RE 5140: Connie Green

Summer 2010

Lucy Cook

Immigration Stories from list

Story 1

The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, New York

The Keeping Quilt is about the journey of a quilt through the author’s family from its very origins. Clothes that were old or out grown by her ancestors who came to America from Russia were used as scraps to create it. The quilt was present for family events and traditions and was passed down through generations. The quilt is a symbol of family bonds and each new generation hears the story of the family members woven into the quilt. In the end, Patricia has the quilt and is eagerly waiting for grandchildren to continue sharing the family history through the keeping quilt.

I love traditions. I love hearing about the wonderful things people do to celebrate family and try to start a few of my own. The keeping quilt has become a cherished tradition for Patricia’s extended family, even like a beloved family member. It serves as a connection between the old and the new, always present and reminding the family from whence they came and those that help make them what they are today. Patricia Polacco is the author and the illustrator. As the illustrator, she gives color only to the quilt while the rest of the picture is in black and white to visual engage the reader, clearly identify its role and to signify its importance.

Patricia Polacco is one of my favorite authors. She is usually the character telling the story about her real life experience. Her stories are great for classroom modeling to encourage students to write about their personal experiences, so they will know what happened next.

Story 2

When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest Illustrated by P.J. Lynch

Candlewick Press

2067 Massachusetts Avenue

Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140

Perseverance and brave would best describe the main character Jessie in this book. She shows these qualities by assisting the elderly grandmother with whom she lives, (her parents are deceased), by attending school with the boys, by teaching her grandmother to read and write, by learning to sew lace despite many finger pricks. When the local Rabbi picks Jessie to use his ticket to go to America, these qualities again are presents as she leaves the life she knows, the country she knows, her grandmother and boards a ship to cross a mighty ocean for the complete unknown in America. Once in America, she works in a dress shop and saves her money to buy her grandmother a ticket to join her.

The illustrations are beautiful and help tell this story by detailing emotion on the faces of the characters. One has to empathize with the young girl and admire her strength of character in the face of so many trials. Hope is laced throughout the story and Jessie’s immigration story isn’t complete until she is reunited with her grandmother. I like how the author referenced the mother’s wedding band at the beginning of the story and ended with referencing the wedding band. It tied the story together nicely and helped it come full circle like the band itself. I also like how she repeated the phrase “it rained so hard there was no telling where the sky met the sea” for both characters immigration voyages. The verse and illustration help elicit an emotional response. Imagine how the emotions are raging inside the characters similar to sky and the sea.

Story 3

Letters from Rifka by Karen Hesse

Henry Holt and Company, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, New York 10010

Wow. When I started reading this, I didn’t put it down until I had finished. Karen Hesse has done a masterful job of painting a picture with words of the misery, fear, trials and tribulations a young Jewish girl and her family endure as they live and escape Russia then immigrate to America. Family bonds are so strong, even when thousand of miles separate sons from the rest, the connection still remains. Even extended family bonds are strong. Where has America gone so wrong that we have not forged the tie to our families and heritage? Despite never getting a fair break, Rifka remains hopeful of getting to America and having a better life. Ha! How very shallow and telling of American culture is Rifka’s letter to Tovah on the issue of her hair not growing back, “You said a girl must not depend on her looks, that it is better to be clever. But in America looks are more important.”