Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl (Dear America)

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Synopsis
Zippy's Diary begins with her arrival on Ellis Island with her mother and 2 older sisters. Two days before a bit of soot irritated her eye and for that the 12 year old would have been sent back to Russia alone with the letter E for eye disease chalked on her back. Thinking quickly, her big sister, Tovah, with lightning speed, turns Zippy's coat inside out, and so begins the little girl's life in America, the land of dreams. She dreams of becoming an actress, Tovah dreams of unionizing the workers in sweat shops and Miriam dreams the unthinkable, of marrying an Irish Catholic boy. Zippy suffers the humiliation of being placed in first grade, but through intelligence and concentrated hard work and practice will reach eighth grade in a year and a half when her Diary ends. She uses and explains Yiddish words and Jewish proverbs as she goes along. She and her family struggle to decide which traditional and religious customs to keep and which American customs to adopt. Conflict arises when different family members make different choices. This story in which Zippy confides her most personal thoughts from being irritated because their boarder smells bad to wanting to contact Miriam, now married to her Irish boy and declared dead and even mourned by their mother. The pace at which this family adjusts to and makes changes is astonishing as are the many details of life in New York City in 1903 when the ice cream cone is an untried invention. There is meaningful information about immigrants from several countries, solid history and compelling human drama.
Copyright:
1998

Book Details

Book Quality:
Excellent
Book Size:
193 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780590029735
Publisher:
Scholastic
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Kathryn Lasky
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Children's Books, Literature and Fiction, Religion and Spirituality
Submitted By:
Amber W
Proofread By:
Lissi
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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