

I looked at my daughter's soccer schedule, and said, "Oh, great! You don't have practice on Aug 25^th. That's the night of the Roundtable."

My son looked at me quizzically, and said, "the Knight of the Round Table?"

It took me a minute, but then I realized what was going on, and explained. I wasn't expecting Sir Lancelot but rather, I wanted us to attend the One Book One Community Roundtable Discussion at Barnes and Noble on the evening of the 25^th. Held at 7pm, it will feature many local leaders talking about this year's One Book title: Life on the Color Line by Dr. Gregory H. Williams.

More information on the Round Table Discussion

More information on this year's book and author

Dates and times of book discussions at the local libraries

Remember the most important date:

Dr. Gregory H. Williams will be speaking to the community at Bosse High School on Thursday, Oct 1 at 7:30 pm.

The Longest Trip Home

wag.mado@evpl — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:08:00 GMT

After reading several mixed reviews on John Grogan's newest book, I took the plunge and decided I'd see for myself. I really didn't think there was any way I could like the book as much as the bestselling "Marley and Me", but I didn't think it would be as bad as some of the reviews I read either.

This memoir is mostly a story about growing up Catholic in the 1950's. Since, I grew up Catholic in the 1950's, I could relate with almost everything - except being an altar boy. I could also understand how those who did not grow up Catholic may not like the book - and realized how those who are Catholic could be offended or taken aback by Grogan's feelings about his religious upbringing with extremely devout parents.

The book (which I listened to on audio, read by Grogan himself) did have places that seemed to drag on. However, I stayed with it because I never lost my curiosity about where the story was taking me, as Grogan tried to become his own person, living life with a moral code different from his parents.

All that being said - I liked this book. It was an honest, sometimes humorous, sometimes heart wrenching memoir, written by a person who tried to find his own place in the world even when it didn't follow the path his parents had in mind. In that respect, this could be the life story of many of us.

Oh, and about the book being as good as "Marley?" Heavens no! Not even Grogan himself could upstage that beloved dog.