Customer Reviews

Journey to America

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
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Lisa Plat and her family live in Berlin, Germany during a time of great Jewish persecution. Although not everyone agreed that all the Jews were in danger, Lisa and her family feared the future. Her father decided that it would be best for them to try and escape to America where they could live freely. However, due to lack of money and a place to live he would have to go ahead and send for his family later. Soon after arriving in America he sent word that Lisa, along with her mother and sisters would have to travel to Switzerland and wait there until further notice. They said goodbye to all of the people they loved and all the familiar things they new, to move to a strange place where they had little money, no decent shelter and no friends. Many months of struggle lay ahead for Lisa and her family but the outcome proves to be worthwhile.
Even in the face of a life and death crisis, it takes a special kind of courage to leave everything, to face poverty and to begin again in wholly new surroundings. Journey to America is a children's book that I truly enjoyed. The reader feels as though they traveled back in time to the 1930's and walked in the shoes of a Jewish citizen of Germany in a time of Nazi domination. It helps the reader to understand the many hardships Jews faced and have a more clear comprehension of the true blessing of freedom. This is a story of triumph and success that will warm your heart and open your mind.

This was one of the first books I read about the Holocaust, and as I re-read just a few days ago, I can certainly see why I loved it so much. "Journey To America" is the story of Lisa Platt, who, along with her mother and sisters, escapes form 1938 Berlin to Switzerland to escape persecuction of the Jews. Not only is she torn from her familiar home, she and her mother and sisters are without Lisa's father, who went to America and had them wait in Switzerland until he could send for them. The thing that makes this book memorable are the very believable emotions that Lisa and her family have...saying good-bye to their beloved housekeeper, leaving treasured belongings behind, and living with terrible uncertainty and little money in Switzerland. It is all told though first-person perspective by Lisa, and it brings a "personal" touch to the Holocaust. "Journey To America" shows us another heart-wrenching journey to the "land of the free" far different than the that of Pilgrims.

This book is about A girl named Lisa who lives in Germany. She is Jewish as well of the rest of her family. It was a dangerous time for the jews so her dad went to America hoping to find a better future for his family. During that time her, her 2 sisters, and her mother went to Switzerland to wait for their dad to send for them. During that time they have to make many sacrifices of leaving their belongings in Germany and starting a new life. In Switzerland they also have troubles with money. When will their dad send for them? Read this book and find out! This book helped me learn more about the jews and their persecutions as a jew.

What a great book! It flowed so well that there was not one part that didn't connect to the next. Although each scene was not action packed, I was never once bored reading it!! The book was well written, and it was not filled to the brim with information. It was a real story, not a textbook. To me it seemed that the author new what would make the story interesting and when, so this is one book that reallly kept me reading. I think that it is an enjoyable book, and I very highly recommend it to you!-Katharine Manning, American School In Japan, 6th grade.

Summary-Told through Lisa Platts Perspective
The Platt family is anticipating the troubles and possible dangers that Adolph Hitler and the Nazis may cause. In thought for their safety Mr. Platt moves to America to start a basis for a new life for him and his family. The Mrs. Platt and the girls move to Switzerland bringing their most treasured possessions and critical necessities including the maximum amount of money a Jew can travel with over the border with. When Mrs. Platt becomes very sick the girls are sent foster housings. Finally after struggles Mr. Platt sends money and the forms to be filled out for their passage to America.

Lisa Plat and her family live in Berlin, Germany during a time of great Jewish persecution. Although not everyone agreed that all the Jews were in danger, Lisa and her family feared the future. Her father decided that it would be best for them to try and escape to America where they could live freely. However, due to lack of money and a place to live he would have to go ahead and send for his family later. Soon after arriving in America he sent word that Lisa, along with her mother and sisters would have to travel to Switzerland and wait there until further notice. They said goodbye to all of the people they loved and all the familiar things they new, to move to a strange place where they had little money, no decent shelter and no friends. Many months of struggle lay ahead for Lisa and her family but the outcome proves to be worthwhile.
Even in the face of a life and death crisis, it takes a special kind of courage to leave everything, to face poverty and to begin again in wholly new surroundings. Journey to America is a children's book that I truly enjoyed. The reader feels as though they traveled back in time to the 1930's and walked in the shoes of a Jewish citizen of Germany in a time of Nazi domination. It helps the reader to understand the many hardships Jews faced and have a more clear comprehension of the true blessing of freedom. This is a story of triumph and success that will warm your heart and open your mind.

The thing I liked the most was that it showed the readers apart of history by making a story about a family. I thing the book is good enough for people to read it and not get bored. It showed how the jews were rejected from people, so they were trying to live a new life by moving to America. I think the cover would catch someones eye because the person might be thinking, "why do they look so sad" or something simular to that.To make a long thing short, I thing the story "Journey to America" is a wonderful and exiting book.

Germany in 1938 was gradually becoming an unpleasant and even dangerous place to live--especially for the Jewish population, as Hitler's Youth Groups roamed the streets taunting and tormenting those who did not represent Nazi views re mankind's best genetics. Realizing the increasing threat to their livelihood, possessions and very lives, the Platt parents made the agonizing decision to emigrate to American via Switzerland. Papa, a tailor, will travel abroad first and send for them later; this dreaded separation will last a year--a time during which will require all the moral resources they have inspired in their children to keep their family values and memory intact.

Related in the first person by Lisa, the middle daughter, this story chronicles not only the trip itself, but a young girl's emotions as she is obliged to leave her beloved city of Berlin and best friend Rosemarie. Lisa must face unknown hardships in neutral Switzerland--keeping in mind the future daunting challenge of learning English in America some day. Barely crossing the border legally Mother is faced with the problems of poverty, unemployment and housing for all 4 of them. They try a boarding house, a charity camp for children, place their hopes in an Agency for Refugees, and finally are welcomed into the homes of compassionate Swiss citizens.

Despite incredible hardship and privation, and Mother's bout with pneumonia, this family remains a cohesive unit even when scattered. Lisa loses her naivete about life and Ruth grows up in one short year, as both girls come to respect human interdependence. It is their family loyalty which provides them with the inner fortitude to endure poverty, persecution and prolonged separation. With its tense but straightforward storyline this book would appeal to girls 12 and up.

This Book is about A Jewish Family in Berlin before the war started. The main character Lisa is torn appart when her father leaves her, her mother, older and younger sister. While he goes to America they are to wait for him to send for them. But while they are waiting life gets harder and harder to be a jew in Berlin, there are more and more rules the must obay. So they head off to Switzerland with very little money to spend. Life in Switzerland is not any easier. Living as a refuge, they must spend very little money on everything. Eventually things work out but only after a while. This book is verry good and taught me a lot about Berlin and the struggle of Jews. I recomend this book to any one!

I was very happy when I discovered Journey to America, one of my childhood favorites, in the used books section of Barnes and Noble. Young Lisa Platt and her sisters Ruth and Annie are growing up in a dark time and place - Nazi Germany, just prior to World War II. Their father sees the situation for Jews growing more desperate, and leaves for America so that he can send for them as soon as possible. With their mother, they say goodbye to all of their friends and relatives, and escape to Switzerland under the guise of taking a vacation. Dwindling finances force them to split up while they wait for Papa to send for them.

In writing, it is difficult to show both darkness and light, fear and hope. But Levitin has done it for children in Journey to America, and that is why I love this story so much. Lisa is afraid of the coming darkness, yet she faces the future with courage and even hope - the fragile but persistent hope of a child. Journey to America is a simple, intimate tale of one family's escape from Nazi Germany, to a place of possibility and freedom.