2 v. with separate title pages bound as one with common t.p. and shared pagination ( )

Probably one of my favorite stories as an adolescent.
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My sister gave me Maggie Now to read many years ago but never got to the end of it before I had to return it to her. One day I will manage to get my hands on a copy and complete reading it. I know that I readlly enjoyed the story but would have to start at the beginning of it again. I liked it every bit as much as I enjoyed A Tree grows in Brooklyn.

I love A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Maggie-Now is not as stellar, but still a good read. It is set in Brooklyn during the early 1900's. This is a quiet story. It tells about ordinary people, who never do anything particularly spectacular. It shows how they live day-to-day (interesting in a historical sense), how Maggie and all those of her family connect to each other, reach out to their neighbors, influence and touch each other with their lives. In many ways the story is unbearably sad, ironic and unfulfilling. All Maggie wants is to pour herself into others, to care for them and feel needed. And yet the man keeps secrets from her, and her father tries to make everyone miserable. I'll never understand it, but that's what compels me about the story.

more at the DogEar Diary ( )

Somehow I made it to this point in my life without reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I can't remember a time when the title and author weren't familiar to me, but I didn't know anything about the book beyond its title. When we dispersed my grandmother's library, I kept her book club copy, but it's been sitting untouched on my bookshelf for years. I finally picked it up last week. I wish I hadn't waited so many years to read it. I couldn't wait to finish the book, and yet I was sorry to come to the end.

My book club edition includes an author's note, written several years after the book's initial publication. The author mentions the many letters she had received from readers who saw their own lives reflected in the story of Francie Nolan. Sixty-plus years later, I think readers will still identify with Francie. Even though the story is firmly rooted in Brooklyn, Francie experiences what we all go through in the transition from childhood to young adulthood. I think it would be a good selection for high school students with its emphases on the importance of education, family, responsibility, dignity, compassion, resiliency, and hope. It would also be a good book for mothers and daughters to share together.

I haven't read Maggie-Now yet, but if it's even half as good as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I have a treat waiting for me. ( )