I loved this story. It was wonderful "reconnecting" with Cannie! Normally, I immediately want to share a story like this with all of my friends - however, I thought the jewish theme might not be meaningful to them. I'm wondering if you were concerned writing a story with so much jewish tradition interjected into the plot. Have you had any feedback. Did that line of thought come into play while you were writing the book? I hope you keep writing MANY MANY more stories - I love them all:) Thanks!

Penny,

One of the things I enjoyed most about Certain Girls was the theme of growth and change, maturation, personal responsibility. The framework of Joy's bat mitzvah provides an effective vehicle to explore both her coming of age and her mother's.

Cannie wrote her novel when she was angry and didn't think about the repercussions she might face when her daughter learned about the book. This is so human! I've got a high school reunion coming up this summer and although I won't be attending, the event has prompted a lot of memories that I'd suppressed!

I love learning about cultural practices that I'm not familiar with or sharing different perspectives. I'm always amazed at the similarities.

I hope your friends get a chance to experience Cannie's life!

You know, I think that Jewish readers find the books very familiar, and I think (I hope?) that non-Jews find them, um, delightfully exotic? Kind of like I’m finding Jhumpa Lahiri’s new book?

The thing is, my agent, who isn’t Jewish, is one of my first readers, and anything that isn’t making sense to her through context I’ll change so that she knows what I’m talking about.

I was raised Catholic, and completely loved learning more about the Jewish traditions. When I was in Catholic grade school I totally wanted to be Jewish. I had read a book about a family with five daughters that was all about being Jewish. I drove my parents nuts.

Jo---Were those the "All of a Kind Family" books? I loved those, too! I wasn't raised with any particular religious background, and was so drawn to the Jewish traditions and family in those books! Thanks for reminding me! I'll have to go to the library and reread them!

Carolyn,

That was the name!!! It was driving me nuts. I loved them. I remember so many little bits of that book, like one of the girls losing a library book and using her penny a week allowance to pay it off over time. They were great.

Jo----And when the Mama taught the girls to do a thorough dusting job by hiding the pennies for them to find! There are like four or five of the books. Fun.

I, too, was raised Catholic and attended Catholic schools right up through graduate school and I DO think of the Jewishness in these books as "delightfully exotic." What a great way to describe it!