Nothing Else But Miracles
by Kate Albus (Author)
From the author of A Place to Hang the Moon comes a hopeful World War II story about three scrappy siblings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
When 12-year-old Dory Byrne's pop left New York City's Lower East Side to fight Hitler, he promised her and her brothers that they'd be safe. Like he always said, "the neighborhood will give you what you need." There's the lady from the bakery, who saves them leftover crullers. The kind landlord who checks in on them. And every Thursday night, the Byrnes enjoy a free bowl of seafood stew at Mr. Caputo's restaurant. . . which is where Dory learns about the abandoned hand-pulled elevator that is the only way to get to Caputo's upper floors.
But when a new landlord threatens their home in the community that's raised them and kept them safe, the secret elevator--and the abandoned hotel it leads to--provides just the solution they need.
Based on a very real place in old New York and steeped in the history of World War II, Nothing Else but Miracles is a warm and inviting story of resilience, the tight-knit community of the Lower East Side, and the miracles that await in unexpected places.
Kate Albus is the award-winning author of A Place to Hang the Moon, a JLG Gold Standard Selection, An Indie Pick, An ALSC Notable Children's Book, A CCBC Choice book, and an SCBWI Crystal Kite Award Winner. Nothing Else But Miracles is rich with details from her grandparents' stories of Coney Island and the Fulton Fish Market.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
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Kirkus Reviews
An absorbing tale about urban life on the World War II homefront.
Publishers Weekly
Three close-knit siblings rely on each other and their supportive Lower East Side community after their widowed father is called up during WWII in this suspenseful family novel from Albus (A Place to Hang the Moon). Free-thinking 12-year-old Dory Byrne lives in a fourth-floor walk-up (which she prefers to access through the fire escape) with her brothers--responsible 17-year-old Fish and wise eight-year-old Pike. From a perch on the wall of Battery Park's half-demolished Castle Clinton, Dory shares her many worries with a secret confidante: the Statue of Liberty ("Libby" to Dory). The siblings are managing thanks to the neighborhood's generosity, but when the Byrnes' understanding landlord dies and his mean-spirited replacement threatens to report the underage trio to city authorities, their situation grows precarious--until Dory's canny observations land them a perfect hideaway. Rich in New York City period detail and era-specific colloquialisms, the briskly moving telling succeeds in its well-executed combination of classic plot elements, sympathetic characters and community, and anxiety-provoking uncertainties, while parenthetical asides to readers create a deepening sense of engagement and intimacy with the Byrne family. Characters read as white. Ages 9-12. (Sept.)
Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
JUV016150 - Juvenile Fiction | Historical | United States - 20th Century
JUV013070 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Siblings
Hotels, motels, etc
Siblings
Lower East Side (New York, N.Y.)
