| Book #2: The Boy from Boomstraat, Synopsis & Detail... Literary fiction, 6x9 inches, perfect-bound, 328 pages. By Bernadette Maria Joolen. SOMETIMES connecting the dots is an easy thing. There is a man, there is a boy, there is a dream... Why not connect the line, from the man and that hopeful boy to that dream, and consider it a life welldone? But sometimes, life gets in the way. Search inside this book, and buy it on Lulu.com now!! Hear a beautiful reading from this book on Youtube!! A Brief Synopsis. In this important sequel to my first book, On Brigden Road, meet Maarten van Meer as a young man. Set in dark moody Amsterdam, and impossibly sundrenched L.A., Maarten tries to pull off a magic act—make a life for himself from what little he has. But the struggles in life are the good stuff. The dreams in life are the good stuff. Fall in love all over again. Remember your own dreams too. If you liked Shine, and Beautiful Mind... If you like stories of struggle, redemption, and courage... You will like this book. A Quote. "He lives on a street called Boomstraat, which means tree. (In the boy's language, Dutch, boom means tree.) The boy really likes trees. Especially the big sprawling elm that spreads its branches strong and wide in front of his flat in Amsterdam. (It stands by the window where he sleeps, so the boy can call this tree his tree.). It is Saturday morning, just before dawn. The boy waits for his father to come..." Tags. boys named maarten, dutch childhood scenes, immigrant families, immigrant fathers, bipolar fathers, writing fathers, walking fathers, immigrant dreams, orphanage scenes, bookstore scenes, sorting the mail, memories of war, brown cafés, boekenkast... |
| This website is the playpen and creation of Seattle author, Bernadette Maria Joolen. Catch a compendium of her works here! Discover more contact information below. |
| Book #3: Cornelia Bloom and the Accordion Museum, Synopsis & Detail... Humor, 6x9 inches, perfect-bound, 80 pages. By Bernadette Maria Joolen. FOR wildcats, wildflowers, blazing comets, shooting stars, free spirits and free birds everywhere!! Search inside this book, and buy it on Lulu.com now!! Fun accordion videos on Youtube!! A Brief Synopsis. This charming story is a fun illustrated book for children of all ages! (And I mean you!) It is the story of a musician's falling-in-love with the accordion. It is for free birds age four to one-hundred-four who love music, spaceships, cellos, accordions, more! It is for musicians, artists, poets, dreamers. It is for accordion players, or anyone whose grandpa used to play the accordion, or anyone who has ever known an accordion player, or anyone who would maybe like to marry one. It is for anyone who has an accordion in the attic they need to fall in love with!! It is about following your art, your heart, your soul, your dream... It is for people who know exactly what they want to do with life—Live it!! Well, what I mean to say is, this book is for you!! A Quote. "But whenever Cornelia Bloom saw a real accordion, she wanted to test those keys under her fingers, feel how the dusty bellows drew. To hear that aching plaintive strain that only an accordion could make. She wanted to say when she saw someone play--Hey, I play too!! She wanted to try each one she saw. With each different beast, the sound was new. She wanted to make those lovely sounds too!" Tags. girls named cornelia, feisty girls, feminist girls, free spirits, free birds, flower names, rosa cornelia, hybrid musk rose, music girls, accordion girls, cello girls, drawing girls, walking girls, work boots, cowboy boots, rain girls, Seattle girls... NOW, go and hit some buttons!! Have you ever heard the expression, Love is all you need? Well, I love that, you know I do, I am a product of my time! But it is only partly true. You also need books!! (You can quote me on that.) Email me with any questions!!~~bernadette... |
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| Discover my three beautiful books below!! |
| BERNADETTE'S PUBLISHED BOOKS!! Book #1: On Brigden Road, Synopsis & Detail... Literary fiction, 6x9 inches, perfect-bound, 232 pages. By Bernadette Maria Joolen. THIS BOOK is lovingly-written and artfully-designed novel by Seattle author, Bernadette Joolen. One of the central stories of this book won the Charles B. Wood Award for Distinguished Writing from the Carolina Quarterly in 2003. Search inside this book, and buy it on Lulu.com now!! Hear a beautiful reading from this book on Youtube!! A Brief Synopsis. What is the secret so guarded on Brigden Road? Maarten van Meer has a pretty good life. He’s a reader, writer, soapbox preacher, father of six, survivor of war who brilliantly educates himself—always learning, reading, always hungry for more. Who has, with little money, managed the ultimate coup... To spirit his family across the sea to the States, Land of Milk and Honey, America. But underneath every story, you know there is more. Leni van Meer has a pretty good life too. She’s a reader, writer, cellogirl—daughter of a poor man who is pretty cool all the same. Once a Dutch girl, she now lives in paradise, where the poppies, hibiscus, and bougainvillea bloom. She is tall, smart, skinny, sweet, shy, with a passel of long red hair that sometimes makes people turn in the street. But you know the drill, you’ve heard it before... There is always trouble in paradise—isn’t there? On Brigden Road is the story of an immigrant childhood in paradise, and the troubles of growing up with a father with manicdepressive illness. It is a story of strength and sorrow, a journey, awakening, a poem. It is a love story of home. If you like books set in the late-sixties, early-seventies about strong smart teenaged girls... If you like books about the vital, but sometimes complex and troubled connections of family... If you like books about the resilience of young people in facing troubled worlds... You will like this book. A Quote. "I will make a sketch of a man and a girl. Of a summer in Kansas. A father and child. The girl is seven or eight years old. The father, maybe, is forty-two. He takes her out to see a film. It is a film he wants to see, that is to say, a grownup film. When you have a family that large (as large as his family is) your children become companions for you. As well, companions for each other..." Tags. girls named leni, pasadena girls, smart girls, reading girls, writing girls, immigrant girls, dutch girls, redhaired girls, freckled girls, cello girls, sixties girls, fathers, train scenes, eaton canyon scenes... - |
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Backdrop. Backstage at the
Egyptian, a favorite filmhouse on
Capitol Hill. They say, you know,
there are ghosts here!! Many
ghosts about in Seattle.
Especially, in theatres!!
Egyptian, a favorite filmhouse on
Capitol Hill. They say, you know,
there are ghosts here!! Many
ghosts about in Seattle.
Especially, in theatres!!
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De Boekenkast...
De Boekenkast...
De Boekenkast...