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Letters from Rifka
Letters from Rifka
Author: Karen Hesse
"America," the girl repeated. "What will you do there?"I was silent for a little time."I will do everything there," I answered. — Rifka knows nothing about America when she flees from Russia with her family in 1919. But she dreams that in the new country she will at last be safe from the Russian soldiers and their harsh t...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780140363913
ISBN-10: 0140363912
Publication Date: 11/1/1993
Pages: 148
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Rating:
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
 38

4.3 stars, based on 38 ratings
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Letters from Rifka on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
I really enjoyed this book, I had to read it for school, so you know how that goes. Not the most fun when you are forced to read a book. I acutally choose this book out of a box of books about europe. I enjoyed every page of it! I couldn't put it down. I ended up reading it in one day I was so engrosed in it. I happen to be a very slow reader myself but this classic story kept me flipping the pages. I recomend this for any young reader. I felt what rifka felt, I was heart brocken with her and I jumped for joy with her. Great Job!
reviewed Letters from Rifka on + 6 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
A good novel for those young or old. It describes a journey of a Jewish girl fleeing the harsh Russian land for a free life in America.
reviewed Letters from Rifka on + 131 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
A young adult book about a Jewish girl and her family who flee to America from Russia because of their heritage. It is listed as the Winner of the Christopher Award, ALA Best Book for Young Adults and School Library Journal's Best Book of the year. A very good read.
stargazer00 avatar reviewed Letters from Rifka on + 151 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
"Rifka and her family have fled Russia's brutal treatment of the Jews for a new life in America. But the path to freedom is full of terrible obstacles--the humiliating scrutiny of doctors and soldiers, and deadly typhus that strikes the entire family. Finally, when it seems that they have triumphed over every possible hardship, the doctors refuse to let Rifka board the ship to America--and her family must leave without her."
slow-mo-panda avatar reviewed Letters from Rifka on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is a good book to read if you'd like to learn more about the Jews trying to find homes in America to get away from the Russians during the war. It's about one girl's journey back to her family in America, where they settled.
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reviewed Letters from Rifka on + 3561 more book reviews
Twelve-year-old Rifka's journey from a Jewish community in the Ukraine to Ellis Island is anything but smooth sailing. Modeled on the author's great-aunt, Rifka surmounts one obstacle after another in this riveting novel. First she outwits a band of Russian soldiers, enabling her family to escape to Poland. There the family is struck with typhus. Everyone recovers, but Rifka catches ringworm on the next stage of the journey--and is denied passage to America ("If the child arrives . . . with this disease," explains the steamship's doctor, "the Americans will turn her around and send her right back to Poland"). Rifka's family must leave without her, and she is billeted in Belgium for an agreeable if lengthy recovery. Further trials, including a deadly storm at sea and a quarantine, do not faze this resourceful girl. Told in the form of "letters" written by Rifka in the margins of a volume of Pushkin's verse and addressed to a Russian relative, Hesse's vivacious tale colorfully and convincingly refreshes the immigrant experience.
kenshelpmeet avatar reviewed Letters from Rifka on
I read this in one sitting. Excellent book.
reviewed Letters from Rifka on + 10 more book reviews
This book is a very good, it really opens up your eyes on how the word is


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