My Memoir, SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL, Now Available as an AUDIO BOOK!

Ever since I published my memoir, SETTLEMENT HOUSEGIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis,Minnesota, people have been asking if it is available as an audio book. Now it is! When you go to the Amazon page for the audio book you can click to hear a sample of the text—the opening and first chapter. I think you will be surprised by how good it sounds. The narration is by computer generated voice generation. At first, I wasn’t sure that I wanted my book read by a computer, but I am pleased with the result. I had a choice of ten different voices to use as the narrator, and while editing the audio text I was able to correct (most of) the errors in pronunciation. (Names often proved to be difficult.)

I was motivated to turn SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL into an audio book because I discovered that more and more people now prefer audio books. In our busy world, where it is hard to find time to sit down and read a book, an audio book makes it possible to do two things at once—to listen to a book while driving, taking a walk, working in the garden, cooking, etc. Audio books are also ideal for people whose sight is failing and find it difficult to read printed text.

The audio version of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL includes the Preface and the 38 chapters of the book, but does not include the back matter. SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL is illustrated with historical photos, usually one at the beginning of each chapter. The audio narration includes the captions for these photos.

Note: You can also find an audio version of my father's memoir, SHADOWS ON A WALL: Autobiographical Writings of Lester Lewis Scheaffer, on Amazon. See my post on this blog for November 2, 2026.

SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Books Make Perfect Gifts for the Holidays!

Exactly two years ago today, on Dec 1, 2023, I published my memoir SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota, which chronicles my childhood years growing up in the settlement house my father directed and explores the roots of the person I am today.

It imakes a great gift to give during the holidays to friends and family. You can order it on Amazon or you can go to your favorite bookstore, give them the ISBN number ( ISBN 9798864 903285 ) and they can order it for you. And, if you haven’t yet read SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL I encourage you to read it now. 

Happy Reading and Happy Holidays!

"The book captures life in colorful anecdotes, and Arnold draws the intriguing settlement house residents with a loving hand. ... Endnotes provide even more personal insight, all resulting in an enjoyable encapsulation of one family's experiences as the settlement facility transitioned into modernity." BlueInk Review (March 2024)

"Settlement House Girl is a look back at Northeast Minneapolis in the 1950s. Arnold has authored books for children and she writes in a clear, straightforward manner. If you're a collector of Northeast history books, it's a good one to put on your bookshelf." Cynthia Sowden, Northeaster Newspaper, April 3, 2024

"Settlement House Girl is engaging, tracing Arnold's growth from a young girl to an adult journeying into being a writer in her later life, but it's also a valuable contribution to the social history of 20th-century America...The detailed accounts of Arnold's experiences provide a unique glimpse into the fabric of community life during this era, highlighting the interactions and shared experiences that defined the settlement house environment." BookLife (Publishers Weekly) June 7, 2024

More about the book is at my website, www.carolinearnold.com/settlementhousegirl.html 

READERS' COMMENTS ABOUT SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL

Nothing makes an author happier than to hear from readers how much they liked their book. I am gratified by the good response I continue to get from readers of my book SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Some of the comments are from friends and classmates, but many are from people I have never met. Some grew up in Northeast Minneapolis like I did, but many grew up elsewhere but share similar experiences. Here are just a few of the comments:

North East Neighborhood House

Your book allowed me to relive precious moments of my childhood. I loved every word and didn’t want it to end.

Your early life experiences, although unique from the Settlement House aspect, mirror many of our own--a stamp collection, a Schwinn bike, a Brownie camera, June Allyson paper dolls, the corner store for sweet treats and the freedom we had to just hop on our bikes and go anywhere.

I loved all the photos!

Another glowing facet of the book is that her parents' dedication as social workers is beyond admirable.

Throughout the book I was struck by the riches to be discovered in the memories of a modest life.

I learned so much about you—but also about the Settlement House!

I can relate to playing outside until the streetlights came on, shopping at a small neighborhood grocery store, ice skating on an outdoor rink in the park…

As I read, there were many eureka moments…. And of course the skating—all day long—entirely on our own—no parents hovering to make sure we didn’t fall.

For me, Camp Bovey provided father figures, learning to appreciate nature, camping, canoeing, and swimming…

I too am a Hodagger!

The Hodag, mascot of Camp Bovey (formerly Camp Hodag).

BOOK CLUB and WRITING GROUP TALKS: Sharing the Inside Story of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL

In the last several weeks I have had the opportunity to speak about my memoir SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota--to my women’s book discussion group and to a local writing group. It was a chance to share the book and talk about the process I went through in the creation of it, and also to get feedback from the audience. (Most people had read the book in advance.) In both instances I gave the talk on Zoom, which worked well, although I have also done it in person, as I did at the book launch in Minneapolis earlier this spring.

In the course of the talk I discuss why I wrote the book, a little bit about the historical background of settlement houses, my own personal history as a writer, the role of memory and the research process, choices in the presentation of the material, and some of the recurring themes in the book—books and reading, travel and curiosity, my love of arts and crafts, nature, my parents. At the end I always leave time for questions from the audience. I am always impressed by the memories that are sparked after reading my book. While we all have our own unique childhoods, there are many things we share.

To schedule a talk to your book group, writing group, or community organization, please contact me by email. (A link to my email is on the home page of my website www.carolinearnold.com .  SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL is available at Amazon as both a paperback and as a Kindle ebook.

Review of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL in Publishers Weekly July 8 Issue, p. 188

If you subscribe to Publishers Weekly, look in the July 8th issue for an excellent review of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House. It is in the back of the magazine in BookLife, in the memoir section, at the top of page 188. While the review has been available online since the beginning of June, this is the first time it has appeared in print. I'm hoping that this will help spread the word to an even wider audience.

See my post of June 7, for the full review. Here is my favorite paragraph:

"Settlement House Girl is engaging, tracing Arnold’s growth from a young girl to an adult journeying into being a writer in her later life, but it’s also a valuable contribution to the social history of 20th-century America, offering urban history enthusiasts a wealth of information about the daily lives of families living in mid-century cities. The detailed accounts of Arnold's experiences provide a unique glimpse into the fabric of community life during this era, highlighting the interactions and shared experiences that defined the settlement house environment."

Cover of July 8, 2024 Publishers Weekly

The July 8th issue is the Fall 2024 Children's Preview issue of PW, focusing on the new books for children. It is the perfect issue for the review of my memoir, which, although written for adults, shows how children's books and my love of reading provided the background for my future career as a children's book author.

BOOK SIGNING in Minneapolis, April 18th, of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: SAVE THE DATE!

If you will be in Minneapolis on Thursday, April 18th, please join me from 6:30-8:00pm at East Side Neighborhood Services where I will be giving a program and signing my new memoir SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House. 

Find out what it was like to live at a working settlement house in the 1950s. Learn about the early days of Camp Bovey, the ESNS camp founded by my father Les Scheaffer, now celebrating its 75th year. Learn about the roots of my future career as a writer, and how these experiences shaped my view of the world.

Until I was ten I lived with my family at North East Neighborhood House, a settlement house in Northeast Minneapolis, now East Side Neighborhood Services. The 38 chapters of the book range from my first days at the NENH nursery school, to after school clubs and community holiday celebrations at the settlement house, to family and school life. Four of the chapters are about my summers at Camp Bovey and their connection to NENH. Few families lived in settlement houses as ours did. When my family moved out, it was the end of an era.

I hope you will be able to come!

East Side Neighborhood Services

1700 2nd Street NE

Minneapolis, Minnesota 54513

For more information, contact ESNS at 612-781-6011

SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House is available at Amazon or to order at your favorite book store. 

NEW BOOK! SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL, My Memoir About Growing Up in Minneapolis at North East Neighborhood House

Caroline, Age 4, with her parents and brother Steve, on the steps of North East Neighborhood House

A book project long in the making is a memoir of my childhood years in Minneapolis, Settlement HouseGirl: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota. It focuses on the time our family lived at the settlement house that my father directed, as well as its influence on my life even after we moved to our own house in South Minneapolis. My original intention in writing the book was to explore the mid-20th century history of NENH and its role in the community at a time when settlement houses like it were in transition to today’s social service centers. But as I wrote down my memories and researched letters and documents, I realized that it was really a story about me and my family set in the context of a functioning settlement house and the surrounding neighborhood. The book ends in the summer of 1966, after I have graduated from Grinnell College, and the Scheaffer family heads to California. You can find the book on Amazon but you have to search for Caroline Scheaffer Arnold (which Google keeps trying to misspell!)

Settlement House Girl chronicles my childhood at North East Neighborhood House in Northeast Minneapolis, Minnesota, as I interacted and shared meals with other settlement house residents, participated in clubs, sports and community activities, and observed the roles of the staff and my social worker parents. It is an inside view of a working settlement house in the 1950s. The 38 chapters of the book range from my first days at the NENH nursery school, to after-school clubs and community holiday celebrations at the settlement, family and school life, and summers at Camp Bovey, the NENH camp in Wisconsin.

North East Neighborhood House, 1929 2nd Street NE. Our apartment was on the third floor.

North East Neighborhood House, founded in 1915, was part of the settlement house movement that began in England in 1884 and was brought to the US by people like Jane Addams at Hull House, in Chicago. Settlement houses, often called neighborhood houses, provided social services in immigrant and poor urban neighborhoods. NENH was supported by charitable donations and by the Community Chest (United Fund.)  Activities were led by volunteers who came from other parts of the city and by staff members who lived at the settlement house.

My father, Les Scheaffer, was the NENH director from 1948 to 1966. Few families lived in settlement houses as ours did and we were one of the last. By the 1950s, the tradition of social workers living in settlement houses was coming to an end. When my family moved out, it was the end of an era.

The stories in this book will spark memories in adults who grew up in the same time period, whether in Minneapolis or elsewhere. Librarians and teachers who know my books for children will find clues to my future life as a writer and illustrator. This book is about the role of settlement houses in urban neighborhoods at mid-century. It is a window onto a time when settlement houses were in transition from their roots in immigrant communities at the turn of the 20th century to becoming today’s modern social service agencies. What began as Northeast Neighborhood House more than 100 years ago, continues as East Side Neighborhood Services and it is still serving the needs of people in Northeast and East Minneapolis. My childhood at North East Neighborhood House provides a unique perspective on the role it has played in our social history.