Jewish history for children

KELLEY KORBIN

Carol Matas's The Whirlwind provides an introduction to North America's role in the Holocaust and the Second World War through the eyes of a teenage boy.

Fourteen-year-old Ben Friedman fled Nazi Germany with his immediate family, only to find himself ensconced in a country that at first doesn't seem much more welcoming than the one he left.

In 1941 Germany, Ben was hated and persecuted because of his religious beliefs. In 1941 Seattle, Ben is taunted and called a "dirty Jew" and, ironically, treated as an enemy alien because of his German heritage. Soon after their arrival in North America, a rock is sent sailing through the front window of the Friedmans' small apartment, accompanied by a banner that reads "Germans go home."

For Ben, normal adolescent angst – which is difficult at the best of times – is exacerbated by his new and uncomfortable surroundings. His life is overshadowed by constant feelings of guilt, anger and most of all, insecurity – guilt because of all the people he left behind in Germany, including his grandparents and his best friend; anger at his father for being unable to find a way to take his grandparents with them to America; and insecurity because he is haunted by the bigotry and fanaticism he experienced in Germany. As a result, Ben is unable to settle into his new environment or to accept that America is a safe haven for his family. His notions about his new life are confirmed when his only friend John, a Japanese-American, is placed in an internment camp following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Thinking Canada might be better, Ben runs away from home, only to realize that the prejudices and intolerance he experienced in Seattle are even worse north of the border in Vancouver. On the way back home to his family, Ben finally confronts his fears and finds a way to move forward with his life.

The story is accompanied by a religious and spiritual subtext that contributes to Ben's enlightenment.

Historically accurate, The Whirlwind provides an important lesson about intolerance and prejudice, along with a reminder that such attitudes were not, and are not, the unique purview of Nazi Germany.

The Whirlwind is published by Orca books and is suitable for readers aged 10 to 14.

What makes someone a Jew?

"But you don't look Jewish" is exactly the phrase that Lauren Seidman attempts to challenge by presenting the diversity of Jewish life and tackling common misconceptions and what it means to be Jewish in What Makes Someone a Jew?

Written specifically for preschool-aged children, the soft-cover book is accompanied by photos of racially diverse children performing a variety of Jewish activities, including blowing a shofar and making challah.

In its simplistic and nonjudgmental tone, the rhyming book addresses the complex issues of stereotyping, conversion and the way that individual Jews are connected to a larger community through mitzvot and religious practices.

Unfortunately, while the book tries to be light and funny, it's not quite funny enough to carry off some of its ridiculous verses, like:

"You don't have to look a certain way to be Jewish,

"Your eyes can be light, dark, brownish or bluish.

"Skin white, black, or golden, and all colors in between,

"You can still be Jewish if your skin is green!"

Nevertheless, the basic premise of the book is an excellent starting point for talking to a young child about what is means to be Jewish – and it may give some children and families who don't "look Jewish" an opportunity to see themselves represented as members of the tribe.

What Makes Someone a Jew? is available from Jewish Lights Publishing at www.jewishlights.com.

An immigrant child's tale

Ice Cream Town is a delightful story about nine-year-old Sammy Levin who, along with his older sister Malka, immigrates to New York from Poland in 1920, following the ravages of the First World War and the death of his mother.

After the long and nauseating sea journey, Sammy and Malka, along with thousands of other would-be immigrants from around the world, find themselves on Ellis Island under the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, where Malka, who has a bad cough, is held for assessment in the hospital and Sammy is put up in a dormitory. There, he is introduced to American delights such as Jell-O and vanilla ice cream, which only serve to confirm Sammy's view that life in America will be wonderful.

Once they pass through the bureaucratic hoops, Sammy and Malka are reunited with their tailor father, who immigrated three years earlier and who has established himself in a low-paying piece-work job at a factory and has secured for the small family a tenement flat on Orchard Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side.

Despite his first impressions, life as a "greenie" isn't easy for the spunky, Yiddish-speaking Sammy, who has to prove himself worthy among the more established Jewish and Italian gangs on the street. But thanks to his talent for stickball (a game like baseball played on the street) and his beautiful renditions of old Yiddish songs, Sammy finds himself being slowly welcomed into American life.

Rona Arato's first children's novel tells the classic story of Jews emigrating from Eastern Europe to North America through the tenements of New York City and work in the garment industry. It's a story that will resonate with the thousands of North American Jews whose ancestors took a similar route to their new homes.

Ice Cream Town is very entertaining and well-written. Sammy's adventures will keep young readers turning the pages.

Ice Cream Town is suitable for readers aged eight to 12 and is published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside.

Kelley Korbin is a freelance writer living in West Vancouver.

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