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The Case Against My Brother
"Orphaned and penniless in 1922 Baltimore, Maryland, 15-year-old Carl and 17-year-old Adam Matuski are forced to move across the continent to live with their Uncle Pete in Portland, Oregon.Almost from the beginning, homesick Carl desperately wants to return east with his brother, but his plans fall apart when Adam is sought by police for the theft of expensive jewels from his girlfriend’s wealthy home.Carl is convinced that Adam is being fingered unfairly. He and his brother are Polish Catholics, and Portland is awash in anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant sentiment. Voters, in fact, are being asked to decide whether Catholic schools, indeed all non-public schools, should be outlawed entirely. Carl works at one such Catholic school. Fueled by the Ku Klux Klan and other unsavory groups, the campaign touches Carl personally as he strives to clear his brother’s name and solve the Who really took the family jewels, and why?"
205 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
3 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Libby Sternberg
29 books11 followersLibby Sternberg is an Edgar finalist, a Launchpad Prose Top 50 finalist, and a BookLife quarter-finalist twice.
She writes historical fiction, women’s fiction, and more under the names Libby Sternberg and Libby Malin, and one of her romantic comedies was bought for film.
She has written two retellings of classic stories:"Daisy" ("The Great Gatsby") and "Sloane Hall" ("Jane Eyre").
"Sloane Hall" was one of only 14 books highlighted in the Huffington Post on the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Bronte's birth.
"Daisy" has been hailed by Publishers Weekly's BookLife contest as "A delightful portrayal of a female character claiming the story as her own, repossessing her own voice.”
Born in Baltimore, she now lives in Lancaster, PA with her husband Matthew. She has three grown children.
She writes historical fiction, women’s fiction, and more under the names Libby Sternberg and Libby Malin, and one of her romantic comedies was bought for film.
She has written two retellings of classic stories:"Daisy" ("The Great Gatsby") and "Sloane Hall" ("Jane Eyre").
"Sloane Hall" was one of only 14 books highlighted in the Huffington Post on the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Bronte's birth.
"Daisy" has been hailed by Publishers Weekly's BookLife contest as "A delightful portrayal of a female character claiming the story as her own, repossessing her own voice.”
Born in Baltimore, she now lives in Lancaster, PA with her husband Matthew. She has three grown children.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 8, 2011
I usually associate the Ku Klux Klan with terrorizing and discriminating against African-Americans, so this story was an eye-opener for me in several ways. Teenage brothers Carl and Adam Matuski have moved to Oregon to live with their uncle, and as Polish Catholics, they are caught up in an anti-immigrant movement that culminated in passage of the Oregon School Law in 1922, which required that children attend public schools. (I had not previously known of this law, which was appealed and declared unconstitutional in 1925). Carl, however, doesn’t have time to worry about the pending election – he is too busy working two jobs and trying to prove that Adam is innocent of the theft of jewelry from his girlfriend’s house. This is a very poignant story of a young man’s coming to manhood under extremely difficult and very believable circumstances.
May 4, 2008
Reviewed by Grandma Bev for TeensReadToo.com
THE CASE AGAINST MY BROTHER is a very well-written mystery with wonderful characters and a suspenseful plot featuring a backdrop of intolerance and bigotry in a little known dark corner of American history.
Fifteen-year-old Carl Matuski and his older brother, Adam, live in Portland, Oregon with an uncle since their mother passed away from lung disease. The boys are Polish Catholics and Portland is in the midst of the anti-immigrant campaign for the 1922 Oregon School Law, which sought to make Catholic schools in the state illegal. Now Adam has been accused of stealing jewelry from the wealthy family of his girlfriend, and Carl knows that his brother is innocent. He insists that Adam hide out until he can clear him of the charges.
The neighborhood police officer is very anti-Catholic and harbors prejudice against Polish immigrants, as well. He seems to be on the street nearly every time Carl ventures out, and corners him to ask questions concerning the whereabouts of Adam. Carl is frustrated by Adam's failure to hide out, and the fact that he always seems to want more money. Carl attends school and is working two part-time jobs to earn money to help Adam and to try to help out at home, too. The boys' uncle is a poor man who tries his best to do right by these nephews that he has inherited, but times are hard, and the current political situation makes life even more difficult. Somehow, Adam has changed, and Carl isn't sure what to do about that. He begins working extra hard to solve the mystery of the jewel robbery.
Carl makes friends with a newspaper reporter, and chases down clues about the robbery for the reporter to write about. He just wants to clear his brother's name so that they can both go back to Baltimore, but when Carl ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnesses a murder, the action and the suspense shift into high gear, and the suspense builds to an exciting, unexpected conclusion.
Libby Sternberg is a master at characterization and plotting and this story will keep you reading straight through to the end. I would love to see more stories about Carl Matuski...what an exciting new character!
THE CASE AGAINST MY BROTHER is a very well-written mystery with wonderful characters and a suspenseful plot featuring a backdrop of intolerance and bigotry in a little known dark corner of American history.
Fifteen-year-old Carl Matuski and his older brother, Adam, live in Portland, Oregon with an uncle since their mother passed away from lung disease. The boys are Polish Catholics and Portland is in the midst of the anti-immigrant campaign for the 1922 Oregon School Law, which sought to make Catholic schools in the state illegal. Now Adam has been accused of stealing jewelry from the wealthy family of his girlfriend, and Carl knows that his brother is innocent. He insists that Adam hide out until he can clear him of the charges.
The neighborhood police officer is very anti-Catholic and harbors prejudice against Polish immigrants, as well. He seems to be on the street nearly every time Carl ventures out, and corners him to ask questions concerning the whereabouts of Adam. Carl is frustrated by Adam's failure to hide out, and the fact that he always seems to want more money. Carl attends school and is working two part-time jobs to earn money to help Adam and to try to help out at home, too. The boys' uncle is a poor man who tries his best to do right by these nephews that he has inherited, but times are hard, and the current political situation makes life even more difficult. Somehow, Adam has changed, and Carl isn't sure what to do about that. He begins working extra hard to solve the mystery of the jewel robbery.
Carl makes friends with a newspaper reporter, and chases down clues about the robbery for the reporter to write about. He just wants to clear his brother's name so that they can both go back to Baltimore, but when Carl ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnesses a murder, the action and the suspense shift into high gear, and the suspense builds to an exciting, unexpected conclusion.
Libby Sternberg is a master at characterization and plotting and this story will keep you reading straight through to the end. I would love to see more stories about Carl Matuski...what an exciting new character!
November 6, 2015
The cover of this book, and the inner formatting are not appealing. But something must have caught my eye, because the story was enthralling. About a little known (at least to me) issue in the 1920s, the book is set in Oregon at a time when the issue of private schooling - specifically Catholic schooling - was controversial. The Ku Klux Klan appears in protest against Catholics, which reminds the reader that the KKK was full of hate for a lot of different kinds of people. The mystery centers on Carl's brother Adam, who is accused of stealing jewels from a wealthy local family. Carl takes it upon himself to solve the case, along the way finding out about the absurdity of hating someone for their religion. I enjoyed learning about this chapter in history, and thought the characters were well-developed, especially Carl who has to learn how to be responsible not only for himself, but also for his older brother.
Readers who enjoy historical fiction or mysteries might enjoy this. The story is somewhat complex and some of the topics might be better suited to the older readers in our range for this class. Readers who will identify closely with a younger brother as a character might also be particularly interested.
Speakeasies. Theft. Murder. Death.
Readers who enjoy historical fiction or mysteries might enjoy this. The story is somewhat complex and some of the topics might be better suited to the older readers in our range for this class. Readers who will identify closely with a younger brother as a character might also be particularly interested.
Speakeasies. Theft. Murder. Death.
February 1, 2009
Carl and Adam Matuski were brothers. Adam was the oldest but Carl was the more responsible one. When Adam was accused of a crime, Carl did everything he could think of - even putting his life in danger at one point – to prove his brother’s innocence.
Not only was this a good story, but it was informative: The Matuski brothers were Polish Catholics living in Portland, Oregon during a time when members of the Ku Klux Klan and other groups wanted to close down parochial and non-public schools. These people believed that Catholic children needed to be “Americanized” by attending public schools. This campaign for the “Oregon School Question” was news to me. And, honestly, I never knew that African-Americans weren’t the only race of people who had a history of being terrorized by the Ku Klux Klan.
Not only was this a good story, but it was informative: The Matuski brothers were Polish Catholics living in Portland, Oregon during a time when members of the Ku Klux Klan and other groups wanted to close down parochial and non-public schools. These people believed that Catholic children needed to be “Americanized” by attending public schools. This campaign for the “Oregon School Question” was news to me. And, honestly, I never knew that African-Americans weren’t the only race of people who had a history of being terrorized by the Ku Klux Klan.
Want to read
November 24, 2011I had this out on eloan from the local library and I ran out of time -I really want to know how the rest of this book plays out...
May 11, 2012
I was exhausted after reading this book from the little brother running all over town.
Read
September 23, 2018The story demonstrates how bigotry and fear permeated many American communities before and after World War I ... and in some ways, how thing have and haven't changed.
Why you shouldn't mistake this as a "period piece" in our review.
Why you shouldn't mistake this as a "period piece" in our review.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews