This is the appealing There Once Was a Girl 1940's-50's story of Hessie Weiner Guida. It is her inspiring coming of age story directly and honestly told. At times precariously close to homeless, her family moves from place to place in Strawberry Mansion, then an almost entirely Jewish neighborhood in North Philadelphia. Although technically living in poverty, her life is rich in family, friends, and experiences. She takes advantage of all that her city has to offer. Later, she moves to the relative security of Liddonfield, a public housing project in Far Northeast Philadelphia. Though hers is the first Jewish family to live in Liddonfield, she is fully accepted and becomes a teenage social leader. Undeterred, she takes the long commute to the elite Philadelphia High School for Girls. We follow her as she gets her college degree and marries. Her positive outlook, intelligence, and high spirits brighten every page.