Meet Rebecca

Meet Rebecca. By Jacqueline Dembar Greene. Illustrated by Robert Hunt. American Girl Publishing, 2009. 96 pages. Tr. $6.95. ISBN 978-1593695200

Summary: Rebecca longs for the day when she’ll be able to light the Sabbath candles, like her older twin sisters Sadie and Sophie. Over Sabbath dinner, Rebecca learns about the necessity of bringing her relatives over from Europe. It’s far too dangerous there for Jews to live, and Rebecca is terrified for her cousin, Ana, who is the same age. She opts to forgo going to synagogue the following morning, to help her father, a tailor, in his shop. She desperately wants her relatives to live in New York, but for that they need money for the sea voyage. Can Rebecca help make this a possibility?

Critical Review: Rebecca is a strong, confident girl who is a wonderful role model for tween girls. Her story illustrates the history of immigration, highlighting the challenges immigrants faced to adjust to difficult traditions, languages, foods, and customs, all while keeping a foothold on their own traditions. Immigrants wanted to assimilate to American life, but there was also a strong push to maintain their own traditions. Rebecca’s family epitomizes the best of both worlds: weekly they celebrate the Sabbath, while keeping secular interests in perspective. Her cousin Max is an actor, and Rebecca longs to become one as well. In this book, she sells her trousseau. Along with the money Max and her father contribute, there is enough money to purchase tickets for Ana and her family.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Reading/Interest Level: 8-12 years

Awards: Sydney Taylor Notable Books; 2009 Silver Moonbeam Award; National Parenting Publications Honors Award

Reviews: Publisher’s Weekly (2009, May 18)

Series: Rebecca Series

Similar Materials: The following “Rebecca Series” books: Candlelight for Rebecca; Rebecca and Ana; Rebecca and the Movies; Changes for Rebecca; Rebecca and the Rescue

Subjects/Themes: early-twentieth-century New York City; Judaism; businesses, families; immigration history; theatre; moneymaking ventures

Character Names: Rebecca Rubin; Sadie and Sophie Rubin; Max; Uncle Jacob; Ana

Author Website: http://www.jdgbooks.com/

Illustrator Website: http://www.roberthuntstudio.com/

Booktalking Idea: I would pair this book with Karen Cushman’s Rodzina (about a Polish girl that immigrates to the American West) and Deborah Hopkinson’s Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880-1924. Tweens will learn that the experience of what it means to be an American girl has changed across time and place. I would advise tween girls to also read other books in the American Girl series.

Brief Annotation: Eleven-year old Rebecca longs for the day when she’ll be able to light the Sabbath candles, and wishes that her European cousin Ana lived in New York with her.