Bird Mallon lives in 1875 Brooklyn on Water Street where she can see the great towers of the Brooklyn Bridge being built. She wants to be healer like her mom, Nory, but fears she doesn't have what it takes. Her brother, Hughie, was a worker on the bridge until illness forced his resignation. Now he fights with a street gang for money. The Mallons long to buy a farm and move Hughie away from the gang's influence. Bird and her family welcome Thomas Neary when he and his Pop move into the upstairs apartment. Pop spends most nights in a bar and Thomas spends most evenings with the Mallons. Bird and Tom become best friends and much more. Great background information on the Irish Potato Famine, and the plight of the Irish immigrants and their determination to save and succeed, make Water Street a welcome addition to an elementary school collection.
"For most of my life I've been hungry but I thought if I could read I wouldn't mind it so much."
10 "Our Fathers" + 10 "Hail Marys" = cure for shingles
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