Our Books
Home

About Us

Editorial

Teaching and Learning

Story by Roslyn Bresnick-Perry • Pictures by Mira Reisberg

The author recalls her early years in a small Jewish town in western Russia as she and her mother prepare to join her father in the United States.
About Us

Order
Calendar


About the Book  |  Awards & Honors  |  Praise for this Book  |  Order this Book  |  Related Books
About the Book


Leaving for America is a tender portrayal of life in a Russian Jewish community in the 1920s, as seen through the eyes of a seven-year-old girl who is leaving with her mother to start a new life in America. With affection and humor, author Roslyn Bresnick-Perry tells the story of saying goodbye to the people she loves—her well-meaning neighbors, her loving aunts, uncles, and grandparents, and her "best and worst friend," her cousin Zisl. Based on the author's own early childhood experience in the shtetl, it is a moving tribute to a community that no longer exists, after being destroyed in the Holocaust. It has a strong message for children of all ages about the importance of family, as well as recognizing, remembering, and honoring our cultural roots.

32 pages Full-color illustrations 8 3/4" x 9 3/8" Ages 6 and up
 
linegif
Praise

"A wonderful read-aloud story about the importance of family and cultural roots—a story for all generations to share."
     —MultiCultural Review

"Reisberg's folksy paintings bordered with homey details enhance the scrapbook flavor of the story, which is finely focused and has the poignancy of memory without the haze of nostalgia."
     —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Fascinating illustrations by Mira Reisberg…. The mixed-media presentation is vivid, historically fascinating, and lends a sense of mystery to the family's journey."
     —Hungry Mind Review

"Leaving for America urges children to explore the mixed emotions common to all who leave their homes for new horizons. It reminds us, too, that hope and heritage are the most important baggage these travelers carry with them."
     —Greenburg Tribune-Review

 
linegif

Order this Book
Leaving for America

Hardcover
ISBN: 0-89239-105-7
$14.95

Powells
Hardcover ed.
Amazon
Hardcover ed.

Or for a list of alternative booksellers, please see our order page.
linegif
Reading Girl Related Books
Other books illustrated by Mira Reisberg

Other books about Brave Women and Girls
Other books about Immigration/Migrant Education

Other books from the European American Communities
 


Back to the Top


Children's Book Press. All rights reserved
965 Mission St., Ste. 425, San Francisco, CA 94103
Toll free: (866) 935-2665 | Phone: (415) 543-2665 | Fax: (415) 543-3394
http://www.childrensbookpress.org