ISBN: 0899663036.
This is �the American masterpiece of a young girl's coming of age and beginnings of wisdom in turn-of-the-century New York� (Ingram). Francie Nolan lives in a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn. We learn about the daily struggles her and her family face being poor, and eventually get to see how their hard work pays off as they rise above the poverty.
The characters in this story are both believable and likeable. Francie�s father is a drunk, but his family loves him, as will readers. Francie is easy to identify with. She often feels lonely and trapped in her life, but is willing to do anything to make something of herself. She voluntarily walks 48 blocks each day so that she can attend a school that�s better than the one in her own neighborhood (Smith 149). Neely is her little brother who frequently gets into fights on the street but bursts into tears when he thinks his sister has been hurt by a child molester (Smith 219). He is an important side character in this novel.
This novel is different from many young adult novels today, in that the parents have an important and featured role in the story, as do other parental figures such as aunt Sissy and Aunt Evy. Katie, Francie�s mother, has one of the most important roles in this story. She is strong and selfless and the more we come to know about Katie, the more we learn about Francie and where she gets her strength from.
The major and the minor characters all show a lot of growth in this story. Francie becomes a responsible adult and comes to understand the decisions her mother has made in her life. Aunt Sissy finally settles down with a husband and raises a family. Katie finally gets to put herself first when she decides to remarry Officer McShane (Smith 402).
Characters are revealed through their speech, the speech of others and their thoughts and actions. The reader has the benefit of an omniscient narrator.
The plot of this novel is extremely complex. There are many side stories and flashbacks. The main conflict in this story is Francie and the Nolan family verses poverty. Just when you think poverty has won, such as when Johnny dies, they manage to rise above their circumstances for awhile longer. A lot of foreshadowing is used. For instance, Johnny doesn�t die until over halfway through the book, but very early on there is a comment that he won�t live past thirty-five years of age (Smith 60).
The setting in this story is priceless. The streets of Brooklyn are so vividly described that readers will feel like they are sitting on the fire escape with Francie back in 1912. If Francie�s family had been in any other city in any other time period, the entire story would be different. Brooklyn serves almost as a character itself.
This story has several main themes including, never give up, hard work pays off, and the strength and unconditional quality of family love. The themes are conveyed through character�s actions towards one another as well as how they react to the unpleasant circumstances that they are faced with. For example, when Johnny dies, his insurance policy was worth $200, which would be a small fortune to the Nolan family. Instead of taking this money, Katie chooses to spend all of it on a funeral for Johnny because she loved him and wants him to have a nice funeral (Smith 242). This decision easily could have forced both Francie and Neely to quit school and go to work, but someone comes through with an after school job for the two children so that they can stay in school and still afford to eat.
The story is told through third person point of view with an omniscient narrator. The tone is pretty serious, but there are lots of mood changes throughout the story. We feel sorrow when Johnny dies, anger when Katie chooses for Neely to continue school instead of Francie, and joy when Aunt Sissy�s baby is born. The language is very descriptive. The neighborhood with Francie's new school is described as "practically open country - a meadow with goldenrod, wild asters and clover..." (Smith 142). The tree referred to in the title is a metaphor for Francie. Both are born into a place that isn�t good enough for them, but they manage to thrive anyway.
I read this book when I was nine years old and fell in love with it. I was surprised to find that when I read it again, it was just as good as I remembered it being. This is an incredible story that will inspire and entertain children for many years to come.
Amazon.com. 1998. Ingram. Available from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/006092988X/104-7775983-8041564?v=glance&s=books#product-details. Accessed 8 September
2004.
