Rivka's Way [Hardcover]

Teri Kanefield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 2001 | Age Level: 10 and up

Fifteen-year-old Rivka Liebermann, the daughter of a highly respected doctor in Prague’s walled Jewish quarter, has just learned of her arranged betrothal to Oskar Kara, her brother’s friend. Although Oskar seems gentle, kind, and wise, she hardly knows him. Whenever she thinks of the upcoming marriage, she feels a terrible pain in her stomach. Rivka thinks that if she could just leave the quarter for one day, she’d be happy. She wants desperately to walk through the streets of the city and see the marketplaces and bridges and hills her brother Jakob has described to her. But it is forbidden for a girl to leave the quarter on her own. But what if she dressed as a Gentile boy? How difficult would it be to walk past the guard at the gate and explore the city? Does she dare? Once the plan enters her head, Rivka can’t let it go. She assembles a disguise and secretly leaves the quarter on her own. What she experiences outside the walls changes forever the way she thinks of her family, of the relations between Jews and Christians, and of herself and Oskar.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An unusual setting 1778 Prague offsets mediocre characterizations in this debut novel. The heroine, 15-year-old Rivka, longs for a glimpse of the world beyond the Jewish ghetto, a yearning intensified when her older brother leaves to study at a yeshiva in Poland (it's not forbidden for Jews to travel outside the ghetto, provided they're wearing the requisite yellow patch, but it's unacceptable for a girl to venture out alone). Her sympathetic father, an affluent doctor, allows her to accompany him on an errand to the university. The hostility from the outside world that her friends have reported eludes her, somewhat unbelievably ("People had looked at her, but that seemed natural, as she was wearing the special patch"), and her curiosity is aroused. Risking her reputation (and imperiling her widely envied, carefully arranged engagement to Oskar Kara), Rivka dresses up in boys' clothing and sneaks out of the ghetto, not once but several times. In her wanderings she meets young Mikul, who faces imprisonment over his late mother's debts; the injustice of his plight arouses her sympathy, and she does not understand why her father, so steadfast in his efforts to help other Jews, is unwilling to aid Mikul. Within the scope of historical fiction about Jews, it's rare and refreshing to encounter a community in a state of relative peace, and Rivka's questions about God and the role of the Jews are powerful. But Rivka herself seems very much a contemporary being, only superficially affected by the culture of her time and place, and therefore neither entirely convincing nor commanding. Ages 10-14.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Gr 4-8-Life in the Prague ghetto in 1778 is far distant from the life of a 21st-century teen, but modern girls will understand the restlessness that 15-year-old Rivka Liebermann feels. The privileged daughter of a distinguished doctor, she longs to have some kind of adventure before marrying the young medical student her parents have chosen for her. Curious about the world outside the ghetto, she convinces her father to take her on one of his trips to the university. Finding none of the open hostility she has been conditioned to expect, she ventures out on her own, disguised as a boy. She even removes the yellow star that the law requires Jews to wear outside the walls. Her first solo outing includes a full day of digging potatoes (an activity that doesn't seem to leave her as exhausted and blistered as one might expect). She is befriended by a Gentile boy, Mikul, whom she meets another day in the woods, and then follows when he is arrested and thrown into debtors' prison. Appalled at the unfairness of his situation, she is determined to help him. Not surprisingly, she is found out by her parents and her community, but in a satisfyingly happy ending, her fianc‚ sympathizes with Mikul's plight, promises to pay his debts, and assures Rivka that they will explore beyond the walls together after they are married. Although the plot strains credulity, the details of daily life are completely convincing, the foreign setting is made familiar, and Rivka's character rings true. A rewarding read for the romantically inclined. -Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 137 pages
• Publisher: Cricket Books; 1st edition (March 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812628705
• ISBN-13: 978-0812628708
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,445,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Grandfather's Pick, April 18, 2001

By 

Jerry Green "I'd rather be reading" (Folsom, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rivka's Way (Hardcover)

This book although written for young girls is a good read even for a 50 something grandfather. I was looking for something to give my granddaughters, 9 and 12, for summer vacation reading and found Rivka's Way. The descriptive passages made me feel not only like I was in a different country and different time but in a different mind set that made me think of all the changes people have gone through, as well as all the changes young girls go through. It is fun reading and a wonderful learning experience, sharing history and traditions without sounding like a history book. I can highly recommend this book as I bought three, one for each of my grandaughters and one for a friend's daughter. (She was so proud, it was her first 'big' book.)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable short read..., June 20, 2003

By 

Victory Silvers - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rivka's Way (Hardcover)

Before this book, I never knew about the Jewish ghetto in Prague, where Jews lived for hundreds of years, barely making much contact with the outside world, and when they did, facing great discrimination along the way. Rivka, the main character, is consistered to be part of the upper class in the ghetto. Her father is a doctor, and she is set to marry a man who everyone loves- except her, for she doesn't even know him. After seeing a bit of the outer world of the ghetto on an errand with her father, she decides she must go again...but this time she'll go as a Gentile boy. However, the outside is so tempting, and Rivka finds herself drawn out again and again. She just can't get caught.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rivka's Way, June 21, 2001

By 

Richard Cole (Elk Grove, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rivka's Way (Hardcover)

Picked up a copy of this book from the local ... store. I had been out of town for about three months and had missed the authors personal appearance at the local store in April

I was a student in one of the authors classes a couple of years ago. I was impressed then by her ability to show her students how to paint vivid scenes in the minds of their readers. She has applied this skill to Rivkas's Way.

The best comments are from my 14 year old granddaughter who just finished the book a few minutes ago. Her words; "Grandpa, the description of the forest that Rivka saw was so real in my mind that I felt like I was there." Can anyone offer greater praise?

I read the book in one sitting. I could not put it down. It is a short book because there is no flab in it. The words are used frugally, but conveying thought and feeling clearly; not needing the sauce of extra adjectives or phrases.

I am looking forward to more books by Teri that touch the heart as this one did. My grandaughter is waiting too...