Rating: 
Summary: One of the Most Beautiful Books I've Ever Read
Review: While many novels offer an escape through some fantastical storyline set in a faraway place, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is the kind of novel that makes you realize the universality of common feelings, frustrations, and hopes--and the role that sorrow and sacrifice play in the development of character. One of my favorite scenes is that of the Charity Party, when Francie is torn between her desperate longing for the doll being offered to any "poor child named Mary" and her resentment towards the manner in which affluent individuals approach giving. The author allows Francie to be a child--she lies in order to receive the charity doll, knowing that on the stage in front of her neighborhood peers she is both pathetic for taking charity as well as envied for owning such a rich toy. However, despite giving in to her desire, Francie is also a spirit beyond her years. She walks home both clutching her doll and cursing the insensitive givers, cyring out that for once, people should give to the poor without having to say, "I am rich and you are poor." Another remarkable aspect of the book, further demonstrating it's stark realism, was the fact that Francie never places moral judgement on her father. If we contrast A Tree Grows in Brooklyn with Angela's Ashes, we see two opposing manners in which families respond to alcolohic fathers. Francie's strength, we may surmise, is most likely a product of her genuine belief that she led a happy childhood with two loving parents that had her best interests in mind. While she may later look back and realize her father's problems robbed her of some opportunity, her sense of security and love for her father would still remain intact, and judging from the role her father played in the household, Francie seemed to need a tender male role model to counter her mother's harsh pragmatism towards her children. We also see this in Francie's reaction to her ignorant writing teacher's claim that Francie's stories were "ugly," as Francie recognized that these tales (which were about her relationship with her father) were important and beautiful enough to be saved.A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a book that provides deep insight as to how individuals can be stronger, wiser, and more grounded. Above all else, it is an essay on love, trust, and suffering as it relates to the character strength humans need to be survivors. It was after reading this book that I realized for the first time in my life that suffering, though difficult to ride through, really is one of the most positive influences an individual can experience.
Rating: 
Summary: An earnest, good book
Review: I read this book three years ago, when I was in fifth grade. It seemed to be the world's best book then. Now a little wiser and wider in my knowledge of literature, I see this book as an earnest, honorable book. One thing I loved about this book was how the perspective of the book grew more mature as Francie grew up. It makes this book a 'happening book', and draws its readers well into the book while reading. Another excellent technique that Smith used in the book is the way she made littel events seem so important and glorious, the way it would seem to a little girl. It is a touching, rich book, full of emotion and feelings.
Rating:
Summary: Through a Child's Eyes
Review: When I was eleven years old I first began reading this wonderful novel. It tells the story of a poor young girl named Francie Nolan who lives in Brooklyn in the earliest years of the Twentieth Century. No work of fiction before or since has to me so captured the wondering observations of a child who lives his life in emotional isolation. The shabby, mean, and colorless streets and tenements of Williamsburg are to Francie a playground of colors, mysteries, and adventures. Francie bears a passionate love for her hopeless, drunken, dreaming father. In contrast, she struggles to love her practical, hardened, and unsentimental mother. This conflict leads to a climax that forces Francie to achieve a balance between the dreams of her father and the practicality of her mother. If you enjoy fiction that allows you to see the world through a child's eyes, this one's for you.
Rating:
Summary: really Good
Review: I like this book, because it tells the truth about the way things are (and were). Francie is a lot like that tree in the book. raised in poor conditions with a dreaming dad and a severe mom, she struggles through the slums and evetually into an early adulthood.
Rating:
Summary: A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN online review
Review: I felt that A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN really expressed the life of a poor, struggling family growing up in the ghettos of Brooklyn. Betty Smith worked hard to enable the readers to understand this young child's perspective of life. The readers were able to focus in on the real problems and hardships that a child faced, when she was poor, and living in an unfair society, with uncaring people. The three children learn to deal with things and take them as they are, although they are having a very troublesome childhood. The novel goes on to tell about the parents, especially the father who seemed lost in the world. The father, spends all of his money buying alcohol, and getting drunk, where as the mother tries to cover up for his behaviors, and tries to make life seem normal. But of course, life isn't normal for this family. An even though the children's schools don't offer much of an education, the children discover how much they want to learn about life, and it's interesting ways. With only their mother to boost their self esteem, the children go on to collage, and the daughter has an editing job, where she earns a large amount of money to keep the family going. I enjoyed this book whole-heartedly and found it to be a suspense-holding novel with very good ideas. The author really made each character different, but loving towards each other. I hope all of the young readers in this world have a chance to read this wonderful novel.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: Betty Smith's clear narrative of her days (as this book was based on her own experiences) a young girl in the Brooklyn slums brought life in the early 20th century to life for me. Her writing is absolutely captivating - it made me angry, sad, light-hearted - and I finished the novel in but two days.
Rating:
Summary: Good beginning O.K middle amazing End!
Review: I LOVED A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN! I am not an adult I am a child of ten. My grandmother said that it was the first adult book that she read so having read the Horse Whisperer and Memoirs of a Geisha I bought the book at a local store started to read it and it was nothing special but when I got to the third chapter it got SO much better. Before I Knew it I had finished it and was sorry that I had.
Rating:
Summary: What a book!
Review: This book is amazing. I truly, totally recommend it. I just finished reading it and I was terribly disappointed when it was over. I didn't want it to end. I rarely enjoy a book as much as I enjoyed this o one. It draws you into the lives of the characters, so you grow to understand and sympathize with them, and care about what happens in their lives. It's one of those books that are the best in the first reading, but still amazing enough to read many times afterwards....
Rating:
Summary: An AMAZING book, the best ever!
Review: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is my favorite book of all time, and even though it is not the "most sophisticated book" that there is (I read it for the 1st time when I was 10) I can read it over and over and NEVER get bored! A 10 STAR RATING IF THERE WAS A CHOICE!
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: This book was totally boring. Even though it was 1 of the greatest books I've read.HAhahahaha
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