December 13, 2011 @ 6:40 pm | Filed under: books
My friend Mary Alice is trying to track down this book:
It is a longer picture book about a Jewish girl who leaves Russia alone and lives with her tailor aunt and uncle in America, then marries a young man she meets on the boat, and I think saves up and sends for her elderly mother?
Not ringing any bells for me, but it sounds great…
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It sounds like it could be “When Jessie Came Across the Sea” by Amy Hest: http://www.amazon.com/When-Jessie-Came-Across-Sea/dp/0763600946
Posted on December 13th, 2011 at 6:46 pmWhen Jesse Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest
Posted on December 13th, 2011 at 6:47 pmIt is a beautiful book. It was included in the audio version of Jonathan Toomey that we own. I don’t know who reads the audio book but her voice is perfect for the story.
Posted on December 13th, 2011 at 6:51 pmThat was fast! Thanks! And as soon as Scott saw your comments, he remembered the book from a hospital playroom we spent a lot of time in years ago. We’ll have to get hold of a copy and revisit it.
Posted on December 13th, 2011 at 6:56 pmWait… now I’m second guessing myself. I don’t know if she lives with her aunt and uncle. And it’s her grandmother she sends for. Maybe that’s not the same one.
Posted on December 13th, 2011 at 6:56 pmOh, OK. I’m glad someone else remembers it too.
Posted on December 13th, 2011 at 6:57 pmSounds like When Jessie Came Across the Sea.
From Amazon: Grade 2-4?This narrative of 13-year-old Jessie’s journey from a poor village in Eastern Europe to New York City at the turn of the century affords readers a panoramic view of events and people. The author’s exploration of a variety of emotions and feelings provides modern youngsters with a sense of connections with times long past. There is the familial devotion between Jessie and her grandmother, whom she has to leave behind. A shipboard friendship with Lou, a young shoemaker, helps Jessie survive the hardships and uncertainties of the ocean crossing. Her skill as a lacemaker, painstakingly learned from her grandmother, insures her success in the dressmaker’s shop where she goes to work. Her romance with Lou is rekindled when they meet years later on a wintry day in Central Park. Jessie’s reunion with her grandmother, whose ticket she has purchased with money saved during years of hard work, is the poignant conclusion to this tale. Lynch’s luminous watercolor and gouache illustrations capture the characters’ feelings, at the same time recording the storms at sea and teeming streets of the Lower East Side. The two young people’s spirit of hope and optimism, created by the straightforward text, is enhanced by these pictures, as they provide a visual record of difficulties encountered by the scores of immigrants who reached these shores. This book will be particularly useful for units on immigration and family histories, used in conjunction with Allen Say’s Grandfather’s Journey (Houghton, 1993) or Jeanette Winter’s Klara’s New World (Knopf, 1992; o.p.).?Martha Rosen, Edgewood School, Scarsdale, NY
Posted on December 13th, 2011 at 7:15 pmCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Oops, didn’t see that others had already solved it. Waving anyway!
Posted on December 13th, 2011 at 7:16 pmJessie’s story is one of our favorites! Beautiful illustrations:)
Posted on December 14th, 2011 at 5:30 amWow! Thank you all, you will get credit in my post about wonderful, uplifting gift books.
Posted on December 14th, 2011 at 6:17 amGifts from Father Christmas | Building Cathedrals says:
[...] When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest: I had forgotten the title of this wonderful immigrant story which includes courage, hard work and love. It is a well illustrated picture book for older readers. Thanks to Melissa Wiley’s readers for helping me find it! [...]
Posted on December 14th, 2011 at 6:20 amYup, When Jessie… for sure! One of our favorite books!
Posted on December 14th, 2011 at 3:27 pmHere’s a similar story:
http://www.amazon.com/Buba-Leah-Her-Paper-Children/dp/0827603754
Posted on December 15th, 2011 at 9:11 amI’m looking for a beautiful story about a boy from a very poor family in South America. He loves to read and searches out the rare and expensive orchid in the jungle and sells them to buy books. There is a beautiful book that he longs to buy but he keeps remember the hole in the blanket that his younger brothers and sisters use to sleep and he uses the money to buy a new blanket and the bookseller says I will save the book for you.
Posted on December 15th, 2011 at 6:59 pm