Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America)

Rating:
Summary: Has got to be one of my favorite Dear America books
Review: 12 year-old Zipporah (Zippy) Feldman is immigrating to America from Poland to join her father in New York. With her is her mother and her sisters Tovah and Miriam. Zippy is nearly detained at Ellis Island because of a red eye, but thanks to Tovah she gets safely through.
But America is nothing like she imagined, and she has many troubles. She is in 3rd grade at school, her parents fight on occasion, and Zippy' best friend Blu is sadly lagging behind in school.
Zippy finds that the theatre is the thing that she loves. But terrible things happen just days after Zippy gets her dream part in a play. Her new baby brother dies just days after he was born, and Miriam runs off and gets married to a non-Jew named Sean O'Malley. Will Miriam ever return, and will Zippy ever become the actress of her dreams? Find out in this wonderful book!

This has got to be one of my favorite Dear America books of all time. It's so well written, and there are absolutely no boring parts at all! I guess one of the reasons I love this book so much is because both Zippy and I are so alike, especially in loving to act.
I promise you, if you read this book, you will not be sorry. The only mistake you could make is not buying this book.

Rating:
Summary: Dreams in the Golden Country
Review: Dreams in the Golden Country
Summary

On the first day of September, a Jewish girl the age of 12 sits atop her wooden suitcase on Ellis Island. With her family surrounding her, they await a dreary inspection that is rumored to be painful. This was quite a nerve-wracking inspection, for it would determine if they were to be allowed in America or not. You see, Zipporah Feldman and her Jewish family traveled from a little village in Russia to immigrate to America - "the golden country". However, they were not the only people that had to complete the inspection acceptably. Jews from many residences in Russia were in line to await the dreadful tasks they had to pass for the sake of their lives. In Russia, Jews lived precariously. Many of them found it difficult to find jobs - until word began to circulate that Jews were welcome in America.

Zipporah brings along a diary that her mother gave her before they left Russia. In it, she writes her innermost feelings about her big dreams in "the golden country" and what she experiences along the way. On a certain entry, she writes gleefully that they all pass the inspection of Ellis Island and are on their way to meeting "Papa" in America. To their shock, they find that America was very different than what they expected it to be. As Zipporah's father leads them through a crowded alley, they finally reach their destination - a rickety, ramshackle apartment that has to be shared with the whole family, and an elderly man. In the beginning, the four girls (Zipporah, her mother, and two older sisters) are feeling regret and homesickness. However, more and more the days pass, they get somewhat used to the place.

Zipporah starts school but went back a few grades because she only knew Russian. Nevertheless, she becomes studious and determines to get into the grade she was supposed to be in. She also develops a love for drama, and aspired to be an actress. Her eldest sister, Tovah, began to fit in quite easier than the rest of her family. Her English skills were exceptional, and she built up a union with the help of her new friends she meets. Miriam falls secretly in love with a fireman named Sean O'Malley and the two get married, without approval of her parents. Papa is quite into his work, but because of Zipporah, he goes back to playing his violin, the instrument he loved. Zipporah's mother is the last of the group to become settled in America. But Papa went out of his way to find a career that she enjoyed - sewing.

The Feldman Family goes through ups and downs during the years that Zipporah writes in her diary. In the beginning she writes that she is rather disappointed with what was happening during her stay in America. But as she matured, she found that she did fulfill her dreams in America - even though it wasn't literally a "golden country".

Dreams in the Golden Country
Commentary

I felt this was a satisfactory book. I was lured to this story because of my friend's recommendation. However, I felt her opinion was a bit too much, since she thought the book was exceptional. Since this is not my level of reading, I felt that the author, Kathryn Lasky, paced the book mainly for a middle school-junior high level. The author worked well with tying in facts of the immigration process through Ellis Island and the feel of America in 1903-1905 with a fictional story of a Jewish Immigrant girl. You could really feel that the author enjoyed writing this book because of Zipporah's feelings.

The main idea of the book is that Zipporah Feldman is a Jewish Immigrant Girl telling her experience of life through her diary. I felt the story had a cute concept with Zipporah sometimes writing in her Russian tongue. The setting of the story was partly in Ellis Island, but mainly in New York. I was quite intrigued with the setting because there are not many fiction books written about Jewish Immigrants during the nineteenth century.

Overall, I thought the book was enjoyable, but is mainly for a younger audience (12-13 year olds). Kathryn Lasky did a wonderful job maintaining the reader's interest throughout the story. She went through so many events and feelings through the 188 pages in the book. I would give this book a 4 out of 5 and recommend it for fiction/historical lovers.

Rating:
Summary: Another great "Dear America" novel
Review: Dreams in the Golden Country is written as a diary of a 12 year old Jewish immigrant girl, Zippy. Zippy, her mother, her sister Miriam, and her sister Tovah have just come to join her father in New York City, where they live in a tenement house.

Throughout the 18 months that this book covers, you see how Zippy's dreams change in this not always golden country. She wants to learn English so she can reach her grade in school, and she wants to be in the Yiddish theater. She also handles her feuding family. But when tragedy strikes, she must overcome her sadness and continue her dreams.

This was a great book, and I'd recommend it for ages 10 - 14. I'd also recommend So Far from Home, and A Coal Miner's Bride, 2 other Dear America books.

Rating:
Summary: Dreams in the Golden Country
Review: Five stars would go to this wonderful book. At least that's what I would give it. This book was scary, exciting, interesting, sad, and most of all fun to read. Dreams in the Golden Country is a fiction book but it's based on a true story, so I call it History/Fiction. This book also made me think about sad things that have happened in our past. Dreams in the Golden Country is a diary of a girl named Zipporah Feldman (Zippy for short). Zippy and her older sisters are all Jewish. This book takes place in New York City around 1903. Zippy spends most her time at school, helping her friend at her house, or at home helping her mother. Zippy's first dream was to be a scientist but that didn't suit her. Then she wanted to be a pilot, but that didn't suit her either. So, finally she settled on being an actress. Miriam falls in love with a non-Jewish American and they get married. That makes her parents really angry and they kick her out of the house. Tovah is trying to get a union together. Does Zippy get to be in a play? Can Miriam and Zippy together try and get their parents to like Miriam's husband? Will Tovah get a union together?

I can tell you one thing, whoever reads this book will not want to put it down! Third, 4th, and 5th graders will definitely enjoy this book, but any younger might not understand it so much. I liked it because it seems so real.

I hope you read this book.

Rating:
Summary: outstanding book
Review: I found this book to be outstanding, especially in terms of the historical glimpses that were inadvertently revealed throughout, in bittersweet fashion, from the innocent perspective of a little Jewish girl Zipporah who, with her mother and 2 sisters, came to America by ship in 1903. Right from the start, the book catches the reader with her harrowing experience of nearly getting rejected at the port of entry on Ellis Island due to a suspected eye infection. The story continues on to the dark (both physically and moodwise) tenements of the Lower East Side of New York city where the Jewish community faces a daily struggle to survive. Through family unity and neighbors helping neighbors, Zipporah and her family was able to, not only to survive, but eventually flourish into self sufficiency. Along the way though, there were much heartwrenching sadness like the deaths of loved ones and the eloping of Zipporah's sister due to undue disapproval from her family. Even though the ending was happy, I felt a lump in my throat as I neared the end of the book, for I felt I was a part of this wonderful family, and I didn't want to leave!

For those of you out there who love family, history, nostalgia, and culture, this book is for you. For those who is seeking action pack adventure, romance, or thrills, try another book. This book gets 5 stars out of 5 from me.

Blessings! TLam

Rating:
Summary: Dreams in the Golden Country
Review: I have read all the Dear America books and Dreams in the Golden Country was one of the ones I enjoyed the most. Zippy Feldman and her family are immigrating to America. They arrive in New York and Zippy is feeling quite homesick. She wishes to learn to read and speak English, and starts school and soon is at the top of her class. She also takes quite an intrest in the Jewish theatre in New York. When her sister elopes with a Catholic boy Zippy's family doesn't approve of, Zippy finds herself torn. Will she ever see her sister again? Will she ever get a part in a play? And can she find her place in America? Read this good book to find out.

Rating:
Summary: Dreams in the Golden Country
Review: I read this book called Dreams in the Golden Country. It is a historical fiction book. The author Kathryn Lasky challenged me a little because I always thought Dear America books were kind of hard but I took a challenge and read it. Some of the words were kind of hard but as I read parts of it, I understood it later.
My favorite character was Zipporah. She was very talented and had goals, like me. Her family would always fight because her dad came to America before them and changed a lot. Zipporah was an immigrant that was Jewish. She was around the age of 12 years old. I like the part when she was talking about her acting days because her dream was to be an actress. I didn't like the part when her friend Mamie died during a fire. It was very depressing to me and Zipporah I also didn't like the part when her friend Blu's father abandoned her family when her mother was just giving birth to the third child. It was very sad when Zipporah's little brother died when he was just a baby because he was born a little early and his lungs weren't strong enough.

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Summary: My Secret Diary
Review: This book is really great. Read it!

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Summary: Bursting With Life
Review: Twelve-year-old Zipporah Feldman's life changes drastically the moment she steps away from Ellis Island in 1903. Raised in Russia, her family has immigrated to America to avoid the persecution they and other Jews in Russia face. But hardships, trials, and changes do not end for the Feldmans once they arrive in the New World. Their adaptations to their new lives and their insistence on holding on to their Jewish ways are vibrantly recorded by Zipporah.

This is truly one of the best "Dear America" books, along with Susan Campbell Bartoletti's "A Coal Miner's Bride." Lasky has created an excellent main character; for Zipporah is spunky, courageous, smart, and funny. Zipporah's writings capture the immigration experience for readers, yet her troubles and thoughts are in many ways timeless. Fascinating bits of Jewish culture and history are woven timelessly into the diary, and Zipporah's experience with Yiddish theater is truly enthralling and inspiring. There is never a dull moment in this diary (unlike some others in the series) and the ending and epilogue are both superb. Creatively written, this is definitely a "Dear America" for your collection.

Rating:
Summary: The Dear America Series is defintely the best!
Review: Zippy Feldman is a Jewish immigrant who immigrates to "the golden country" with her mother and two sisters (Miriam and Tovah) to live with her father. She meets many different people and becomes aquainted with the theater business. She learns English and is able to help her friend Blu Wolf, who has to help her mother at home with the other children. I love these books and I recommend them to anyone who likes a good read!