A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century. From the moment she entered the world, Francie needed to be made of stern stuff, for the often harsh life of Williamsburg demanded fortitude, precocity, and strength of spirit. Often scorned by neighbors for her family’s erratic and eccentric behavior—such as her father Johnny’s taste for alcohol and Aunt Sissy’s habit of marrying serially without the formality of divorce—no one, least of all Francie, could say that the Nolans’ life lacked drama. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the Nolans’ daily experiences are tenderly threaded with family connectedness and raw with honesty. Betty Smith has, in the pages of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, captured the joys of humble Williamsburg life-from “junk day” on Saturdays, when the children of Francie’s neighborhood traded their weekly take for pennies, to the special excitement of holidays, bringing cause for celebration and revelry. Betty Smith has artfully caught this sense of exciting life in a novel of childhood, replete with incredibly rich moments of universal experiences—a truly remarkable achievement for any writer.

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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Play based on "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn": 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 ... --Emilie Coulter at Amazon.com.

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A Study Guide for Betty Smith s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A Study Guide for Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

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CliffsNotes on Smith s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. CliffsNotes on Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, you explore life in early 20th-century Brooklyn as you follow the maturation of Francie Nolan and her family, which includes a hard-drinking father and the economic cost associated with that. But no matter the struggles that Francie encounters on her way to becoming an independent woman, her tenacity in creating the best life for herself that she can is inescapable. Ultimately her determination to succeed is like the tree that grows in the courtyard where Francie grows up, a tree called the Tree of Heaven, which always grows, regardless of whether or not it is watered, and which symbolizes the strength to survive, just as Francie survives. This study guide carefully walks you through Francie's journey by providing summaries and critical analyses of each book of the novel. You'll also explore the life and background of the author, Betty Smith. Other features that help you study include: An overview of the novel A list of characters, including analyses of major characters A character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the characters Analyses of major themes and symbols A glossary of important terms and phrases from the novel Classic literature or modern-day treasure—you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

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Catalog of Copyright Entries

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TV Guide

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Part II Challenges and Opportunities Facing American Agricultural Producers S Hrg 110 124 April 24 2007 110 1 Hearing

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Visions of Belonging

Smith looks at how family stories entered the American popular imagination and shaped collective dreams in the immediate post-war years and the early '50s. She argues that works such as 'Death of a Salesman' posed new demands for social respect, new definitions of nationhood, citizenship and democracy.

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Dictionary Catalog of the Dance Collection

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Catalog of Copyright Entries Fourth Series

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Hearst s International Combined with Cosmopolitan

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The New Yorker

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Dictionary Catalog of the Music Collection

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Catholics in New York

This lavishly illustrated book chronicles the history, growth, and extraordinary legacy of New York's largest Christian denomination. Co-published with the Museum of the City of New York as a companion to its exhibition on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the Archdiocese of New York, this book brings together rare images and original essays to explore the key dimensions of the Catholic experience in New York. Here is a fascinating pictorial record of Catholic struggles and triumphs, and thirteen insightful essays that trace the story of Catholic New York--from people, parishes, and traditions to the schools, hospitals, and other institutions that helped shape the metropolis. The struggles of generations of immigrants and their descendents against prejudice bear fruit in the remarkable ascendance of Catholics in the city's politics. From the emblematic account of one Manhattan parish's life across generations of neighborhood change to fresh perspectives on the extraordinary impact of Catholic institutional life on the making of the city, the essays range widely. There's a personal refl ection by Pete Hamill on growing up Catholic as well as revealing explorations of the Catholic presence in all corners of New York's social, political, cultural, and educational worlds. Catholic leaders such as Dorothy Day, Al Smith, and Mother Cabrini come to life in other essays. An afterword offers a look at Catholic New York facing new realities of race, ethnic change, and suburbanization after World War II. Blending memorable images with insightful commentary, Catholics in New York tells not just the story of the city's largest community of faith, but offers a new telling of what is for everyone a classic New York story.

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Dictionary Catalog of the Research Libraries of the New York Public Library 1911 1971

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National Union Catalog

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Cue

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A Guide to Critical Reviews Part 2

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Bulletin

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Paperbound Books in Print

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