Customer Reviews

A Coal Miner's Bride: the Diary of Anetka Kaminska

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Annetka Kaminska is a thirteen-year-old girl living in Russian-controlled Poland in 1896. She bitterly resents the Russians that have taken over her country and are forcing her people to give up their language and customs. But she is even more angry when her father, living in America, arranges a marriage for her, with a Pennsylvania coal miner twice her age. A widower with three little girls, Stanley mounrs for his wife and does not love Annetka, treating her almost like a servant. Yet when he dies in a mining accident, things become even more difficult, as she must care for the children and pay the rent. Yet in spite of her bleak life, she finds some hope in the children, and in the possibly of true love. I highly reccomend this novel to historical fiction fans. Annetka is a well-developed, likeable character that you can't help but cheer for as she struggles to survive daily and make a new life for herself in America.

"A Coal-Miner's Bride, the Diary of Anetka Kaminska" is a wonderful new Dear America book. It tells the story of Anetka, who is a Russian Pole who must go to America to marry someone she doesn't know. Throughout the book, she discovers lots of different things about herself and other people. She has many hard things happen to her and you keep thinking she will just give up.

This book is one of the best Dear America books, in my opinion. The beginning is a little slow, but the pace quickens after the first several pages. The book teaches about mining, Poland, arranged marriges, and life in a mining town. I would give it 5+++ stars if I could. I think it has a wider age range than some of the other D.A. books. I recommend this to girls ages 10-15.

A Coal Miner's Bride was a great read, and now my favorite in the Dear America series!

It tells the story, in diary form, of a 13 year old Russian Pole, Anetka, who leaves her country to marry a coal miner in America. She is not happy to go, however, especially when her grandmother decides to stay behind - and gives her ticket to a Russian soldier, who will accompany Anetka and her brother.

Anetka's husband doesn't seem to love her, but when things are looking better, he dies in an accident and she is left to support his three daughters. And when massacres and her friend Leon enter her life, things are even harder. Will life always be harsh for Anetka?

This was a great book, and I'd recommend it for ages 11 - 15. Be sure to read "Dreams in the Golden Country", another Dear America book!

This is the best diary ever. Ms. Bartoletti did a FABULOUS job on this book. I loved it. Its about a young girl you is forced to marry an American miner at age 13. Until she reaches the US she doesn't know that her fiancee has two young children also. For a few months she works hard to get her hushand to love her until her husband gets killed in a mining accindent, but her lover Leon, an ex-Russian takes care on her family and.........you'll have to read it to find out more. But by far, this is the BEST dear america book ever! But this has a more advanced context then most DA books, and I too think that this is for kids ages - 13 to 17.

This book was so good! "...I laughed...I cried...it moved me." :) Anyway, it's about Anetka, the spirited Polish girl who leaves her homeland everything she knows, to marry an unknown man in America. Anetka is worried about whether she'll be able to be a good wife (she's only 13), but even more worried about what kind of man she is going to marry.

When Anetka reaches America with her brother Josef; and Leon, the teasing soldier who protects them; she discovers that she also has another role: a mother. The man she is betrothed to has three daughters who need a mother.

Throughout her short marriage, Anetka struggles with her many responsibilities and hopes that love will come between her and her husband. Just when their relationship is looking up, however, he gets killed in the coal mines. Now Anetka has to care for 3 daughters, her father, brother, 3 boarders, and eventually Leon. Worsening working conditions for the coal miners also cause more hardships for the immigrants. Anetka's life does get better though, and she finds true love in Leon.

Anetka is forced to marry a man who her father has arranged forher in America. Because Babcia (her grandmother) has decided she wantsto stay in Poland, she sends along a rebel soldier, Leon, (whom Anetka's brother and Babcia seem to like very much,and who Anetka hates)(so she thinks) to watch over Anetka and her little brother Jozef. On the steamship to America there is a celebration of some kind. Everyone is dancing when Leon ,18, pulls Anetka out on the floor and after the dance, he gives her a kiss which makes her feet stick to the floor, and she's very angry at him for it. When they reach America she meets her husband, Stanley. After they're married, she find's herself a mother of three little girls, (left by his first wife) and a man that only needs her for the girls. One of the girls, Violet, appears as if she'll never love Anetka either even though Anetka loves all the girls very much. When Stanley dies in a mining accident, she takes in 3 borders and Leon, whom she has grown to love. A few months later Leon and Anetka are married. And Anetka Leon and the girls live happily ever after.

Even though I only skimmed this book over in the book store, I found this to be a great read and am looking forward to reading it fully when it comes in to the library. Thirteen year old Anetka is perfectly content to sit at home with her grandmother (Babicia) (?) (unsure spelling) and her brother, when her father, (who has escaped czarist Russia's Poland) writes to them from America, telling them he has found Anetka a husband. Anetka, who has just had a run in with Russian soldiers, leaves with her brother and a rebel soldier Leon, who takes her grandmother's place on the voyage, for America and realizes too late that her new husband's faults outnumber his perfections. He is nearly more then twice her age, has an obsession with his dead wife, and three children, one of whom is extremely cold to Anetka. I did not read this part perfectly, but Anetka did not seem that devastated by her husband's death. Instead, she works her hardest to keep things toghther and to convince herself Leon is always in her thoughts because he teases her, not because she loves him. This was a great book, and shows a different side of the Dear America books. In the other books, the girls write about how they feel about certain boys, but all of them get married in the Epilogue. Anetka becomes a married woman at 13. How strange is that?

A great story about a Polish girl who immigranted to America as a mail ordered bride. It takes a lot of courage to marry someone you have never met. To become an instant wife and mother. The mother part Anetka didn't find out about until she met Stanley. Anetka is full of amazing courage and strength. To go through with the marriage, raising three little girls and becoming the sole responsiblity upon her husband's death. She truly is a wonderful charactor and you can't help but root for.

I fell in love with the Dear America series last year and since then I've read most of the series. So far this book is my favorite. For anyone who enjoys historical fiction, this book has great descriptions and information about coal mining in the late 1800's. The story is about Anetka Kaminska, a fiery 13 year old who moves to America with her younger brother to be with their father who is working in the mines. Accompanying them is a Russian soldier named Leon who Anetka cannot stand because he is in the Russian army and teases her. But he is detained when they arrive. Anetka has an arranged marriage with man who turns out to be twice her age-- and a widower with 3 daughters who does not love her. Anetka struggles with the work of living as an immigrant in a country and being a mother to the 3 girls. Her troubles become even more when the Black Maria arrives with to tell her that her husband has been killed in the mines. I loved the second half of the book because of how we see Anetka's character develope, and also the beautiful and very sweet love story. This book wasn't boring for one second and the story was just wonderful. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good -but very dark at times- read.

Anetka Kaminska is satisfied with her life in Poland until one day her father sends steamship tickets and a letter saying she must come to America and marry Stanley Gawrich.She must leave in a hurry with a young soldier,Leon Nasevich, who mysteriously happens to be wherever Anetka is. When she gets to america she finds that all the immigrants are poorly treated. To make matters worse, Stanley doesn't want a wife, he only wants a mother for his 3 daughters. After about 6 months of Anetkas unhappy marriage, Stanley dies and leaves Anetka with his three daughters. She has to take in borders to make ends meet and to pay off Stanleys large debt. Leon comes back into her life and mixes all her feelings up. Everyone should read this book. It gives perspective to the way life was for immigrants in the late 1800's. This was the best Dear America I have read yet.