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Summary
Summary
To the Rabbi Yoshe Preminger, Sir, My Bubbeh believes you are the wisest man in the whole world, but I cannot agree with her. You have read a thousand books, but you do not seem to understand that immigrants came to America to escape from mean, wicked people who hurt them and their families. That is why the Pilgrims came and that is why the Jewish people came later. The Pilgrims were thankful and I think that we should be too.Signed byRivka Rabin
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-After learning about Thanksgiving at school, Rivka tries to persuade her Jewish immigrant family to observe this quintessential American holiday. But their resistance to participating in a "Gentile" celebration leads the nine-year-old to confront the family's rabbi with a letter pointing out the similarities between the Pilgrims and the Jews in escaping religious persecution. While the theme of an immigrant child trying to bridge the gap between her new life in America and the traditions of her family is one that endures, this book fails to convey the cultural importance of Thanksgiving, not to mention the vibrant life of Jewish immigrants on New York's Lower East Side in the 1910s. Based on a story passed down through the author's family, the text is wordy and presupposes too much knowledge about Jewish immigrants. The pencil-and-acrylic illustrations are cloyingly sweet and merely average in quality. On some pages, Rivka appears to be a much younger child, which contradicts her precocious challenge to the esteemed rabbi. An additional title at best.-Teri Markson, Stephen S. Wise Temple Elementary School, Los Angeles (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
After learning about Thanksgiving in school in the 1910s, nine-year-old Rivka succeeds in persuading her immigrant family and her rabbi that it is a holiday for all Americans even Jewish families. Rivka's case to her rabbi (and six of his peers) is impassioned, although some readers may have trouble believing that none of these learned men has heard of the holiday. Kovalski (Queen Nadine) is at her best with scenes of the Lower East Side's bustling streets, but her cartoonish illustrations often clash with Rael's (What Zeesie Saw on Delancy Street) moving message. Ages 5-9. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Cheerful colored-pencil and acrylic illustrations chock-full of amusing detail and wonderful facial expressions draw readers into a well-told tale about a Jewish immigrant family's first Thanksgiving in early-twentieth-century New York City. This is for a younger audience than Barbara Cohen's classic, [cf2]Molly's Pilgrim.[cf1] An author's note provides some prefatory information. Glos. From HORN BOOK Spring 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
This paean to the wisdom of children is based on Rael's (When Zaydeh Danced on Eldridge Street, 1997, etc.) own memories as a child of Jewish immigrants growing up on Manhattan's Lower East Side and will remind many readers of Barbara Cohen's Molly's Pilgrim. Like Cohen's tale, Rivka Rubin's story is set in early 20th-century New York City. In Rael's treatment, however, it is the child who understands intuitively that Thanksgiving is indeed a holiday for all Americans and thus may rightfully be embraced by recently arrived Jews, for they have much to be grateful for in having arrived in the US. It's not so easy to convince the adults around her, though, unfamiliar as they are with this American tradition. The neighborhood's revered rabbi initially decides that Thanksgiving is not a celebration for Jews, and that's enough to settle the matter for Rivka's family. Determinedly and with a show of the special brand of chutzpah given only to children, Rivka writes the rabbi a letter that begins: "My Bubbeh believes you are the wisest man in the whole world, but I cannot agree with her." The rabbi ultimately gives his blessing to Rivka's argument and is invited to sit at the head of the table at the Rubin family's first Thanksgiving celebration in America. Kovalski's (Jingle Bells, 1999, etc.) charming drawings, rendered in colored pencils and acrylics, burst with good cheer and beautifully depict the bustling streets of the Lower East Side and its close-knit families. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)
Booklist Review
Ages 4-8. Rivka's immigrant Jewish family doesn't know anything about Thanksgiving. "Is it for Jews?" they ask. Grandmother takes Rivka to consult with the great Rabbi, and after he decides that Thanksgiving is not a celebration for Jews, she dares to write him a letter telling him he's wrong (immigrants came to America to escape from mean, wicked people who hurt them and their families") and persuades the Council of Rabbis that Jews also owe thanks. This isn't as touching as Rael's What Zeesie Saw on Delancey Street (1996), which was also set in the early 1900s in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Some of the colored-pencil-and-acrylic pictures are too exaggerated--the mother and grandmother are almost cartoons. But there is a strong sense of the warmth and energy in the crowded neighborhood, and the idea of the child teaching the wise elders will have broad appeal. --Hazel Rochman
