Page talk:Carmella-commands-ball.pdf/4

OCR Text

This is a newspaper article that is glued to the page. The OCR text (just in case):

Children of Foreign­-Born Parents The world friendship ideal of the Junior Red Cross is given local application on as many of the Calendar pages as possible, by suggested activities for, and especially with, schoolmates whose parents are for­eign-­born. In many city schools, there is opportunity to begin near home in appreciating the culture and the native gifts of people of other countries. In such friendship, there is no room for condescension; mu­tual respect is implicit. Among recent books, one which develops this ideal is the prize­winning girl’s novel, “Carmella Commands,” by Walter S. Ball, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1929, $2.

One scarcely dares call the book an “American­ization” novel, for Carmella, the 13-­year-­old Italian heroine, is contemptuous of “all this Americaniza­tion stuff” and refuses to be called Americanized; she is nothing short of American. Enlightening episodes are found in the chapters that tell of how Carmella’s mother, Mrs. Coletta, secretly conquered the American language; and, earlier i n the story, a conversation in which Carmella explains to the volun­teer social worker, Mrs. Barrington, that Mrs. Coletta is much better qualified to teach the social workers how to make fine lace than to be taught by them. If you are a trifle high­-hat when you begin reading, Kid­-Kate, as she is nicknamed, will have you wrig­gling within a chapter or two. Indeed, adverse criticism is much more likely to result from the touched feelings of the Mrs. Barringtons, who resent a characterization that is almost caricature, than from fear of the realism with which “little Italy” is portrayed. This reviewer, never having been a social worker, is, even so, a little sensitive over the settlement house. Certainly these pictures are not all­-sided; but they have their truth and one must charge the rest to humorist’s license.

Read the story with humor, but with respect for the girl who is above all a true American lady. Through her young genius, other immigrant children are won to attendance a t the well-­intentioned but languishing settlement house, the senior Colettas and their neighbors are led to learn the American lan­guage, an Italian mother is saved from complete heartbreak over her scapegrace son. You will enjoy it all fa r more than a staring tour through foreign sections, for in the book you will readily identify your sympathies with Kid-­Kate and will belong with her friends, as only sensitive genius or years of resi­dence could make you belong, in fact. Though called a “girl’s novel,” because of its heroine, the story will give enjoyment to both sexes and all ages. Oswallt (talk) 19:05, 1 January 2025 (UTC)