In the years following America's victory over Germany and Japan, the heady exhilaration of winning the war begins to fade in post-war Pittsburgh. The spewing filth of the steel mills and the stinging aftermath of the war take their toll on the Donatti family. Better jobs await them in California, and the family plans to head west.

Ten-year-old Marianne isn't happy about leaving her home, and she likes it even less when she and her family move into her grandmother's house for six months before heading to California. From the start, Marianne dislikes the new street and the mean kids...

"Grandparents Cry Twice: Help for Bereaved Grandparents" is a book about grandparents' dual sorrow when a grandchild dies. They cry for their lost grandchild and they also cry for the terrible grief they see their own child having to bear. The author, Mary Lou Reed, writes of her experiences when her beloved grandson, Alex, died. Through her personal story she touches the universal in all grandparents' grief.