A Coal Miner's Bride: the Diary of Anetka Kaminska (Dear America)

It was a good book. It was a short read, only took me a day. Its about a girl from Poland that has to move to America and marry a coal miner againts her will. Slowly she falls in love with this Russian solider, that ahe originally met in her village, that keeps popping up everywhere, and even

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travled to America with them. When her coal miner husband, that she dosen't like, dies in a mine colasp, she is left to take care of his 3 little girls from his first marriage. She takes in boarder to pay off this large debt that her dead husband had from drinking instead of paying off his bills. So, one day, on the side of the road, she finds her long lost (more like a month) Russian soilder friend. He moves in after she heals him from the scars he had from being horribally beat up. He acts like a father to the 3 little girls and loves the girl. He forms a group, with other miners, that are going to protest the low miner pays and taxes on their pay, peacefully. Many end up beign shot and killed or wounded. The Russian solider comes back and in the end, they get married. She ended up finding her true love in the solider that she thought in the beginning was self centered and rude. How about that?

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Personal response:

Even though this book is fiction it is based on actual events from the coal mines of Lattimer, Pennsylvania during the late 1800's. In our day of so much ease it is hard to imagine what life was like for these early immigrants. I thought that I was young when I married at 18, but

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many girls during this time in history were married much younger that to men they didn't even know. The diary format made it easy to read and believable.

Curricular Connections:

This series would be good to compare the struggles faced by immigrants in the past to the immigrants of today.

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This is just one in a series of “Dear America” books—fictional diaries from girls across the time and space of America. This particular book is one I routinely return to (even at the age of 20) when I need something fun to flip through for a while. Our heroine, Anetka, leaves Poland for

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America, going to a marriage her father has arranged for her. Through the time of her diary she marries, becomes a mother to her husband’s three girls, is widowed, and falls in love—all with the backdrop of trying to maneuver immigrating to the United States in the nineteenth century.

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Helps students see a bit of American History

This book talks about a girl who is forced into a marriage that she does not want to be in. She is only 15 years old and she gets married to a man who has 3 children already. I recommend this book to girls who like this series and teachers who could use this book to help teach in their classrooms.

What a great piece! This book is a great glimpse of not only a young Polish girl, but of the great heart and will of the Polish people. Being Polish myself, I was honored to feel like my ancestors were a part of this.