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!
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.
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.
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."
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.
Helpful Score: 1
RIFKA AND HER FAMILY HAVE FLED RUSSIA'S BRUTAL TREATMENT OF THE JEWS FOR A NEW LIFE IN AMERICA.IN POLAND THEY HAD TO LEAVE RIFKA BEHIND, WILL SHE EVER SEE THEM AGAIN. A WONDERFUL BOOK OF 10 YEAR OLD GIRL MAKING HER WAY TO THE UNITED STATES FROM EUROPE.
Helpful Score: 1
Winner of National Jewish Book Award.
Ages 8-12.
FROM BACK COVER:
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.. . .
"Told with unusual grace and simplicity, an unforgettable picture of immigrant courage, ingenuity, and perseverance."
-- Kirkus Reviews, pointer review
Ages 8-12.
FROM BACK COVER:
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.. . .
"Told with unusual grace and simplicity, an unforgettable picture of immigrant courage, ingenuity, and perseverance."
-- Kirkus Reviews, pointer review
Helpful Score: 1
Great account of one young Jewish girl's fight to flee Russia.
This was a very educational book about the Holocaust and Jews Immigrating to America. The main character in this book is Rifka. Rifka's family is traveling to America from the horrible life they had in Russia. But the doctors do not let her board the ship to America and her family must go on without her. Rifka rights letters to her family in America while she is healing and waiting to be able to board on a new ship to America.
A wonderful book not too graphic and that is the way I like it. I read this book to my children for our unit study and they liked it also. There are plenty of books out there that do their share of describing and I like those too but sometimes we just need to know there a few happy endings and this one is one of those books.
Rifka and her family set out on a trip to leave their homeland that hates them to a place called America. Rifka ends up being left behind for health reasons and so starts her own journey to America. She grows and has matured by the time she makes it to Ellis Island. Her family reunion is a good one and the very last surprise is a sweet addition to the ending!
Rifka and her family set out on a trip to leave their homeland that hates them to a place called America. Rifka ends up being left behind for health reasons and so starts her own journey to America. She grows and has matured by the time she makes it to Ellis Island. Her family reunion is a good one and the very last surprise is a sweet addition to the ending!
This book is a very good, it really opens up your eyes on how the word is
I read this in one sitting. Excellent book.
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.
Rifka dreams of life in America, but she may never get there.
