A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Betty Smith

ISBN 10: 1433203138 ISBN 13: 9781433203138

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc., 2007

Synopsis

This is the profoundly moving story of a young girl coming of age at the turn of the century. Francie Nolan lives with her family in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn from 1902 until 1919, where, as an imaginative, alert, and resourceful child, she grows up under the burden of suffering that is the lot of a great city's poor.

About this title

Review:

Francie Nolan, avid reader, penny-candy connoisseur, and adroit observer of human nature, has much to ponder in colorful, turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. She grows up with a sweet, tragic father, a severely realistic mother, and an aunt who gives her love too freely--to men, and to a brother who will always be the favored child. Francie learns early the meaning of hunger and the value of a penny. She is her father's child--romantic and hungry for beauty. But she is her mother's child, too--deeply practical and in constant need of truth. Like the Tree of Heaven that grows out of cement or through cellar gratings, resourceful Francie struggles against all odds to survive and thrive. Betty Smith's poignant, honest novel created a big stir when it was first published over 50 years ago. Her frank writing about life's squalor was alarming to some of the more genteel society, but the book's humor and pathos ensured its place in the realm of classics--and in the hearts of readers, young and old. (Ages 10 and older) --Emilie Coulter

From the Publisher:

11 1.5-hour cassettes

About this edition

• Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1433203138
• ISBN 13: 9781433203138
• Binding: Audio CD