Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse

Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse

It's the summer of 1903 in Brooklyn and all fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom wants is to experience the thrill, the grandeur, and the electricity of the new amusement park at Coney Island. But that doesn't seem likely. Ever since his parents--Russian immigrants--invented the stuffed Teddy Bear five months ago, Joseph's life has turned upside down. No longer do the Michtom's gather family and friends around the kitchen table to talk. No longer is Joseph at leisure to play stickball with the guys. Now, Joseph works. And complains. And falls in love. And argues with Mama and Papa. And falls out of love. And hopes. Joseph hopes he'll see Coney Island soon. He hopes that everything will turn right-side up again. He hopes his luck hasn't run out--because you never know.

Through all the warmth, the sadness, the frustration, and the laughter of one big, colorful family, Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse builds a stunning story of the lucky, the unlucky, and those in between, and reminds us that our lives--all our lives--are fragile, precious, and connected.

Brooklyn Bridge is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Karen Hesse is the author of numerous books for children, including the Newbery Medal-winning Out of the Dust, Letters from Rifka, Phoenix Rising, Sable and Lavender. She has won awards such as the Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Prize, the Christopher Award, and the MacArthur Fellowship Genius Award, making her only the second children's book author to earn this accolade. Hesse was born in Baltimore and attended the University of Maryland. Her spouse Randy and she live in Vermont.