This book is suitable for fourth through eighth graders. The lexile is 660.
Synopsis: Written in letter format, this book
depicts the journey that Rifka Nebrot takes as a persecuted Jewish Russian to
the United States. She and her
family must leave hastily and cleverly to avoid the Russian army that intends
to killer her two brothers. Rifka
and her family encounter many adversities on the way to America (including
typhus, ringworm, being swindled, and difficulty with new languages). Rifka is separated from her family when
they get to travel to America, but she is forced to stay in Europe to treat her
ringworm.
Finally, she
arrives in America, only to be detained for not having any hair. With the help of a Russian peasant boy,
Rifka proves to the officials at Ellis Island that she is worthy enough to
become an American.
Indicators of Authenticity: The following honors (and many
more) have been awarded to this book:
National Jewish Book Award
IRA Children’s Book Award
Christopher Award
ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Horn Book Outstanding Book of the Year
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
Reviews:
Booklist (Vol. 88,
No. 21 (July 1992))
Gr. 5-8. In letters to her cousin back "home" in Russia,
12-year-old Rifka tells of her journey to America in 1919, from the dangerous
escape over the border to the journey through Europe and across the sea to the
new country. Rifka gets ringworm and has to stay behind in Belgium for nearly a
year while her parents and brothers go on to America. The best part of the book
is about her time on Ellis Island, in limbo, waiting to see if the authorities
will declare her infection-free. The letters format is occasionally contrived,
and few kids will care for the inflated poetry that heads each letter, though
it is moving to discover that she's writing everything in the margins of her
beloved book of Pushkin. The letters do allow her to bring in memories of what
she has left behind, including the fierce racist persecution. Based on the
experience of Hesse's great-aunt, the narrative flashes occasionally with
lively Yiddish idiom ("You are bored?" her mother says to Rifka,
"So I'll hire you a band"). What especially raises it above
docu-novel is the emerging sense of Rifka's personality. Bald from the
ringworm, poor and needy, she proves she's no greenhorn; she has a gift for
languages, she's brave and clever, and if she talks too much, so be it.
Kirkus Review starred
(1992)
Beginning in Russia in 1919, this epistolary novel, based on experiences
of the author's great-aunt, tells how 12-year-old Rifka Nebrot and her family
fled the anti-Semitism of post-revolutionary Russia and emigrated to the US.
The letters, each prefaced by a few telling lines of Pushkin, tell of the fear,
indignities, privation, and disease endured as they traveled through Poland and
into Belgium, where Rifka had to be left behind for several months because she
was unacceptable as a steamship passenger: she had ringworm. Finally reaching
Ellis Island, she was held in quarantine because the ringworm had left her
bald--making her an undesirable immigrant because it was thought that she'd be
unable to find a husband to support her. Eventually, Rifka talked her way into
the country; her energy, cleverness, and flair for languages convinced
officials that she wouldn't become a ward of the state. Told with unusual grace
and simplicity, an unforgettable picture of immigrant courage, ingenuity, and
perseverance.
Enjoy this visual narrative of Shaun Tan's The Arrival. In addition to using the book and/or video, there are lesson plans available to integrate activities in your classroom.