Land of Hope (Ellis Island Series #1)

by Joan Lowery Nixon

Overview

Russian immigrant Rebekah Levinsky hopes desperately that her dream will come true in America. On the difficult ocean journey to the "land of opportunity" she meets two other girls—Kristin Swensen from Sweden and Rose Carney from Ireland. The three quickly become friends as they share their visions of the future and endure life on the overcrowded ship.



Once they reach Ellis Island the girls must separate and Rebekah and her family settle in New York on the Lower East Side. Instead of finding streets paved with gold, they slave seven days a week in a sweatshop. Will Rebekah find the courage to conquer the odds and find happiness in the United States of America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780440215974
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	08/28/1993
Series:	Ellis Island Series , #1
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	4.25(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.46(d)
Lexile:	880L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 14 Years

About the Author

Joan Lowery Nixon was the author of more than 130 books for young readers and was the only four-time winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Best Young Adult Mystery Award. She received the award for The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore, The Séance, The Name of the Game Was Murder, and The Other Side of the Dark, which also won the California Young Reader Medal. Her historical fiction included the award-winning series The Orphan Train Adventures, Orphan Train Children, and Colonial Williamsburg: Young Americans.

Editorial Reviews

In the first book of the Ellis Island series, 15-year-old Rebekah Levinsky escapes persecution in Russia and flees with her family to join Uncle Avir in New York City. Few of the family's belongings can be brought on the treacherous voyage, and Rebekah misses her best friend and the home she leaves behind. Even so, she adapts quickly to life on board the ship and finds friends. Her arduous journey is vividly described; her friendships and fleeting shipboard romance are less convincing. When Rebekah's grandfather is denied entry into the U.S. because he is lame, the family is devastated. They are also unprepared for the cramped living quarters of their new home and the long hours they must work in the sweat shop to survive in the new land. Despite the difficulties, Rebekah is still granted her one wish--to go to school. Nixon's careful rendering of life for immigrants in the early 1900s is realistically harsh yet hopeful, and teenagers will absorb a strong sense of the times as they read Rebekah's engrossing story.

Candace Smith