A great book to introduce children to the struggles of WWII refugees.

I was not a fan of the orange fade out for some of the illustrations, but I assume this effect was used to make the pictures look like old photographs. The other pictures I really liked. ( )

Great illustrations, based on true events that happened during WWII ( )

During World War II, strict quotas written into the U.S. immigration laws kept thousands of European Jews who might otherwise have escaped Nazi persecution from entering the United States. In the summer of 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt found a way around the quotas for nearly 1,000 refugees, whom he invited as "guests" into the country to wait out the rest of the war in upstate New York. The refugees arrived from Italy on a U.S. Army transport ship and were housed in an empty military installation in the town of Oswego, on Lake Ontario. This somber, quiet book imagines the experience of seven-year-old Rebekkah and her mother, fictional Jewish refugees from an unnamed country. Rebekkah's father was taken away from his family by Nazis in Europe. Rebekkah and her mother are seen arriving in New York harbor, on the train to the Oswego refugee center, going through intake procedures at the center, and settling in for their time there. Burg's language is deliberate and doleful. Iskowitz's soft-hued, soft-edged illustrations are full of emotion and depict poignant details, such as the line of refugees, numbered tags hung around their necks by American authorities as they wait to enter the United States. (One pictorial misstep: the text describes the rabbi aboard ship, offering a prayer as the ship enters New York harbor, as having a "long black beard," but the accompanying illustration shows a rabbi with a flowing white beard.) Children who are already fascinated with the Holocaust or World War II should find this story of interest. This book is part of the "Tales of Young Americans" series. 2006, Sleeping Bear Press/Thomson Gale, $17.95. Ages 6 to 10.

In 1944 a vacant army base in upstate New York became the temporary home of over 900 men, women and children who had fled Europe towards the end of World War II. With little more than the clothing on their backs, Rebekkah and her mother are just two of the many refugees who come to live in the camp. Adjusting to a strange new world and a new language, Rebekkah puts aside her own fears to try and recreate tiny bits of home for her mother. A fictional story based on the real-life experiences of surviving refugees, Rebekkah's Journey shares the illuminating story of one refugee's arrival on America's shores.