We use cookies to make your experience better. To comply with the new e-Privacy directive, we need to ask for your consent to set the cookies. Learn more.
Journey to America (50th Anniversary Edition)
The things that Lisa, her older sister Ruth, her younger sister Annie, and her mother had to endure is incredible. They lived in Berlin in 1938 when the Nazis were first starting to take over. Lisa's father, who is referred to as Papa, decides in the very beginning of this story to leave Germany and establish a foundation for his family in America. Meanwhile, life in Berlin is getting more dangerous for Jewish people, and as the threat of war is turning into reality, Papa sends a letter over, suggesting that his wife and their daughters flee to Switzerland, masking the emigration as a vacation. Mother is allowed to bring only 10 marks per person with her, which puts her in a very challenging financial situation. She keeps Annie with her and is forced to send Ruth and Lisa to a camp where there are other children in similar situations or without parents at all. The girls don't get enough to eat and don't have the kind of care that all children need. After they visit their mother, she senses this and takes them out of the camp. Pretty soon, all three girls are sent to live with three different families in Zurich, where they are well-nourished and thrive. Mother collapses from pneumonia and spends this time in the hospital. She recovers and the family is on their way to being reunited with their father, whom they have not seen for nearly a year by this time, as he has been saving for their tickets to America. Sonia Levitin tells a touching, and very real story, that I am sure was sadly not uncommon.
In 1938, Lisa Platt and her family know something dangerous is happening in Germany. Lately, there have been more and more restrictions for Jews: yellow stars they have to wear, schools they cannot attend, things they are forbidden to do. When their neighbors are arrested for petty reasons, the Platts realize they have to escape.
Forbidden to bring money or possessions out of the country, Lisa's father secretly leaves for America, planning to work until he can send for them. But when conditions in Germany worsen, Lisa, her mother, and her sisters flee to Switzerland to wait, surviving on what little they have in a continent hurtling toward war.
Product Format: | Softcover Book |
---|---|
Brand: | Aladdin Paperbacks |
Author: | Sonia Levitin |
Grades: | 4-7 |
ISBN: | 9781534464636 |
Length in Inches: | 7.625 |
Width in Inches: | 5.125 |
Height in Inches: | 0.375 |
Weight in Pounds: | 0.3563 |