Rachel, the Jewish heroine of this story, is trapped indoors, first by illness, then by the lack of shoes, and finally, by the invasion of Poland by the Germans in 1939. This story of persecution and poverty opens with Rachel's father still working at his store in Warsaw; soon, though, his business is taken over and he and his son, Nat, work as porters- -jobs once delegated to horses. Rachel is forced to remain inside all winter, and through the small pleasures that break up the monotony of Rachel's ordeal—such as guessing whose feet are passing the basement apartment's only window—Nerlove (Thanksgiving, 1990, etc.) makes clear the pain of this exile. With a cast-off paint set, Rachel and her father paint flowers on the walls of their apartment; the dusky moss tones of the illustrations, echoing the somber tone of the text, come temporarily alive with the brightly petaled foliage that seems to herald more hopeful times. Then Rachel's family is ousted, first to the Warsaw ghetto and then to Treblinka. This strong, sad ending, despite the dire true story behind Rachel's circumstances (an old photo was Nerlove's inspiration), means that this book is best given to readers who already have a context for understanding it; that such horrors against humanity are treated with understatement makes them no less terrifying. (Picture book. 7-10)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-689-50614-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1996
In describing how his parents met, Say continues to explore the ways that differing cultures can harmonize; raised near San Francisco and known as May everywhere except at home, where she is Masako, the child who will grow up to be Say’s mother becomes a misfit when her family moves back to Japan. Rebelling against attempts to force her into the mold of a traditional Japanese woman, she leaves for Osaka, finds work as a department store translator, and meets Joseph, a Chinese businessman who not only speaks English, but prefers tea with milk and sugar, and persuades her that “home isn’t a place or a building that’s ready-made or waiting for you, in America or anywhere else.” Painted with characteristic control and restraint, Say’s illustrations, largely portraits, begin with a sepia view of a sullen child in a kimono, gradually take on distinct, subdued color, and end with a formal shot of the smiling young couple in Western dress. A stately cousin to Ina R. Friedman’s How My Parents Learned To Eat (1984), also illustrated by Say. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-90495-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Readers will enjoy this sequel from a plot perspective and will learn how to play-act a trial, though they may not engage...
This sequel to The Lemonade War (2007), picking up just a few days later, focuses on how the fourth graders take justice into their own hands after learning that the main suspect in the case of the missing lemonade-stand money now owns the latest in game-box technology.
Siblings Evan and Jessie (who skipped third grade because of her precocity) are sure Scott Spencer stole the $208 from Evan’s shorts and want revenge, especially as Scott’s new toy makes him the most popular kid in class, despite his personal shortcomings. Jessie’s solution is to orchestrate a full-blown trial by jury after school, while Evan prefers to challenge Scott in basketball. Neither channel proves satisfactory for the two protagonists (whose rational and emotional reactions are followed throughout the third-person narrative), though, ultimately, the matter is resolved. Set during the week of Yom Kippur, the story raises beginning questions of fairness, integrity, sin and atonement. Like John Grisham's Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer (2010), much of the book is taken up with introducing courtroom proceedings for a fourth-grade level of understanding. Chapter headings provide definitions (“due diligence,” “circumstantial evidence,” etc.) and explanation cards/documents drawn by Jessie are interspersed.
Readers will enjoy this sequel from a plot perspective and will learn how to play-act a trial, though they may not engage with the characters enough to care about how the justice actually pans out. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: May 2, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-27967-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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