A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a coming-of-age novel. The novel’s protagonist, a young girl named Francie, lives in a poor family in Brooklyn in the early 20th century. My mother was a cleaner and my father was a singing waiter who did part-time jobs. She should be carefree young mind is forced to face the hardships of life, appreciate the helplessness in the process of growing up: mother favored her brother, father loved her but died young, the family is poor, in the school was despised…… In the face of rough life, she has been depressed, sad, but always maintain the dignity and knowledge to change the fate of the faith. She grew up with reading. Reading made her not sink even when she was in trouble. Finally, another door of life opened for her.

It’s an apocalypse about homeschooling. In the process of growing up, a child will continue to absorb the spiritual inheritance of his parents, and family education will leave a deep imprint on his body.

First of all, Francie’s self-esteem and strength are just like her mother’s. Although Katie was so poor that she considered buying the five-cent dessert that she only ate once on Saturdays, she allowed Frankie to pour the coffee he never drank into the sink, because he only smelled coffee and enjoyed its warmth. Even Cece and Aunt Ivy couldn’t resist telling her off about her waste, but Mother explained, “Francy is allowed a cup of coffee at every meal, just like everyone else. If she thinks it’s better to pour it out than drink it, so be it. …” Katie’s answer really touched me. She is a born educator, and what she really cares about is Francy, so this person’s preferences are particularly important, and material values are not to be taken too seriously, even if the family is extremely poor. Katie’s attitude towards Francy drinking coffee makes Francy feel that “even though she is poorer than all the people in Williamsburg, in a sense, She’s also richer than everyone else.” Like coffee, you drink it; Don’t like the taste of coffee, just the feeling of hot coffee, then smell it and dump it. This family is poor, but really free, parents give children only love, not because of the poor life brought by the narrowness and restraint. In reality, in the name of loving their children, many parents force them to eat food they don’t like and learn specialties they are not interested in. All kinds of imposed and self-righteous behaviors for their children are not worth mentioning in front of this poor cleaning mother. Because true love children, you are always concerned about the children themselves need not need, rather than “you think they need”.

In this family, we don’t hear Mom or Dad say “be thrifty” once, only their daily scrimping and happiness. Not to be enslaved by material things, to live in style and dignity, this is Katie’s attitude to life, but also she gave her daughter the precious wealth. There are many wonderful descriptions of this in the book. When Francy’s father died, Katie was two months away from giving birth, and the family had only three days to live on. How would they survive after that? Katie had to pray for her husband Johnny to appear. Just then, Johnny’s former barkeeper, Mike Garrity, who had missed Johnny coming to Katie’s house, offered to hire the boys to make the beds and wash the dishes, and on his way out gave Kitty two dollars, claiming it was Johnny’s tip. The two dollars would keep Katie’s family going for another three days, but Katie refused to take them because she knew Johnny couldn’t have any money left over with the barkeeper. She was poor and wouldn’t take charity. At that moment, Katie’s strength and backbone in a difficult situation was truly admirable. Her two children, Francy and Nerei, must have learned in their mother’s words and deeds that one can be trapped and impoverished without losing one’s backbone. After losing her husband, Katie’s originally poor family fell into trouble. She became a mother and father, took care of three children, and did the hard work of cleaning. However, she was slim, with smooth skin and neat clothes, which made Francie proud. At the ice cream parlor for Francy and Nerey’s graduation party, when a five-cent tip is required at the checkout, Kitty looks at the four coins she has recovered, thinking they are four loaves of bread, but without hesitation reaches out her hand and “pushes the four coins decisively toward the waiter.” Her behavior was incomprehensible to her sister, for she had no money left in her pocket. But Francie applauded his mom for her simple reason: “We have to feel like millionaires. If you spend 20 cents more, you can buy this feeling of wealth. The price is cheap.” This is Katie, although poor, but big pattern, not because of poverty and lose the joy of life. Because they were poor, they had to eat moldy bread, but Katie was always able to rework it into something wonderful and delicious. No matter what time of day they had a big pot of hot coffee at home to keep everyone warm. Although the family is poor, but there is love, warmth, hope.

Secondly, the reason why Francie has a different fate from other girls from the same family around her is that her mother knew from the moment she was born that the secret to change her fate is to read and write. After Kitty gave birth to Francy, she realized that she and Johnny were poor, and their children would be poor, and she didn’t want her children to grow up to make money only by their strength. She wanted to change the fate of the next generation. Fortunately, Kitty’s mother is a wise old man with insight into the world. She tells Kitty with her own life experience that the secret of changing destiny in the land of freedom in America is to read and write. Because there are people in the book who are beautiful, intelligent and alive. Reading to a child every day will open his eyes to the world, and telling folk stories will cultivate his imagination. The illiterate grandmother used her own experience in life to tell her little girl that when teaching children, it is good to remember that suffering is a good thing, because suffering strengthens people and makes them full of character. Teach your child to believe in heaven, where dreams come true, and that it gives you strength to move forward in a life of suffering. Although my grandmother could not read, she used her rich life experience to provide her daughter with a set of simple and scientific parenting methods, which is really remarkable. Katie followed her mother’s instruction to read a page of the Bible and Shakespeare to her two children every day, and she made it possible to pay for one’s tuition to take piano lessons with them. She understood deeply that money would make life easier, but money alone was not enough. There was something bigger than money, and that was education, which would lift them out of the dirty bottom. It was Katie who tried her best to create conditions for her children to receive education, so that Francie and his brother would not sink even if they were in trouble. They possessed great spiritual wealth despite material poverty. They are like the trees of heaven in the concrete in the residential area, growing toward the sky.

Katie is capable, strong and has a long-term vision, which deeply influences Fransi. She is strong like her mother, which enables her to surmount difficulties, even if she cannot go to high school, she can create conditions to learn college courses by herself, and finally realize the American dream of her family. “There Grows a Tree in Brooklyn” can be said to be a coming-of-age novel of young girl Francie. She grew up reading books, and as long as she opens the book, she has the whole world. Her world was founded by her grandmother and her parents. This is a coming-of-age novel, is also a home education of the apocalypse. If you’re lucky enough to be a parent, but you’re struggling with how to educate your children, read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.