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Book Reviews of Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America)

Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America)
Dreams in the Golden Country The Diary of Zipporah Feldman a Jewish Immigrant Girl New York City 1903 - Dear America
Author: Kathryn Lasky
ISBN-13: 9780590029735
ISBN-10: 0590029738
Publication Date: 3/1/1998
Pages: 192
Rating:
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 36

4.1 stars, based on 36 ratings
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Book Type: Hardcover
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

8 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America) on + 257 more book reviews
Showed life from a Jewish perspective
reviewed Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America) on
Awesome!
nana23 avatar reviewed Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America) on + 243 more book reviews
I enjoyed this book as an adult reader as I enjoy reading about how different life would be was I not born "ME".
reviewed Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America) on + 1019 more book reviews
My daughter loved these books!
reviewed Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America) on + 471 more book reviews
Dreams In the Golden Country. The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl-New York City 1903. "Sept.1, 1903, Ellis Island, NY. I am sitting here on the wood suitcase, the one with the metal straps. Mama says I am too heavy to rest on the wicker one. It seems as if we have been in this baggage room forever, although it has only been two hours since we got off the boat. My oldest sister Tovah says to get used to it. It takes a long time to get processed. I am not sure what this word means. I know when you enter life you are born, but when you enter America you are processed, here at Ellis Island.It has something to do with all the papers Mama carries with her. It also has to do with the waiting.

Page one of this book.
reviewed Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America) on + 10 more book reviews
March 11,1904
I forgot to tell you that yesterday Boris said to me, "Well, Zippy, maybe some play that is comming up will need children and you can audition." I said, "From your mouth to God's ears, Boris!" Now I can think of nothing else. I told Miriam last night in bed my secret dreams of wanting to become and actress. She squeezed my hand. It was a squeeze that seemed to say we both have secret dreams, mine the theater and hers love. Then she said, "What is it about this country that makes one dream such big dreams?" I yawned sleepily and said, yes, I knew what she ment, and look at Tovah with her union dreams. THere is something in the air here in America that does this to people.
reviewed Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America) on + 3563 more book reviews
Gr 4-8--Zipporah Feldman, a 12-year-old Jewish immigrant from Russia, uses diary entries to chronicle her family's activities as they acclimate to life on New York City's Lower East Side. The hopes and dreams of a young girl are beautifully portrayed through Lasky's eloquent and engaging narrative. Readers are quickly drawn into Zipporah's world of traditional Jewish ritual and celebrations and will identify with the girl's desires to aspire to greatness in her new home. She absorbs the freedom of America, wanting to share her enthusiasm with her parents, encouraging her father to pursue his love of music and trying to persuade her mother to shed some of her strict religious ways. The story's historical significance is evident in the Feldman's arrival at Ellis Island and the subsequent procedures immigrants had to endure, and in the description of the factory fire in which Zipporah's friend dies, which is based on the famous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory of 1911. Characters are portrayed as strong individuals, and their motives are believable. Readers learn in an epilogue that Zipporah pursued her love for the theater and eventually rose to stardom. Archival photos, accompanied by a recipe for hamantaschen and the traditional Jewish song to welcome the Sabbath, bring the reality of the novel to light. A story of hope and of love for one's country.

Beautiful historical novel and book1
reviewed Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America) on + 59 more book reviews
This is a pretty good book. It is by Scholastic, so it is fairly pure, and yet very descriptive of what it must have been like for a young girl to come to America, to learn a new language and forget her old one, to acclimatize to a new lifestyle. At the same time, there are friends who also came to America, undergoing the same growth pains. It is not shmaltzy, but plain, a sort of diary, altho I did not really feel it was a diary as the Anne Frank Diary makes you feel. Anne Frank was like -- the person left, and returned. Zipporah, a bright young lady, is living in these pages.