Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Brooklyn Rose
Historical Fiction
For ages 12 and up
Harcourt Children's Books, 2003 ISBN: 978-0152051174
Rose can hardly believe that she is actually getting married. It was not long ago that she was present when her older sister said her vows, and Rose felt then that her own marriage surely was many years away. And yet here she is, engaged to a man many years her senior. Furthermore he is a man who works and lives in another part of the country. Rose will have to leave her much loved home in South Carolina and journey to New York City, a place she has never even seen before.
Though she is afraid of what awaits her, Rose is also excited and it must be said that her husband, Rene, is kind, patient, and loving. To her surprise, Rose finds herself falling in love with the man she married, and though she stumbles as she negotiates the grown-up world of the New York matron, she learns how to behave and what to say. Slowly but surely the fifteen year old girl finds her feet and starts to become a woman.
Loosely based on the story of her own grandmother, Ann Rinaldi gives Rose's story a very personal feel by presenting it in a diary format. Rose's voice is funny, touching, and Rinaldi succeeds in making Rose's tone change as she matures and develops.
