The Staircase | Ann Rinaldi | A Methodist Girl in a Catholic Boarding School

The Staircase | Ann Rinaldi | The Staircase

books:

The Staircase

	The Staircase Ann Rinaldi Gulliver Books Paperbacks, 2002 - 240 pages average customer review:based on 17 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

How could Lizzy Enders's father abandon her at a girls school run by nuns? She's surrounded by Catholics--but she's Methodist! Shunned by the other boarders, Lizzy befriends a wandering carpenter named José, who with just three tools--and unflagging faith--builds an elaborate spiral staircase in the new chapel in mere weeks. When he disappears without a trace, Lizzy realizes that the way she sees things is not always the way they are.
Inspired by the legend of the "miraculous" staircase in the Chapel of Loretto in Santa Fe, Ann Rinaldi skillfully blends the mystery surrounding the staircase's builder with the daily trials of a spunky thirteen-year-old girl growing up in the 1870s.

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A Methodist Girl in a Catholic Boarding School

Lizzy Enders is ripped to pieces with grief after losing her very sick mother on the Santa Fe trail. But she is even sicker when her father abandons her along the way- at a Catholic boarding school run entirely by nuns. She is a Methodist, and the other girls look down upon her. She is also stuck sharing a room with her horrible cousin, who can only think about herself. While trying to understand the ways of the strict Catholic church, Lizzy is asked to accompany a strange lady who lives at the convent up to her son's grave each day. She learns more from this lady than she could immagine. But when she and her cousin, Eleanorea, end jup in the town on an escapade in the middle of the night, Lizzy meets a carpenter, desperately in need of a job. Lizzy gets a strange feeling about the man. She knows the church needs a staircase up to the choir loft built, so invites him to come talk to the nuns. She forms a tight bond with the man, who preforms one of the most famous miracles in history before he vanishes. Lizzy is wrapped up in a whirlwind of excitement around every corner.
A very good book. It was a little descriminative against Catholics in my opinion, but that takes little away from the book itself. An all-around great story.

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The Staircase

I love this book because it was about her family and a girl name Lizzy. Lizzy got so sad because her mother died on the way to Georgia. Her mother died of a fever, but Lizzy always know that she was there for her and for her family. Lizzy missed her so much, but she always held her tears in for her bothers. Also I loved how Lizzy would always help her family, but she would help her dad more because he hurt his arm in the war and he olny had one hand. I also love this book because she meet a lot of people at her school that her dad left her. In some parts of the book I hated because her father left her and her bothers at a school to learn new stuff. Lizzy was really mad at her father for leaving her, but she got over it and wrote her father a letter. I love is book so much beacause every time that Lizzy saw someone she would always help them out. This one time there was a lady who was lost in the woods and Lizzy heared her scream and Lizzy went to try to find the scream. Lizzy helped this poor old lady and her name was Mrs. Lacey. She told Lizzy that she was trying to find her sons grave to leave a lantern so that he knows that she was also there for him and that there is light everywhere. Mrs. Lacey loved her son so much. Also Lizzy loved her mother also. I love this book because I learned that you need to repect your family because they won't always be there for you. You need to respect everyone in your life. That is why I love this book so much.

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heartwarming

I am actually going to give this book to my granddaughter. I did read it and it is very touching to go into the life of a young lady that is on her own.

The Staircase

The Staircase was a great book. Elizabeth (Lizzy) Enders and her family were on their way to California. They were heading there to see if they could find some gold from the mines for some money. On the way Lizzy's mom died of the putrid fever. Bishop Lamy was paying the family to bring back his niece, Elinora, to The Sisiters of Loretta. It was in Santa Fe. Lizzy thought she was very annoying. Since Lizzy's mom died her dad knew he would have to get himself established first, which would have been really hard to do with Lizzy there. When they arrived at the church Mr. Enders left her there, without any goodbyes. It just so happens that she is forced to stay in the same room with the annoying Elinora. Lizzy was very sart mouthed, so she was breaking rules left and right. She was forced to have many chores. For one, she had to escort a woman called Mrs. Lacy to the cemetery everyday. Lizzy was happy because she got to leave the convent for a few hours. While she did these chores she made many adult friends. She made friends with all the nuns and came to learn her way around Santa Fe when she walked with Mrs. Lacy. There was one huge problem. The Bishop just had a choir loft built, but the carpenter took his money without making a staircase. The girls at the school prayed everyday to a novena to Saint Joseph expecting a miracle to come. Of course Lizzy didn't believe a miracle was going to come, so read The Staircase and see what she decides to do. Will she be able to go back home? Will she get a carpenter to finish the job without the girls being mad because their miracle didn't come true?

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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