FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR, COMBINED BOOK EXHIBIT: Look for SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL

The Frankfurt Book Fair, in Frankfurt, Germany, October 15-19, is the world’s largest book fair. You can find my memoir SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at Northeast Neighborhood House in the Combined Book Exhibit which features independently published books.

 You can find both the paperback and ebook of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL in the Combined Book Exhibit booth, Halle 6.0/D33. For an ebook preview of the first chapter of the book click on the link on the Combined Book Exhibit webpage for the book.

Book Description

A chronicle of children's book author Caroline Arnold's childhood living at a settlement house--from nursery school and after school clubs to summers at camp. A window into life at mid-century and Caroline's future as a writer and illustrator.

Book Review 

"The narrative presents a wealth of historical information as well as an insider's view of an uncommon subject matter." BookLife Prize review

SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL is available at Amazon. For more about the book go to my website.

 

TOOTLE—Learning to STAY ON THE TRACKS, NO MATTER WHAT! Memories of Childhood

TOOTLE was a favorite Golden Book of my childhood. Tootle is a baby train, who along with other young train engines goes to train school to learn skills such as pulling the dining car without spilling the soup, and, most importantly, to STAY ON THE TRACKS NO MATTER WHAT—even when playing in the meadow is more fun.

A week ago, I was at a street fair in Pennsylvania that featured vintage wares, and one of the booths had a box of old children’s books. And what should I see at the front of the pile—a copy of TOOTLE! Of course, I bought it.

Listening to TOOTLE being read by Fran Guzie at NENH, 1950.

TOOTLE brings back memories of my life at North East Neighborhood House in Minneapolis where I lived with my family until I was ten years old. From the windows of our apartment on the third floor we saw freight trains huffing and puffing along the tracks across the street on the other side of Bottineau Park. In my memoir SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950sat North East Neighborhood House I write about my brother Steve’s fascination with trains and our exciting train trip across the river to St. Paul.

Steve’s favorite book was TOOTLE. In the photo at the beginning of my chapter about the train trip you can see Steve and a neighbor child listening raptly to Fran Guzie (one of the NENH residents) reading TOOTLE. (I appear to be engrossed in another book and only half listening. Perhaps, I had heard the story of Tootle too many times before.)

In any case, I was delighted to find TOOTLE once again and its reminder of the importance of STAYING ON THE TRACKS NO MATTER WHAT.

TOOTLE is written by Gertrude Crampton and illustrated by Tibor Gergely. It was first published in 1946 by Western Publishing Company. The copy I found at the street fair was the 24^th printing in 1969. The book is still available on Amazon.

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).

WHAT ABOUT BACK MATTER? HOW MUCH TO INCLUDE: A Look at the Back Matter in SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL

I love back matter. At my recent children’s nonfiction picture book group meeting we discussed how back matter is used to expand the main text—from author’s notes, time lines, vocabulary lists, websites, further reading, and more. In some books the back matter was clearly for a parent, teacher or older reader, whereas in others it was at the same level as the main text. Each book we discussed had its own approach.

In my own books for children I have always liked to include back matter and my memoir, SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL (for adults), is no exception. In fact, one quarter of the 200 pages of the book is back matter. The main text of the book is written in first person present tense and meant to be read as a story. The back matter (written in past tense) is intended to fill in the names, context, and other historical details that are relevant but would slow down the pace of the story. When the two are read together it creates a richer narrative.

Author’s Note

The back matter of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL begins with an author’s note in which I explain the roots of the story, how it grew out of a children’s book called CHILDREN OF THE SETTLEMENT HOUSES (Carolrhoda Books, 1998), about early settlement houses and their impact on children in immigrant communities. My memoir is “a story about me and my family set in the context of a functioning settlement house” and “a window on childhood and social customs of the 1950s.” In the author’s note I am explaining myself to you, the reader.

End Notes

The next section of the back matter is End Notes, a chapter by chapter listing of pertinent facts and other relevant material. In an early version of my manuscript these were footnotes, but I found them cumbersome and decided to move them to the back of the book. A major resource for the book was a collection of letters written by my parents and other documents they had saved. The end notes were my solution for including this source material in the book.

Appendix

The appendix is my catch-all for things I want to share with the reader but don’t fit in the main part of the book. To begin with I felt it was important to include the history of North East Neighborhood House. When I found a newspaper article that described all the activities at the settlement house at the time I lived there, I wanted to include it too. My short story, Growing Up, written when I was in high school, provides insight into my life at home with my brothers. And the final section, The Beginnings of Camp Bovey, written by my father, I felt was important to include as background for the four chapters in the book about my years at Camp Bovey.

About the Author

The final item of the back matter is a short biographical paragraph, About the Author. I also included a photo of myself as I look today—in contrast to the historical photos in the book. (As a reader I am always curious to see what authors look like.) I did not create an index for this book. The dedication and photo credits are at the front of the book along with a Table of Contents.

Whether you are writing a children’s nonfiction book or a nonfiction book for adults, the inclusion of back matter increases its value for the reader. How much or how little to include depends on your subject, your preferences, and the number of pages you have available.

North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, MN.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025 from CAROLINE ARNOLD ART AND BOOKS

Caroline, ice skating at Bottineau Park, Northeast Minneapolis, 1950.

"By New Year’s Day, the pine needles of the Christmas tree are dry and brittle. It is time to take the tree down. After the lights and ornaments are removed and boxed for next year, we take the tree outside to the roof deck, propping it up in the snow. Decorated with strings of bread cubes and cranberries, it is ready for the birds to enjoy. With the excitement of Christmas over, it is now time to write thank-you notes and to enjoy skating at Bottineau Park, sledding at the Columbia Park golf course, and other winter activities."

From Chapter 7: Family Christmas at NENH, SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I have fond memories of celebrating the holidays when I was a child in Minneapolis. Now, many years later, from my home in California, I send best wishes to you and all my faithful readers.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025

 

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from CAROLINE ARNOLD ART AND BOOKS

Scheaffer family Christmas in apartment at NENH, 1950.

"On Christmas Eve, after my brothers and I are asleep, my parents arrange “Santa’s” gifts under the tree. On Christmas morning, after everyone is awake, my father turns on the tree lights and gives the signal to enter. We rush in, each going straight to our own pile. Santa’s gifts are unwrapped and it is obvious who they are for—a doll for me, a train for Steve, stacking blocks for Peter, a stuffed toy for Tom."  

From Chapter 7: Family Christmas at NENH, SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

 I have fond memories of celebrating Christmas when I was a child growing up in Minneapolis. Now, many years later, from my home in California, I send best wishes to you and all my faithful readers.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

2024

 

 

WHY DID I SELF-PUBLISH MY BOOK? The story behind publishing SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL

Caroline Arnold and Settlement House Girl

Why did I self-publish SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL? I tried to find a traditional publisher for it but was unsuccessful. I became discouraged when my agent told me that publishers are most interested in memoirs of famous people. (Although I am known by teachers and children's librarians for my 170 books for children, that's apparently not famous enough.) So I decided to do it myself.

I already had experience republishing some of my out of print children's books on Amazon and I had helped a friend self-publish her memoir. So I knew how to format and upload a manuscript for a book. The advantage of Amazon is that there is no cost to publish, but you have to do all the work yourself. Alternatively, there are lots of companies that will help you publish your book for a price. 

I am happy with the print and paper quality of my books on Amazon. The books are print on demand. (If you order a copy of my book you will see for yourself.) I chose a standard size for the pages, which means that the book can be ordered by bookstores through Ingram and sold for a profit like any other book. Most bookstores won't carry my book on the shelves, but customers can order it and the store can get it within a few days. I can also order books from Amazon at a discount and sell them myself. Some independent bookstores will take books on consignment.

However, what I've learned is that writing and publishing the book is the easy part. The hard part is promotion--getting the book known. I am realizing that I never really appreciated what my publishers do to promote my children's books. It is important to get the book reviewed. I have paid for reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and BlueInk Review (recommended by BookList.) Customer reviews on Amazon and on Goodreads also help. It is also important to get the book into libraries. Although libraries don't normally buy self-published books, they will consider them, especially if there is a personal connection with the author or the subject matter. So, little by little, one library at a time, I am getting my book into libraries across the country. 

More and more authors are self-publishing these days and it no longer has the stigma it once did. (The book must still read and look professional in every way.) The competition for getting a book accepted by an established publisher is getting tougher and tougher. Sometimes self-publishing is the best alternative. For one thing, it puts you in control of the finished product. And, if you are using a print-on-demand service like I do, the book will never go out of print!

·         SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota

·         By Caroline Scheaffer Arnold

·         Independently Published (Amazon; available at Ingram)

·         Published December 1, 2023

·         Paperback, 207 pages

·         Illustrated with black and white historic photos

·         $14.99

ISBN 97998864903285

SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL in the Grinnell Magazine

I am pleased to have my book SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota, included in the Authors and Artists section (p. 28) of the Summer 2024 issue of the Grinnell Magazine. I was in the Grinnell College Class of 1966. I am glad to have the news of my book shared with other alums. 

Arnold's book "chronicles my childhood 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. Few other families lived at a settlement house as ours did. The book ends with my graduation from Grinnell." Settlement House Girl captures a time when settlement houses were in transition from their root in immigrant communities at the turn of the 20th century to becoming today's modern social service agencies.

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.

TOOT YOUR HORN! for SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL in SCBWI's Kite Tales

In the June 12, 2024 post in the Toot Your Horn section of the Kite Tales blog, is the announcement of my new memoir, SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota, along with new books by seven other SCBWI members. Hurray! I have been a member of SCBWI since 1977. Kite Tales is the newsletter and blog of the Los Angeles, Southern California, and Central California branches. I'm proud to share the news of my book

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.

BookLife (PW) Review of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: "Touching, informative account"

The BookLife review of my memoir, SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota, has just come in and is everything I hoped for—selected details illustrating the scope and focus of the book, an overview of its place in history, and the recognition that the book is more than just a family document, that it has a wider audience. The reviewer writes:  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 full review is below. BookLife is the review service of Publishers Weekly. The review of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL is now available online. It will also be included in the print copy of the July 8, 2024 issue of Publishers Weekly. If you subscribe, be sure to look for it.

Many thanks to the BookLife reviewer for the perceptive comments about my book. I hope that they will help SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL reach a wider audience.

Arnold tells the compelling story of a 1950s childhood spent in the North East Neighborhood House (NENH) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Offering vital services like “child care, job training, medical and dental care,” and classes in English and citizenship, settlement houses, Arnold notes, emerged during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to help recent immigrants transition to American life. Arnold’s social-worker family moved to the NENH in 1948 when her father became its director. Through vivid recollections and much clarifying historical context, the author paints a picture of life among a diverse community. Her memories range from being a flower girl at a neighbor’s wedding, taking her first train ride, making prank phone calls with friends, to first trying that “exotic foreign food,” pizza.

Arnold’s detailed descriptions of NENH life include charming anecdotes, such as going skating with friends in winter, only to later realize that the sweet liquid given to them by a friend’s grandmother to keep them warm was actually brandy. Arnold also pens a touching paean to her stamp collection, and she fondly recalls her summers at Camp Bovey—a northern Wisconsin escape for NENH children—where she progressed from camper to kitchen aide, crafts counselor, and finally cabin counselor. Moreover, her transition from living in a settlement house to moving to her family’s own house offers insight into how challenging it is for children to uproot themselves from a community and start again.

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.

Takeaway: Touching, informative account of life in a Minneapolis settlement house in the 1950s.

Comparable Titles: Ellen Snyder-Grenier's The House on Henry Street, Jane Addams’s Twenty Years at Hull House.

Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-

[Note: North East Neighborhood House (NENH) became East Side Neighborhood Services (ESNS) in 1963.]

BOOK SALES BENEFIT CAMP BOVEY, Article in the Northeaster Newspaper

Many thanks to reporter Alex Schlee for his excellent article in the May 3rd issue of the Northeaster Newspaper in Minneapolis about my book signing event on April 18th at East Side Neighborhood Services. (See my post of April 29th on this blog for my report of the event.)  Alex's article begins:

Of all the things Caroline Scheaffer Arnold remembers from her youth living at the Northeast Neighborhood house, the recreation programs offered there stand out the most. Among the memories of her childhood, those of Camp Bovey shine particularly bright. The settlement house’s summer campground in northern Wisconsin occupies a joyful place in her mind as well as in several chapters of her recently published memoir, “Settlement House Girl” (featured in the April 3 edition of The Northeaster). 

Camp Bovey is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, coinciding neatly with the release of Arnold’s book in December last year. Though “Settlement House Girl” doesn’t predominantly focus on Camp Bovey, Arnold still regaled fans with tales from her time there at a book signing and celebration of the camp at East Side Neighborhood Services (ESNS) on the evening of April 18. 

For the rest of the article click HERE. As Alex points out, celebration of Camp Bovey's 75th year continues, including an outdoor dance party at ESNS called "Beats for Bovey" scheduled for June 15th. Check the ESNS/Camp Bovey website for updates and more information.

Settlement House Girl is available online at Amazon, or you can buy copies of the book at Eat My Words bookstore on 13th Street in Northeast Minneapolis.

Signing books at ESNS. Photo by Alex Schlee, Northeaster Newspaper

BOOK REVIEW of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL in BlueInk Review

With thanks to BlueInk Review for the very nice review of my memoir SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL. (Reviewed in March 2024). 

From 1948 to 1966, Caroline Scheaffer Arnold's father served as director of the North East Neighborhood House (NENH), a settlement house offering a social center for students and the surrounding community. Here, Arnold recalls those years, encompassing the students, employees, and her friends, while also exploring NENH’s impact on her adult life. 

Arnold’s family lived in an apartment on the top floor of the NENH bordered by a long hallway. Across the hall was a kitchen, a community dining room where all residents and staff ate family style, and a resident living room. The lower floors housed dormitories for staff and other occupants (typically students from the nearby university), an auditorium, gym, and offices. NENH also served as a community hotspot hosting sports, clubs, and social resources. 

Pulled from her remarkable memory but supplemented by research, the book captures the unique settlement house lifestyle. Arnold recounts, with a dramatized but endearing voice, moments of heartwarming tenderness: a wedding where everyone chipped in, collecting popsicle wrappers to earn gifts for loved ones; her father's attempt to invest in stamps, only to wind up gifting her pages of below-value stamps and a note "hope your envelopes are large enough," and summers spent at NENH's project Camp Bovey. 

The book is episodic with each section acting almost like a short story, anchored by a clear emotional core. One of the more touching recollections is when Arnold returns home as an adult after her father's passing to discover letters and memos showcasing the joy he had running NENH and founding Camp Bovey, which became a beloved institution. The book captures life in colorful anecdotes, and Arnold draws the intriguing settlement house residents with a loving hand. 

Part memoir and part time capsule, the author's recollections are supplemented by photographs, letters, journal entries, and newspaper clippings. Endnotes provide even more personal insight, all resulting in an enjoyable encapsulation of one family's experiences as the settlement facility transitioned into modernity. 

Highly recommended for fans of Jennifer Worth's Call the Midwife trilogy.

Settlement House Girl: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota

By Caroline Scheaffer Arnold

Caroline Arnold, 208 pages, (paperback) $14.99, 9798864903285

BOOK REVIEW of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL in the Northeaster, Minneapolis, MN

I thank Cynthia Sowden, editor at the Northeaster newspaper in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for her nice review of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota and for publicizing my book signing April 18th at East Side Neighborhood Services. 

After highlighting major elements of the book, she writes: “Settlement House Girl” is an easy read. 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.

You can read the whole article HERE.

WHAT IS A SETTLEMENT HOUSE? WHERE DID THE NAME COME FROM?

North East Neighborhood House, settlement house in Minneapolis, MN, founded in 1915.

Whenever I tell people that I grew up in a settlement house, the first question is, “But what is a settlement house? Why are they called settlement houses?”

I try to explain in the introduction to my book SettlementHouse Girl, without going deeply into the history of the settlement house movement. But here, I think, is a better answer.

The following is from the introduction of an article about the history of the National Federation of Settlements by John E. Hansan, Ph.D.:

In 1886, Stanton Coit founded America’s first settlement house, the Neighborhood Guild (later renamed University Settlement) on New York City’s Lower East Side. Over the next 15 years, settlement houses were established in cities as places where socially motivated middle-class men and women could live, or “settle,” among the poor.  Settlement house staff resided in the same buildings in which neighborhood residents participated in programs and activities. Living in close proximity, settlement staff regarded the people who used the settlement as “neighbors,” not “clients.”  Jane Addams founded Hull House in Chicago, Robert Archey Woods founded South End House in Boston, and other civic leaders, including Lillian Wald, John Lovejoy Elliott and Mary K. Simkhovitch, established settlement houses in New York City.

Many of these individuals had been influenced by the founders and staff of London’s Toynbee Hall and other British social activists who believed that students and people of wealth should “settle” in poverty-stricken neighborhoods both to provide services to help improve the daily quality of life, as well as to evaluate conditions and work for social reform. The settlements taught adult education and English language classes, provided schooling for immigrants’ children, organized job clubs, offered afterschool recreation, initiated public health services, and advocated for improved housing for the poor and working classes.

As explained above by Dr. Hansan, settlement houses were often called "neighborhood houses" with settlement house staff, like my social worker parents, regarding the people who came to the settlement house for classes and social services as "neighbors" not "clients".  From the age of four, until I was ten, my family lived at North East Neighborhood House, a settlement house in Minneapolis. Before that, my father had been the director of another settlement house, Neighborhood House in Syracuse, NY. 

While the term "settlement house" is no longer common, many of the institutions that began as settlement houses still exist and have evolved to meet the current social service needs of their communities. North East Neighborhood House, founded in 1915, continues as East Side Neighborhood Services, in a new modern building just a few blocks up the street from the original building. That building has been converted to low-income apartments and has been placed on the National Historical Register. Settlement House Girl: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota is a memoir of my childhood there. In the Appendix to the book is a short description of the history of North East Neighborhood House and an article about some of the activities offered when my father was the director.

5 STAR RATING on GOODREADS for SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL!

I was pleased to discover that SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL, my memoir about growing up in a settlement house in the 1950s, has a 5 star rating on Goodreads. The book is available on Amazon, or you can order it at your favorite bookstore. ISBN 9798864903285

Be the first to write a review on Goodreads! And Amazon!

Thanks!

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.