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Land of Hope

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Land of Hope

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Overview

The family of Rebekah Levinsky emigrates from Russia and settles in New York City, hoping their dreams will come true. But instead of finding streets paved with gold, they find they must work seven days a week in a sweatshop simply to survive. Will Rebekah conquer the odds and find happiness?

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About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307827470
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	11/27/2013
Series:	Ellis Island Series
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
Lexile:	880L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Joan Lowery Nixon was the author of more than 130 books for young readers and was the only four-time winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Best Young Adult Mystery Award. She received the award for The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore, The Séance, The Name of the Game Was Murder, and The Other Side of the Dark, which also won the California Young Reader Medal. Her historical fiction included the award-winning series The Orphan Train Adventures, Orphan Train Children, and Colonial Williamsburg: Young Americans.

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Editorial Reviews

This first book of a series spotlights Rebekah Levinsky, who, with her family, escapes the pogroms of Russia and boards a crowded steamship for New York City in 1902. The journey's rigors and the agony of leaving her homeland recede somewhat when she meets three emigrants of her own age, yet the girl's joy on arriving at Ellis Island is diminished when her grandfather's limp prevents his entering the country. More problems follow: cramped living quarters, sweatshop working conditions, a street gang that harasses Rebekah's older brother. Nixon ably dramatizes the hope that can emerge in response to oppression--political and otherwise; despite Rebekah's pleas to attend school and become a teacher, her parents insist she focus on an arranged marriage and childbearing. The book has its shortcomings, however--stilted dialogue, a repetitious, sometimes dull narrative and numerous Yiddish words likely to perplex youngsters. Still, this close-up view of turn-of-the-century America and Nixon's factual afterword on Ellis Island are admirable compensations. Ages 10-up. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 5-7-- Rebekah, 15, and her family leave their shtetl in Russia for the U. S., seeking safety from the random violence against Jews. On the ship she meets two girls, one Irish and one Swedish, representing two other major groups of immigrants in the early 1900s. Rebekah and her friends talk about the opportunities for women in their new country, a theme that reappears throughout the story. Interwoven is the beginning of a romance that will surely develop in later books. The novel's strength is its sense of place; readers suffer the smells and trials of the long, harrowing ocean trip and feel the confusion the family faces in New York, even then a large and chaotic city. The characters, who seem to be typecast for their role in a book about the ``immigrant experience,'' and the episodic plot slow down the pace of the story, and it's difficult for readers to care much about these people. Other novels set in the same period include the powerful Call Me Ruth (Doubleday, 1982; o.p.) by Marilyn Sachs and One Way to Ansonia (Bradbury, 1985) by Judie Angell. --Amy Kellman, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

School Library Journal

In the first book of the Ellis Island series, 15-year-old Rebekah Levinsky escapes persecution in Russia and flees with her family to join Uncle Avir in New York City. Few of the family's belongings can be brought on the treacherous voyage, and Rebekah misses her best friend and the home she leaves behind. Even so, she adapts quickly to life on board the ship and finds friends. Her arduous journey is vividly described; her friendships and fleeting shipboard romance are less convincing. When Rebekah's grandfather is denied entry into the U.S. because he is lame, the family is devastated. They are also unprepared for the cramped living quarters of their new home and the long hours they must work in the sweat shop to survive in the new land. Despite the difficulties, Rebekah is still granted her one wish--to go to school. Nixon's careful rendering of life for immigrants in the early 1900s is realistically harsh yet hopeful, and teenagers will absorb a strong sense of the times as they read Rebekah's engrossing story.

Candace Smith

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