For one of the library challenge squares, I needed to pick "a book you are embarrassed you haven't read"...well, I cannot be embarrassed by not having read a book, but I understood the intent and so chose A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, which I have long wanted to read but kept putting off. It is such a delightful read! I feel it captures beautifully the growing up of a young girl (Francie) in the poor section of Williamsburg Brooklyn (so expensive now!!) beginning in 1901. It lays out the realities of proud as well as struggling people in the dream of America, some who will do well and some who will not. How logical it is to understand the men who felt as failures and turned to drink even while being the father remembered with nostalgia and love! How awful the educational system could be, and how unworthy the "teachers"... and yet how crucial it was to learn to read and to continue an education. This story brings to life an era I have had glimpses of, bringing together many threads garnered from many other readings. A very fine choice!

on the bench near the entrances