Little Vin at Dreamland — Edward C. Patterson

Vincent Grainger is on the brink of a creative life. It's 1910 in Coney Island, Brooklyn, and Vin is an imaginative actor at Dreamland Park's Congress of Oddities. But life in the Irish immigrant community can be as harsh as it can be sweet. Off season, there's the daily challenge of bringing in pocket change to keep aspirations afloat. Still, there's always opportunities - mucking out livery stalls or posing for artists or waiting tables and dancing for dimes. It's a time to sparkle for those with the right attitude; and little Vin has quite the spark to get him through the best and worst of it. Little Vin at Dreamland will transport you to the dazzling world of Coney Island at its height and introduce you to the world of Brooklyn society in 1910-1911, both the posh and the seedy. From the thousand lights of Dreamland, Luna and Steeplechase Parks to the early days of the silent film industry at Fort Lee, NJ, you will savor an America that paved the way to greatness â€" a heart still beating today in the descendants of those who came here to stake a claim. For most of us, it begins here, at the base of Dreamland Tower. For those who carry imagination's spark, it begins in the rhythm of little Vin's jig.