Reading Adventure: "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls

Jeannette Walls’ coming of age memoir, “The Glass Castle,” is a story of courage amid dysfunction.

When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank . . . Her mother was a free spirit who hated the idea of chores and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family. 'Why should I cook a meal that will be gone in an hour when I can do a painting that will last forever?'

The Walls children learned early that they had to fend for themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another. Their father's grandiose dreams, especially of building a “glass castle,” served as a cornerstone on which they built their hope. One day, things would get better. More stable.

Fast forward to years later, Jeannette is covering the Academy Awards and attending black-tie parties while her parents were squatting in an abandoned building on the Lower East Side.

"The Glass Castle" is an incredible true story of a nomadic and impoverished childhood, revisited with compassion and forgiveness.
[mash-up of publisher blurbs]

Or watch the 2017 movie version starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson and Noami Watts.

352 pages
non-fiction

• ALA Alex Award (2006)
• Lincoln Award Nominee (2008)