I think this is a great book for a teen girl. It's engrossing, fast-paced, and a good story. And it's based on something real that might just start an interest they can pursue. I picked it up because I love Santa Fe and I've seen the staircase and heard the fable. Besides, sometimes I just need an easy read. It was an enjoyable, quick read. ( )

I dunno.  I can't judge accurately.  I'm just so very tired of historical fiction.  And this was more about this precocious young teen than it was about Santa Fe, anyway.   You know what I'm most tired of, about kids' HF?  Most, this included, have no humor, no joy.  Even when ppl's lives are not terribly dreary, the youngsters just plod along through them, watching and reacting to events around them. ( )

A nice little story about a girl whose mother died on the Trail and her father brought her to a Catholic girl's school and then left. I got to the last page before realizing I've actually seen the "miraculous" staircase the book is about! We were in Santa Fe, and while my family isn't Catholic we were with a family friend who was and wanted to see the old convent/church/what-it's-called. I got a pressed penny with a picture of the stairs. ( )

I liked this very much. ( )

Once again Rinaldi wrote an excellent book filled with likable characters and historical fact.

When Lizzy Elders traveled with her family in the long arduous trip west from Missouri in the hope of reaching Colorado for gold, sadly, Lizzy's mother died. When the remaining members of the party reached Santa Fe New Mexico, Lizzy was abandoned by her father and left at a Catholic boarding school with the sisters of Loretto.

The only Methodist among Catholics, Lizzy found their incessant prayers and rituals very foreign. Shunned by cruel, pious girls, she found friendship with a stranger who was a carpenter, a "crazy" lady who hides out in the hills and Jean-Baptiste Lamy, the Bishop of the Santa Fe Archdiocese.

Spunky enough to tolerate the taunts from others, still, Lizzy is deeply grieving her mother and angry at the abandonment by her father.

Using the backdrop of the unfolding coming-of-age story of Lizzie, Rinaldi expertly teaches the reader of the folklore and historical fact of the miraculous building of the spiral staircase in the chapel of Loretto.

After the original chapel was built, it was realized that the space was too small to accommodate a choir loft.

Legend shows that after nine days of prayers to St. Joseph, a shabby, raggedy carpenter appeared. Devoting months to the impossible task of building a staircase, when the project was finished, the carpenter left without seeking remuneration.

The Loretto Chapel staircase is a miraculous feat. Ascending twenty feet, it makes two complete 360 degree revolutions to the choir loft. Using only primitive tools and no nails, it appears that the carpenter did not have a central support, nor was the staircase affixed to a wall. Furthermore, the wood used was not indigenous to the area of Santa Fe, NW.

Educating readers is what Rinaldi does best! Her books are well written and informative.

Today the chapel at Loretto is no longer used as a church. It is a museum, and the incredible staircase still stands. ( )