A Little Orange in the Big Apple

by Valarie Vine

Overview

Oddly, seven year-old Ali’s family all live in different places! Ali and her older brother are boarded out in two separate homes during the week. Their mother lives in the San Fernando Valley in a little house that Ali and her brother visit on weekends, and their father is in show business and always away “on the road”. Ali’s prayer each night is to bring her family together, “where we could all live in the same place, all week long.” One magical day, Ali’s father tells his family to sell the house and move to New York City where they can all live together. Has Ali’s prayer come true? Ali’s vision of having a family that looks like the images in her Dick and Jane school book do not necessarily come to pass; she finds their lives in New York City much more like her favorite book, “Alice in Wonderland.”

Product Details

BN ID:	2940011327773
Publisher:	Valarie Vine
Publication date:	04/15/2011
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	357,716
File size:	197 KB
Age Range:	5 - 11 Years

About the Author

Yep, that’s me sitting on a rock in Griffith Park over there on the left. Pretty young to write a book, you say? Actually, the photo was taken a very long time ago, but that little girl with the over-sized boots and sunny smile will always be that age (no matter how many chronological years I accumulate). You see, once upon a time I was a “Little Orange” in the “Big Apple”------a little girl from sleepy Sherman Oaks, California who suddenly found herself (along with her brother, mother and father) living in the city that NEVER sleeps, New York City! That little girl pretty much ran wild and free through the streets of that great metropolis and had adventures that seem almost unbelievable in retrospect. Before the images fade of those times so long ago, as if in a dream that we try to hold onto upon awakening, I want to share her story with all of you.
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I have long been a reader with a particular fondness for coming-of age books (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Catcher in the Rye being my personal favorites). I received a 3rd place writing award for an essay on fire prevention in 11th grade that consisted of a fireman holding a hose mounted on top of a block of wood with my name on it. It is still cherished as if it was an Oscar or Olympic medal because it was the first validation of my writing. From childhood I was engendered with a love for the classics of literature, music, and movies-----a shout out to Steinbeck, Tchaikovsky, and Ted Turner, respectively! For three decades I was blessed with living near the water's edge at Hollywood Beach, California and will forever keep the sights and sounds in my mind's eye: the plaintive foghorn, the scream of the gulls, the sunlight dancing on the waves, the pelicans flying in ancient and regal formation above the Pacific, and my labrador's affinity for running untold miles with me along the beach. Cherished memories forever. The foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, "Gold Country", is now my home in this final season of life where I walk cemeteries in every season, enjoying the jackrabbits in the spring, vigilant for snakes in summer, crunching through the beautiful leaves of autumn, and carefully stepping through the snow drifts that adorn the tombstones in winter. Culturally, historically,aesthetically, and spiritually, there is much to be learned in these hallowed grounds.