A Place for Joey

I've given this book as a gift to many nieces, nephews, and young friends - and they have all loved it! Joey is a character children can "trust" because, like them, he's not perfect. By turns loving, uncertain, disrespectful, heroic, and so on, Joey grows - but not without the growing pains young readers themselves experience. In addition, author Carol Harris neatly disguises lessons about history and tolerance in this novel, so young readers never feel that they are being "preached to." I especially admire Harris' keen ability to understand and relate the nuances of evolving relationships between characters. Make "A Place for Joey" on your bookshelf because it is a tale of Boston, of family, of immigrant experience, and of a local disaster - but mostly because it is a terrific read.

This is a story about immigrants in America told from a kid's point of view. It has great characters and exciting action built around one of the most bizarre disasters in American history: the great Boston molasses flood of 1919!