Meet the Kelly family, a group of six siblings and their widowed mother living in the tenements of New York City in the late 1800s, who are torn apart by poverty and misfortune in Joan Lowery Nixon's book, A Family Apart.  So begins a wonderful historical fiction novel about family, love and sacrifice set against the backdrop of the Orphan Trains, a little known chapter in American history. 

About the Contributor...

Anne Brusca

Library Media Specialist

http://www.herricks.org/webpages/abrusca/

Although Anne is new to the teaching profession, she is a lifelong learner at heart.  She received both a B.A. in English and a law degree from Hofstra University.  More recently, she earned a Masters in Library Science from Long Island University—C.W.Post, and is currently finishing a Masters in Educational Technology, also from L.I.U.

She is presently working as a part-time library media specialist at Center Street Elementary School in the Herricks U.F.S.D. in Williston Park, New York and is looking forward to starting her full-time library media specialist position at Denton Avenue Elementary School, also in the Herricks School District, in September of 2009.

Being an avid reader herself, Anne is always looking for ways to increase her students’ reading enjoyment and literacy skills and has enjoyed working with Google Lit Trips, because this type of project includes the technology and 21st Century skills which she tries to incorporate into all her library lessons.