BOOKLIFE PRIZE (Publishers Weekly) Review of SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL

I was pleased to receive the following positive review from BookLife Prize (Publishers Weekly) of my memoir,  SETTLEMENT HOUSE GIRL: Growing Up in the 1950s at North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Plot/Idea: Arnold's focused memoir depicts the lesser-known institution of settlement houses from the unique perspective of a director’s child. The book provides a snapshot of a place in a particular time period while also constructing the cultural memory of a small community organization in mid-century America.

Prose: Settlement House Girl is broken into bite-sized sections, subverting the typical narrative structure of similar books. That strategy works well to give the text an informative vibe, and the memoir's first-person perspective deftly establishes its context while painting the subject matter in an appealing light.

Originality: Arnold recounts her largely unique life experience living in a settlement house in 1950s Minnesota, with her social worker parents. The narrative presents a wealth of historical information as well as an insider's view of an uncommon subject matter. 

Character/Execution: Though the book's somewhat choppy structure and first-person present tense can detract from the flow, the topic is interesting and enjoyable. Arnold delivers an intimate glimpse into a microculture that curious readers will find fascinating.

The BookLife Prize winners were announced December 15, 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

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.]

REMEMBERING MY EDITOR, VIRGINIA BUCKLEY (1929-2020)

Virginia Buckley, 2005

Amid all the momentous events of the past days, I learned that Virginia Buckley, my editor for more than ten years at Clarion Books, passed away on October 21, 2020, at the age of 91. Virginia had a distinguished career as a children’s book editor and I was proud to work with her. As one of Virginia's colleagues described her, she was “an old school editor.” She took a deep personal involvement in all the books she edited–from working with the author on revisions, to final editing and the production of the finished book. My years with Virginia were before the current age of online editing programs. My manuscripts were submitted on paper and came back peppered with corrections marked in red pencil. Comments were attached on yellow post-it notes to the side of the page. If a question arose, sometimes it was easier to discuss it over the phone. Together we made changes to make sure that the final product was the best that it could be.
Virginia’s  career in publishing began at Thomas Y. Crowell in 1971 and in 1980 she moved to Dutton to be editorial director of Lodestar Books. In 1997 she went to Clarion Books where she became my editor after Dorothy Briley, the editor I had worked with previously, died suddenly. Over the next thirteen years Virginia and I worked together on eight books.
Because Virginia lived on the East Coast and I in California, we did not meet in person very often. Occasionally I made a trip to New York, or I saw her at a national conference. The last time I saw Virginia was in 2005, when I received the Washington Post/Children’s Book Guild Award for Nonfiction for my body of work and she was invited to give my introduction at the award luncheon. (Unfortunately, my only photo of her is from that event and the picture is fuzzy because my camera did not work well in low light.)

Award from the Washington Post/Children's Book Guild

Many of the books Virginia and I worked on were illustrated with beautiful watercolor illustrations by Laurie Caple. Laurie put as much effort into researching her artwork as I did in researching my text. Virginia told a story about how Laurie had purchased a giant fossil tooth as a model for her illustrations for my book Giant Shark: Megalodon, Prehistoric Super Predator.

The last book I worked on with Virginia was Global Warming and the Dinosaurs, published in 2009, about dinosaurs that had lived in Earth’s polar regions. Virginia retired from Clarion in 2010 and I lost contact with her. I often think of her when I share my dinosaur and fossil books with children at my school visits. I was sad to hear of her passing. Her work will live on in the many books she edited, both mine and those of many other authors.

For more about Virginia Buckley and her work with other authors and editors, see her Obituary in Publishers Weekly.

 
My Clarion Books (Houghton Mifflin) edited by Virginia Buckley:
Giant Shark: Megalodon, Prehistoric Super Predator (2000)
Easter Island: giant Stone Statues Tell of a Rich and Tragic Past (2000)
Dinosaurs With Feathers: The Ancestors of Modern Birds (2001)
When Mammoths Walked the Earth (2002)
Uluru, Australia’s Aboriginal Heart (2003)
Pterosaurs, Rulers of the Skies in the Dinosaur Age (2007)
Giant Sea Reptiles of the Dinosaur Age (2004)
Giant Sea Reptiles of the Dinosaur Age (2007)
Global Warming and the Dinosaurs (2009)

Publishers Weekly Review of HATCHING CHICKS IN ROOM 6

My new book HATCHING CHICKS IN ROOM 6 will be published next week on January 10th and has already received a number of very positive advance reviews.The following review appeared in Publishers Weekly, November 21, 2016

Through photographs and direct, unadorned writing, Arnold (Living Fossils) takes readers to a (real-life) kindergarten class in Los Angeles, where the teacher, Mrs Best, brings in eggs from the chickens she keeps at her home. As the children tend to the eggs, keeping track of the 21-day incubation cycle on a calendar, readers learn about the parts of an egg and how a chick develops inside. Finally, the eggs begin to hatch: “Little by little, the shell begins to crack. It is like unzipping a zipper.” Arnold’s photographs clearly show the children observing, feeding, and learning how to hold the chicks, which eventually return to Mrs. Best’s house. A glossary and answers to common questions (“When you eat an egg, are you eating a baby chick?” “Do chickens make good pets?”) conclude this up-close look at where chickens–and their eggs–come from. Ages 3-7.