Dear Emma [Hardcover]

Johanna Hurwitz (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

After spending a Fresh Air Fund vacation discovering a new world on a Vermont farm, Dossi thought that returning home to the bustling New York of 1910 would be simple. Little did she know that, even in. a familiar place, there are new things to experience: Her sister, Ruthi, is to be married, and they are to move out of their one room into Ruthi's husband's apartment -- where Dossi will have her own space!

But as independent Dossi learns, adjusting to life with her new brother-in-law -- and his rules -- is not always easy. As she writes to Emma, a friend she made in Vermont, she reveals her frustrations, her fears about her new life, and her dreams for the future. Soon she finds that, no matter where she is, she has much to discover inside herself.

Readers who are already acquainted with Dossi from Faraway Summer and those meeting her for the first time will root for her as she moves through an eventful thirteenth year in this affecting story.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7-The friendship established between Hadassah (Dossi) Rabinowitz and Emma Meade in Faraway Summer (Morrow, 1998) continues with letters that Dossi writes to the Meade family from 1910-1911. Hurwitz's fluid descriptions of this period fill the girl's letters, describing the cramped living conditions she and her older sister, Ruthi, endure in their Lower East Side room in New York City. Ruthi soon marries Meyer, a pharmacist, quits her job at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, and the three move into a spacious tenement apartment. Ruthi gets pregnant and her physical and emotional health are strained when their neighbors are quarantined with diphtheria and when her friend Rosa dies with many other women in the factory's infamous fire. Dossi successfully distracts Ruthi from her grief, and rejoices in the birth of her niece. Throughout this time, the protagonist struggles with algebra but has a successful school year. The format is a bit awkward in that the early letters describe the girls' summer visit and subsequent ones reiterate information from Emma's letters, which are not produced in this book. Period postcards of New York City and attractive woodcuts enliven the story, and the author's notes add historical details. Readers will learn much about this period that was so grim for many U.S. immigrants and other working poor.
Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-5. In this sequel to Faraway Summer (1998), 12-year-old Hadassah "Dossi" Rabinowitz corresponds with her Vermont friend Emma about her feelings and the events surrounding her life in the tenements of New York's Lower East Side. During the year Dossi's sister marries a widower, Mayer Reisman; the neighborhood suffers a diphtheria epidemic; a friend is killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire; and Dossi sets her sights on a possible career in medicine as she graduates from grammar school. Hurwitz's descriptions of New York City, circa 1910, are great, and the inclusion of period postcards illustrating sights mentioned in the story adds extra texture. Also well handled are the misunderstandings between Dossi and her brother-in-law; they ring true both for the times and for a character of Dossi's age. This is a good choice for history buffs or classes studying this time period; the Judaica content makes this appropriate for religious school collections as well. Kay Weisman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (October 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060298405
• ISBN-13: 978-0060298401
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,600,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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