Meet Rebecca (American Girls Collection) [Paperback]

Jacqueline Greene (Author), Jennifer Hirsch (Editor), Robert Hunt (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: American Girls Collection

Rebecca Rubin longs to be the center of attention, but it's not easy in a family of five children! When mysterious cousin Max, the actor, tells her the secret to pleasing an audience, Rebecca can hardly wait to try it out. Then she learns that her young cousin Ana and her family are in danger--they must escape Russia and come to America. Rebecca decides to raise money for their passage by putting on a show right in her New York City neighborhood-until her disapproving grandmother steps in. Unexpectedly, Rebecca finds another way to earn money. But she knows that for her plan to work, she'll have to keep it a secret.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: American Girl (May 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593695209
• ISBN-13: 978-1593695200
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #251,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable introduction to the newest American Girl character., May 16, 2009

By 

Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meet Rebecca (American Girls Collection) (Paperback)

The year is 1914. Nine-year-old Rebecca Rubin lives in New York City, where she was born after her parents and grandparents, Russian Jews, immigrated to America. One of five children, she feels like the odd one out - her fourteen-year-old twin sisters think she is too young to go anywhere with them, and she has little in common with her two brothers. Rebecca longs to be more grown up - to be able help light the candles on the Sabbath, and see movies with her sisters.

Rebecca becomes interested in acting after meeting her mother's cousin, Max, who is an actor. Her parents and grandparents, however, think acting is improper for a young lady, and think Rebecca should be a teacher when she grows up. When she learns that her relatives in Russia need to immigrate to America to escape the war, and that in particular her cousin Ana, who is her age, is hungry and sick and needs to get to America as soon as possible, she must make a grown-up decision about how to spend the money she earned selling her needlework. Should she buy candlesticks so she can light candles on the Sabbath like a grown-up girl, or give the money to her parents to help buy tickets to America for Ana and her family?

I was really excited to see that American Girl was finally adding a Jewish character. I loved the American Girl dolls and books growing up, and like Rebecca's parents and grandparents, my own ancestors were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who settled in New York city around the early 1900s, so it was nice to see a character with a family history similar to my own. If you know a young girl who loves history or the American Girls Collection, this would be a nice book to recommend to her, or to give as a gift.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An engaging look at the immigrant experience, June 29, 2009

By 

Sarah - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Meet Rebecca (American Girl) (Hardcover)

American Girl's newest doll Rebecca Rubin lives in 1914 New York. Her parents and grandmother are Jewish immigrants from Russia, but Rebecca and her four brothers and sisters were born and raised in the US. In "Meet Rebecca," we're introduced to Rebecca's family and Jewish home life. Rebecca's bubbe (grandmother) is very religious and her family observes Shabbos (the Sabbath), but her father must work on Saturday to make ends meet, which displeases her bubbe. Bubbe is also scandalized by the fact that Rebecca's cousin Max (Moyshe) is a struggling actor. Rebecca's passion is moving pictures; she adores the Perils of Pauline and longs to go to a real movie. Her cousin Max encourages her, and Rebecca tries out a performance of her own with unpredicatable results.

Rebecca always feels left out; her older twin sisters Sadie and Sophie always get to light the Sabbath candles and check the challah bread. Rebecca is desperate for her own set of candlesticks to prove that she knows the Hebrew blessing and is old enough to participate, and seeks to find a way to raise enough money.

There's also trouble back home in Russia, where her Uncle Jacob and his family are trapped. Their daughter Ana is very sick, and the Russian army is conscripting boys as young as twelve. Rebecca's father, a shoe salesman, struggles to raise the $175 it will take for steamer tickets for the family.

Judaism plays a central role in Rebecca's life, and the author does a good job of incorporating Jewish culture and traditions into the story (lighting the Sabbath candles, Sabbath restrictions, pushkes, mitzvahs, bar mitzvah). The immigrant experience is also central to the story, and Ellis Island is touched upon. I found it a bit unlikely that Rebecca's immigrant parents would speak mostly English at home; most likely, her parents and grandmother would continue to use Yiddish as the home language, with English being the school language.

The section on America in 1914 was particularly useful and included numerous bits of trivia about the conditions in Russia (pogroms), the immigrant experience in New York, Yiddish culture, and early movies and newsreels. There's also a glossary of Yiddish and Hebrew words. Overall, this is a nice introduction to American Girl's newest historical character and a good overview of the 20th-century immigrant experience that's accessible for younger readers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Samantha's Replacement, June 15, 2009

By 

Robin Orlowski "political activist" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meet Rebecca (American Girls Collection) (Paperback)

Being of eastern european descent myself, I gennuinely enjoyed reading about and imagining the journey which my ancestors personally might have made in order to arrive and settle in America. I would not have been here were it not for their hard work.

Her life includes making some very hard decisions which many children don't today usually need to consider. Her religion is very important to her. And American Girl took pains to carefully illustrate this. But another moral dillema includes having to take in a very sick family relative when she had wanted to spend it on personal items to celebrate Chaunakkah.Rebecca is in a bind!

I however believe American Girl could have illustrated Ms. Rubin's adveture without having previously retired Samantha, an original--and very popular doll from this time.

And if they really had wanted to introduce a 'poor doll' into the product line, they should have taken care to accurately portray Nellie O'Malley with her factory clothes and other materials.Prior to being adopted, she too had lived in a tenement house.

Looking at Rebecca, I see a fairly well-dressed fashion plate with big dreams of becoming famous and financially successfull. Loving her close-knit family, she also seeks a little more financial stability than what is being provided. This is something which readers in today's economic times can relate to and Jaqueline Dembar Greene does a good job explaining it in child-friendly terms.

I also find myself actually a little envious of the doll's lush hair curls! Living with an extended family, her clothes are not rags.

Wishing Rebecca the best of luck in her adventures, I hope American Girl will reverse it's ill-advised decision. Bring back Samantha Parkington!