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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

by Betty Smith

4.20 · rating details · 85,550 ratings · 7,522 reviews

The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in

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Paperback, 528 pages

Published May 30th 2006 by HarperCollins Publishers (first published 1943)

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Jan 05, 2012

Maggie Campbell rated it

· review of another edition

"Dear God, let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well-dressed. Let me be sincere- be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost."

"Don't...more

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Jun 30, 2008

Casey rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: children-or-young-adult, 2008

{Yup, I'm reading it AGAIN.}

I sob, and I mean sob, every time I read this book. It's such a simple story--Francie Nolan is a smart little girl who's trying to find beauty in her sometimes ugly, always poverty-stricken life. Her adored father is wonderful, but too plagued by his own demons to support his family. Her mother loves her children fiercely but is often harsh because she thinks it's her job to keep them grounded in reality (oh, and she seems to love Francie's brother more...more

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Aug 17, 2007

Julia rated it

Shelves: the-classics

Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" has been passed down through at least three or four generations and is highly regarded as a classic novel perfect for any young adult bent on entering adulthood and escaping from the gaping clutches of a complicated childhood.
While it was not for those reasons that I first picked up "Brooklyn," I came to regard it as one of the finest books that I had ever read. At first glance, it is a very deceitful book: short; words spaced n...more

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Jun 16, 2009

Sparrow rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: High school students, U.S. history classes

Recommended to Sparrow by: Amanda Coleman

Shelves: classic-young-adult, young-adult, reviewed

It is a tribute to Jeanette Walls that I could not get through this book without comparing it dozens of times to The Glass Castle, with The Glass Castle coming off as its genius granddaughter or fashionable little sister. I probably should have read this first, as a child or teenager, but it’s too late for that now. No regrets! I could not help wondering why Betty Smith wrote this story as fiction rather than memoir, and the fact of it being fiction made me notice a lack of complexity in Fran...moreIt is a tribute to Jeanette Walls that I could not get through this book without comparing it dozens of times to The Glass Castle, with The Glass Castle coming off as its genius granddaughter or fashionable little sister. I probably should have read this first, as a child or teenager, but it’s too late for that now. No regrets! I could not help wondering why Betty Smith wrote this story as fiction rather than memoir, and the fact of it being fiction made me notice a lack of complexity in Francie’s character. Smith did not love, admire, and criticize Francie in the same way she did the Rommely sisters or Johnny Nolan. I am sure that it is because, although Smith uses the omniscient third person, Francie is Smith, and the story is thoroughly from Francie’s point of view. It is difficult to treat yourself as a fictional character. At the same time, the comparison of the two books is also a tribute to Jeanette Walls because A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a very wonderful book with many, many beautiful moments. I enjoy photographs that take something ordinary or dreary in real life and turn it into something interesting and beautiful, and this book is the written equivalent of that.

There is a section of this story when Francie meets with her English teacher, in which Smith states one of her theories on writing, and it has stuck with me. Always an exceptional writer, Francie has recently stopped writing romantic, idealized descriptions of things she’s never seen, and begun writing stories about her father’s alcoholism. Her teacher dislikes these stories and tells Francie that successful writing is always about something beautiful and better than life. This is a major conflict for Francie because her father was a beautiful, better-than-life person to her despite his alcoholism, and she feels her teacher’s judgment of their poverty. She also finds that once she has begun writing about real things, it would be superficial to write about anything else.

This exchange was thought-provoking for me because I generally land on the side of Francie’s teacher in this argument. I read for pleasure, and so when an author seems absolutely bent on being vulgar and unpleasant, it makes me angry. I like for fiction to be beautiful and better than life. At the same time, Smith made me realize that my argument is a myopic generalization. Smith’s descriptions of the Nolan family’s poverty and Johnny Nolan’s alcoholism are beautiful and delicate, even though the facts of both are not beautiful or delicate. The descriptions are even important, because it is so easy to oversimplify classes of people into noble or lazy, rather than seeing the complexity of individual situations. I’m glad that Smith did not take her English teacher’s and my advice.

While I enjoyed most of this book, I did not love it. I think this was because I did not love Francie, or even have a very definite image of who she was. I loved all of her family members and the stories of their lives. I found the Rommely family wonderful and fascinating, even Katie’s evil father. I would never argue that this was not an important book, and I am glad I read it. As fiction and even as a coming of age story, there was not a specific plot point drawing me through the book, as most of the events were pretty well foretold from the first 100 pages. I do not think this was a failing on Smith’s part, because I believe her intention was more photographic – a series of snap shots of life in Brooklyn before World War I. I am looking forward to watching the movie, though, as I think I will benefit from having a face for Francie. (less)

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Apr 04, 2008

Sarah Null rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: book-club, american-as-apple-pie, classics, favorites

Francie stood on tiptoe and stretched her arms wide. "Oh, I want to hold it all!" she cried. "I want to hold the way the night is - cold without wind. And the way the stars are so near and shiny. I want to hold all of it tight until it hollers out, 'Let me go! Let me go!'"

The title of this novel refers to a tree that grows persistently up through the concrete and harsh conditions of a poor tenement neighborhood in early 1900s Brooklyn. But it is also a metaphor fo...more

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Oct 27, 2011

Sue rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: classics, u-s, nyc, read-in-2011, library-book, favorites

Another American classic finally read. I'm very glad to have finally experienced this book. It was really more than I expected, a wonderful story of a young girl growing up in early twentieth century Brooklyn with her parents and brother. The life was hard with family foremost but not perfect. The details were perfect, from the multiple uses for bread to stretch out meals to details from school experiences to conversations between mother and daughter revealing depths of honesty and past despair....more

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May 16, 2011

Daniella rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: classics, historical-fiction, favorites, rereadable, 2000, to-buy, 2011, coming-of-age

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is my absolute favorite book of all time.

While the story is set at the turn of the century (1902-1919) and contains many historical elements that may feel alien to the modern reader, the message that is subtly and intricately woven into the fabric of the story is one that I feel not only transcends the ages, but also one with which many of us can identify.

The protagonist, Francie, and her family represent the sort of wonderfully complex characters who...more

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Nov 15, 2008

Bonnie rated it

Recommended to Bonnie by: Candas Jane Dorsey

Shelves: reviewed-books

Recommended to me by the same person who recommended the Helen Forrester books. I thought of this book (early 20th C), as a well-crafted, character-driven novel. It is a very moving coming-of-age novel, and has been "Selected as one of the books of the Century by the New York Public Library."

As Anna Quindlen quoted at the end of her forward: Francie does not say "good-bye" to the tenements for the tragedies but to the girl she once was, the illusions she had, the...more

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Nov 15, 2008

Luann rated it

Shelves: 2008, adult, historical-fiction, classics

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is another classic that I've always heard about, but never read - until now! And it's another one that I wish I had read sooner! If someone told me that this was an autobiography, I would believe it. It was extremely believable and well-written. Betty Smith completely drew me into Francie Nolan's world. I feel like I was there and lived that life with her - which is amazing because my life and experiences are very different from Francie's world as a poor young girl ...more

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Apr 27, 2008

Jason rated it

a combination of charlotte bronte, charles dickens, and theodore dreiser...or any one of the american realists...
suffers a bit from the pauper syndrome, for some reason this affliction only effected books written from say 1800 to 1940...
also a variation on the ordeal novel...(see comments on dave egger's 'what is the what')...
around 200 pages in and francie is more of a figure of pain and sorrow than a character i feel i really know...she feels like a mop that smith is using to...more

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Dec 25, 2011

El rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: early20th-centurylit, i-hate-ya, peer-pressure

I felt like the last person in the world to have read this book, and based on what everyone has said about it over the years, I expected this to be the next best thing after the Crispy Potato Soft Taco at Taco Bell. But as I read the first 200 pages, I thought everyone was out of their freaking minds. This, I thought, is what everyone has been raving about for as long as I can remember? I even did a quick peek at my GR friends list - you people love this book. I couldn't figure out why.
...more

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Mar 20, 2008

Beth rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I think my mom once said that this was her favorite book, and yet somehow I hadn’t read it until now. In my early teens, I remember coming across a paperback edition that had been lying around the house … and not making it past the first couple pages. The writing was way over my head (which had been addled by too much fluff reading of Baby-sitters Club, probably).

It’s probably for the best, though, for while this book centers around the young girl Francie Nolan, this coming-of-age ...moreI think my mom once said that this was her favorite book, and yet somehow I hadn’t read it until now. In my early teens, I remember coming across a paperback edition that had been lying around the house … and not making it past the first couple pages. The writing was way over my head (which had been addled by too much fluff reading of Baby-sitters Club, probably).

It’s probably for the best, though, for while this book centers around the young girl Francie Nolan, this coming-of-age story is appropriately shelved in the adult section — for some language (I really am such a prude when it comes to cursing, but while this book had it sprinkled liberally throughout, I didn’t find that it bothered me much — the writing was that good) and certainly for “thematic elements.”

So. What is this book about? I couldn’t begin to summarize. The storyline is hardly even a cohesive story at all — not with a formulaic introduction-conflict-resolution, anyway. It’s more a series of varied vignettes, ranging from humorous to harrowing, wise to whimsical. It seemed like in every one of the fifty-some chapters, I’d find some paragraph that spoke to my soul. When I’d (finally) close the book for the day, I’d sigh contentedly, as though reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was like the pickle Francie enjoyed on page 45: “She didn’t exactly eat it. She just had it.” Yes, that was kind of like my reading — I didn’t exactly read it; I just absorbed it.

Okay, so really: what is this book about? Well, it’s about a family in Brooklyn in the early twentieth century, trying to make ends meet in impoverished conditions — and trying to be happy in spite of their circumstances. The characters were very likable (which, for me, often translates to good, morally sound people — basically true in this case, despite some questionable habits) and yet simultaneously very real. They struggle throughout almost the entire course of the book, scraping up a penny or two for a tin-can bank — the hope for a better future for the children Francie and Neeley — while going hungry and cold in the meantime.

Yet somehow, though they are destitute, you can’t but help feel these Nolans (and Rommelys — the mother’s family) are rich in the things that matter: in moral courage and in their relationships with one another … and, yes, in happiness. Francie wisely reflects on page 457:

“People always think that happiness is a faraway thing … something complicated and hard to get. Yet, what little things can make it up.”

It’s all the little, uncomplicated things of this story that make it a happy one — a book worth reading … and one that will stay with me for some time, I’m sure.(less)

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Jan 01, 2009

Sarah rated it

Shelves: classics, favorites, young-adult

The last book I read in 2008, and what a book! The prose is heartbreakingly beautiful, and the story is very sad -- but still hopeful and uplifting. There is a nice mixture of humor and love as well and it made me nostalgic for a time and place I've never experienced. I can't think of a coming of age book that has touched me this much, I seriously burst into tears three or four times while reading it. I wonder if I would have felt differently if I'd read it in school, or when I was the same age ...more

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Dec 10, 2008

Linda rated it

I ended up loving this story. I have to admit, it was a bit slow getting into the book, but as I got to know the characters they grew on me and I became more and more interested in their lives. I cared what happened to them! Francie is one of the great (young) women in literature. All the women in this book are strong, but she shines. The men, although endearing in some cases, seem to falter and fall short of their potential(s).

So what happens in the book? Just life. If you'r...more

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May 25, 2008

Ebookwormy rated it

Shelves: carp-500, 1-character-forming

This is one of those books I wasn't sure I would like until I got all the way to the end. I came to love Francie Nolan early in the story and wanted so much for her to fulfill the promise to BE the heroine; which she does. That alone makes this a book to read and re-read. Francie's parents, Katie and Johnny Nolan are captivating and complex in that they each contain admirable traits as well as crippling faults.

Initial exposure to the crushing poverty in which Francie lives is disturb...moreThis is one of those books I wasn't sure I would like until I got all the way to the end. I came to love Francie Nolan early in the story and wanted so much for her to fulfill the promise to BE the heroine; which she does. That alone makes this a book to read and re-read. Francie's parents, Katie and Johnny Nolan are captivating and complex in that they each contain admirable traits as well as crippling faults.

Initial exposure to the crushing poverty in which Francie lives is disturbing, and generally created a feeling of gratitute in me -- both for myself and that we have the ability to provide food for our children. This book is rich in wisdom. Themes of the importance of family and loving imperfect people abound, as well as struggling with discrimination, loneliness and fairness. Perception is examined effectively in the context of complex relationships. Overcoming poverty is, of course, a theme; some do it through education, some through marriage, all through hard work and perseverence, and some never do.

Some of Francie's observations and conclusions are not wise, particularly in her younger years, but she always manages to right the ship before it tips.

The last section, as Francie matures to young adulthood, was a bit weaker in comparison, but by that time, I was already hooked. Weaker how? While the storyline remains strong, the characters seem to lack the depth of those developed in previous sections. It's not a fatal flaw, but it was a bit disappointing. This also contributes to a feeling that the ending is a bit contrived (partly because it ends positively). I wish the characters of the final section were a bit more developed, particularly the strong male characters that emerge, as this would have made it even more powerful.

This book has a distinctly feminine touch as the entire narrative explores interwoven relationships among Francie's family and the neighborhood. This approach creates a masterful work that may not be as interesting to male readers. I can picture this as a great discussion book for mothers and (adolescent) daughters.(less)

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Sep 17, 2008

Kelley rated it

Recommends it for: girls 15 plus

Warning, contains spoilers.

My Dad's birthday is March 17. Once again, I found myself drawn to listening to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn again just before his birthday. It seems to be an emotional habit. Once again I am joined to my fictional kindred Francie Nolan. I am not like her in every way, but the parallels continue to astonish me. How did Betty Smith know?

Francie and Kelley:
Irish Catholic charming musical handsome daddy
Alcoholic daddy— mine had ...more

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Mar 02, 2008

Alison rated it

Recommends it for: book lovers, adolescent girls, anyone who feels defeated

Shelves: rgbookclub

I didn't think I was going to like this book. Not before I read it, but as I was reading it. Although the story was interesting and somewhat engaging, I thought the writing was a little one-dimensional, and honestly, a little flat. Some of the characters seemed to fit too neatly into their little boxes...the prim piano teacher, the penny-pinching butchers and shop-keepers, the tough but kind cops.

But, then as I got toward the end, and Francie began to work a real job and help sup...more

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Feb 01, 2008

Dana rated it

Shelves: to-re-read

I remembering reading this book in--it was probably the fifth grade-- for Book-It, a program that encouraged reading in elementary schools by rewarding kids with Pizza Hut pan pizza. I was a fat kid and, like most kids, fat or otherwise, I liked pizza (it just so happened I could typically down a few more slices then the average adolescent). Thus, the affair with books and compulsion to collect as many stars on my Book-it pin as possible began.

I remember this book in particular a...more

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Oct 23, 2009

Susie rated it

· review of another edition

i really loved this book; it reminded me of a Frank Capra movie. it seemed like an impossibly crisp recording of how things were in the early 1900s re: american poverty and bigoted social structures especially. Like a Frank Capra movie, though, the story is woven with an underlying optimism despite some of its dark themes. I felt like I had a better understanding of this time period and history of Brooklyn from reading this book, but also: can you imagine a time when people sang so frequently, a...more

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Oct 19, 2010

Henry rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: classic

Exquisite story, rich and well developed characters, wonderfully defined settings that seemed like a painting. This is a wonderful novel that tells the story of Francine Nolan and her family as it was in 1916. The story lasts until Francine is 17 and describes growing up in Brooklyn during the great depression. Although this should have been painful to describe, the author almost reminisces almost pleasantly about collecting aluminum foil for the junk man and having only bread and hot coffee for...more

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May 21, 2011

Ro Givens rated it

Usually I find books or movies that merely portray a slice of life to be boring. I expect a little more (heartwarmth, love, interesting characters or etc.) from my entertainment. So I went back and forth between wondering the point of describing a weeks worth of bread meals and loving this book. Then I realized what "extra thing" this book has, it's truth. There is so much truth to this book. Some parts are dull and some parts are deep, and I think everyone can relate to the needs...more

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Apr 09, 2008

Jennifer rated it

Recommends it for: anyone

This book was beautifully written. It was uplifting and entertaining. It was also deep and made me think a lot. The main character, Francie, was an extraordinary young girl but also believable. I really enjoyed this book.

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Apr 05, 2011

Haileigh rated it

I really liked this book, it was full of love, betrayal, sadness, hope and determination. The book is about a young girl named Francie Nolan who grows up in a poor section of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She is raised by her hardworking mother, Katie who favors her son, Neely more than her first born, Francie. Her father is a charming, young fellow who tends to drink a little more than he should. Francie's family and friends are wonderful characters who make this book even more interesting. Francie i...more

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Sep 01, 2011

King Dinösaur rated it

Shelves: classic, fiction

This is not the book I thought it was going to be.

When I picked up "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" I was expecting something...oh, I don't know...nice, I guess. Old-fashioned. Quaint.

But what I actually got was something much more real, raw and honest. Betty Smith was definitely a woman ahead of her time. Or maybe of her time. She had a clear perception of the things going on around her and wrote about them with an unflinching eye. Poverty, violence, alcoholi...more

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Mar 14, 2011

Christina rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 16, 2009

kailin rated it

I started out loving this book, and I do believe it deserves 4 stars. The protagonist, Francie, is spunky and precocious and seeing Brooklyn through her eyes gave me a new perspective of a city that I heretofore (is that a word?) thought of as, well, kind of dirty. The writing is pretty impressive and there are sentences and passages your pen screams to underline every few pages.

"Dear God, let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be happy; let me be s...moreI started out loving this book, and I do believe it deserves 4 stars. The protagonist, Francie, is spunky and precocious and seeing Brooklyn through her eyes gave me a new perspective of a city that I heretofore (is that a word?) thought of as, well, kind of dirty. The writing is pretty impressive and there are sentences and passages your pen screams to underline every few pages.

"Dear God, let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be happy; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well-dressed. Let me be sincere- be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost."

The true antagonist of the novel is poverty, but by the end of the novel, it doesn't seem so antagonistic at all. Smith finds something amazing, dynamic, inspiring, quirky, or heart-wrenching in the smallest details in the landscape of her life. The characters are thought-provoking--sometimes they seem like caricatures, embodying some stereotype of an "immigrant" or a "single mother" or someone "poor." Other times Smith seems like a master of nuance, drawing humans as they really are: complex and mysterious, each a universe unto him/herself.

The missing star is for the end, which felt rushed to me, unlike the first 3/4 of the novel. It felt "wrapped up", but I'm not sure if this is a fair assessment or not because sometimes when I read something very fast I get this feeling and then realize later that it was my pace, not the author's, that cast a shadow on the ending for me.

Either way, the voice of this novel is so distinct it's a pleasure to read. You could take a snippet from it and hold it up against 15 other books and I would know which it was. I love author's with really distinct voices--some of my students have developed them already. Maybe one of them is a little Francie...waiting to one day write a book like this. (less)

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Sep 21, 2008

Amory rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 28, 2008

Becky rated it

Recommends it for: kids and teens ages 10-17

Shelves: children-and-ya

I recently read this book for my monthly book group, after a lifetime of hearing the book referred to.

Overall, I liked it. It strikes me as being a very "old-fashioned" book, and I can't quite put my finger on why/how. It's not like reading Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle, which sounds fresh and even contemporary, even though it's an older book. Tree seems entrenched in its time period, it seems like more of a historical artifact than a true "novel" with a plot...moreI recently read this book for my monthly book group, after a lifetime of hearing the book referred to.

Overall, I liked it. It strikes me as being a very "old-fashioned" book, and I can't quite put my finger on why/how. It's not like reading Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle, which sounds fresh and even contemporary, even though it's an older book. Tree seems entrenched in its time period, it seems like more of a historical artifact than a true "novel" with a plot and characters that I cared about.

That having been said, I also have to flip-flop and say that I really liked the fact that the "plot," such as it was, was simply day-to-day events in Francie's life. Nothing terribly extraordinary happens in the course of the book, and I am absolutely the first person to cheer about art being fashioned from mundance occurrences. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn does this very well, in a way that put me in mind of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books.

However, what this book really reminded me of was Margaret Sidney's Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, a guilty pleasure of mine. The Pepper family is extremely poor, as is Francie's family, and they work themselves up into a jubilant, hang-wringing frenzy over such little things as having some raisins to bake into their muffins. While I didn't find Francie and the Nolans to be as over-the-top ridiculous as the Peppers, Francie's wide-eyed, innocent view of the world definitely put me in mind of the perpetually agog Peppers.

That having been said, I also have to say I liked the childlike, naive tone and was glad it carried through the entire book. Francie is unintentionally humorous and startlingly wise by turns -- that's just as it should be.

So I am really of two minds about this book. I did like it and enjoy it. I think that if I'd read it as a child or a teenager, I would have liked it even more. But I have to admit, I don't understand why there's so much buzz about this book (I've been hearing the title tossed around all my life), why it endures. I liked it, but I didn't love it. Your mileage may vary!(less)

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Jan 31, 2009

Tyler rated it

Francie Nolan and her younger brother are growing up very poor in Brooklyn at the beginning of the 20th century. Their father is a friendly singing drunk and their mother is a beautiful realist. The children often know what it is like to go to bed hungry and collect scrap metal and junk for pennies. Their parents had very little education, but their mother has her mind set that her children will graduate from high school. On the recommendation of her mother (the children's grandmother) they read...more

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Jul 08, 2008

Kathy Kubik rated it

OPENING LINE: "Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York."

I found a beautiful hardcover first printing of this book in a used bookstore in South Haven, Michigan. I remember that my writing mentor, Carol said this was a favorite book of hers, and I had wanted to read it since. I am almost done with this book, I love it. The opening introduces the most important symbol in the book, which is the tree referred to in the title. I believe the tree represents hope.
...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Classics for Begi...: * A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith	90	170	Feb 09, 2012 07:31pm
Chicks On Lit: * CC- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn	59	69	Feb 09, 2012 10:39am
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn	34	138	Jan 30, 2012 06:19pm
Worth visiting again	31	173	Jan 12, 2012 07:11am
Book Friends: Discussion Questions SPOILERS	1	1	Aug 09, 2011 08:02am
Book Friends: General Discussion	1	1	Aug 09, 2011 08:00am
Kris Kringle and Lies	5	90	Jun 28, 2011 10:27am

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About Betty Smith

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Betty Smith (AKA Sophina Elisabeth Wehner): Born- December 15, 1896; Died- January 17, 1972

Born in Brooklyn, New York to German immigrants, she grew up poor in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. These experiences served as the framework to her first novel, A T...more

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“The world was hers for the reading.” — 1,296 people liked it

“Dear God," she prayed, "let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me be sincere - be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.” — 503 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14891.A_Tree_Grows_in_Brooklyn?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327883484m/14891.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14891.A_Tree_Grows_in_Brooklyn?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith[/url]

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

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