Pearl Moscowitz's Last Stand [Hardcover]

Arthur A. Levine (Author), Robert Roth (Illustrator), Rob Roth (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1993 | Age Level: 4 and up

Pearl Moscowitz takes a stand when the city government tries to chop down the last ginko tree on her street.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pearl Moscowitz, noodle-pudding-maker extraordinaire, takes a militant stand when the city threatens to cut down the last tree on her blighted block. Like a sidewalk storyteller who punctuates the neighborhood news with confidential asides, Levine ( The Boardwalk Princess ) details the dynamics of Pearl's urban street as it is settled by Jewish immigrants and, later, by African Americans, Latinos and Asians. Perhaps the only constant on the block, besides Pearl herself, is a leafy gingko planted in Pearl's mother's day. There the older women gather daily for cards and little picnics ("Matzoh balls and steamed dumplings. Challah and jalapenos"). But when an electric company employee arrives with a big saw, Pearl swings into action, first feeding the would-be woodcutter into near insensibility, the next day stupefying him with endless sheaves of family pictures. The third day, her resources exhausted, she chains herself to the doomed tree. As in Nobiah's Well (reviewed above), Roth exaggerates the characters' proportions, but the effect here is more successful, perhaps because the generous size of this book better accommodates the artist's skewed scales. His animated watercolors portray the goings-on with as much humor and goodwill as does Levine's affectionate text. Ages 4-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3-Pearl is a lifelong resident of her city street and has seen many changes. Her fellow residents' names have gone from Russian (Plotnick), to presidents' names (Washington), to Latino (Pina), to Oriental (Chen). The flowering trees that were planted many years ago at her mother's request have disappeared one by one, until only a lone gingko tree is left standing. The elderly woman and her neighbors sit under it and play cards and eat "Matzoh balls and steamed dumplings. Challah and jalape?os."-until the day that a man from the electric company comes to cut it down. Galvanized into action, Pearl distracts him with food and family pictures, and finally chains herself to the tree in protest. The neighbors display solidarity, the TV cameras record the event, the mayor saves the day and, as the final illustration reveals, he changes the name of the street to "Pearl Street." Roth's fluid, full-page watercolors convey vitality and motion in this story about the ever-changing urban landscape. It is instilled with a spirit of camaraderie that is probably more hoped for than realized. A natural for fulfilling requests for multicultural titles.
Susan Pine, New York Public Library
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 1 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers; 1st edition (September 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688107532
• ISBN-13: 978-0688107536
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,345,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A-cuddle-up-with-your-child book about justice and pride., May 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pearl Moscowitz's Last Stand (Hardcover)

This is a delighfully sublte book that both children and adults will enjoy. It is about justice, about change, about pride, and about community. The illustrations are wonderful and in themselves provide many opportunities for discussion. Every school should have this book and every teacher should read it. Please check it out!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pearl Moscowit's Last stand, May 10, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Pearl Moscowitz's Last Stand (Library Binding)

Pearl Moscowitz's Last stand by Arthur A. Levine

How would you feel if somebody cut down trees that you planted when you were a little girl? The book I read is called Pearl Moscowitz's Last Stand. Since her mother died, there have been a lot of changes on Gingko Street. Pearl has three sisters. Their names are Selma, Velma and Wilma. The change that occurred was that the trees that they planted were cut down, all except for one. The apartment she lives in looks like a dorm. I think this s a good book for children. Pearl played poker with her sisters under the last gingko tree. The next day she was reading a book to the children on the street. A man came up to them and said, "You have to get away from under the this tree because I have to cut it down." She asked him to eat with her. He looked hungry and he didn't eat lunch. The next day he comes back and she shows him a pictures of her and her family each picture has a story. The next day he comes back and Ronnie, the next door neighbor, he put a bike lock around her and the tree and locked it. There is a big party because she's stopping the man from cutting down the tree. The news crew was there. She tells them a story about her and the tree and why she' wont let him cut down the tree. The she invites the guy who paid the man to cut down the tree and the man who was going to cut down the tree over to eat at her house. They changed the street name. To find out what happens at the party and to see what the street is called finish the book!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pearl Moscowitz's Last Stand, September 9, 2005

By 

Literacy Trainer (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pearl Moscowitz, Paperback Level 7: Houghton Mifflin Soar to Success (Read Soar to Success 1999) (Paperback)

This is a MUST HAVE for any teacher. I have used it with children across many grade levels and with training adults and it is a wonderful story!

The people who gave it poor reviews are way off base.