Frankie's Journey: The Silk Road to Napa

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By Stephanie Farrell Grohs and Lauren Coodley, with an afterword by Rue Ziegler.
The Mousetail Press, 2014

Frankie’s Journey traces the 1908 trek of an imaginary San Francisco boy from his home at the Youth’s Directory, a Catholic charity in San Francisco, to St. Joseph’s Institute, an experimental farm in Napa County.

There has never before been a book about this extraordinary experiment in the rehabilitation of street children utilizing the teaching of agricultural skills – including silk cultivation.

 Frankie’s Journey traces the early 20th century trek of an imaginary San Francisco boy from his home at the Youths’ Directory, a Catholic charity in San Francisco. After witnessing the 1906 earthquake, the boys travel to St. Joseph’s Institute, an experimental farm in Napa County.

 In addition to historical photographs, the book includes pioneer journalist Helen Dare’s article about her visit to St. Joseph’s, along with a real letter written by a boy at the farm. The boys take the silk to Petaluma by train where young women processed it into thread and cloth.