The Length of a String
by Elissa Brent Weissman (Author)
Imani is adopted, and she's ready to search for her birth parents. But when she discovers the diary her Jewish great-grandmother wrote chronicling her escape from Holocaust-era Europe, Imani begins to see family in a new way.
Imani knows exactly what she wants as her big bat mitzvah gift: to find her birth parents. She loves her family and her Jewish community in Baltimore, but she has always wondered where she came from, especially since she's black and almost everyone she knows is white. Then her mom's grandmother--Imani's great-grandma Anna--passes away, and Imani discovers an old journal among her books. It's Anna's diary from 1941, the year she was twelve and fled Nazi-occupied Luxembourg alone, sent by her parents to seek refuge in Brooklyn, New York. Anna's diary records her journey to America and her new life with an adoptive family of her own. And as Imani reads the diary, she begins to see her family, and her place in it, in a whole new way.
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Publishers Weekly
Twelve-year-old Imani is preparing for her bat mitzvah and working up the courage to ask her parents for the gift she wants: their help searching for her birth parents. As one of the only black kids in her Baltimore community, Imani is used to insensitive questions about her background and Judaism, and she longs to connect with the biological family who share her DNA. When she discovers her great-grandmother Anna's diary of her journey from Luxembourg to Brooklyn to escape the Nazis, she finds a kindred spirit. Interspersed journal entries detail Anna's story: she was the first of her siblings to leave the family, though her parents planned for the others, including Anna's twin, to follow. Anna was taken in by a kind couple, paralleling Imani's adoption, but yearned for the day her first family would arrive. Readers and Imani know, though, that Anna's family was sent to the camps, lending a grave undercurrent to her hopeful narration. Both Anna and Imani are richly drawn characters, complex and sympathetic. Imani gains insight from Anna that helps her decide what she truly needs to know about her past, in this moving, deftly plotted story. Ages 10-14. Agent: Flip Brophy, Sterling Lord Literistic. (May)
Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.School Library Journal
Gr 5-8—Twelve-year-old Imani is many things: a resident of a Baltimore suburb, a big sister to Jaime, a Hebrew school student preparing for her bat mitzvah, and an adoptee. Imani longs for information about her birth parents and soon finds her great-grandmother Anna's diary. In 1941, 12-year-old Anna traveled alone to the U.S. from Luxembourg to avoid the Holocaust concentration camps. Imani strongly identifies with Anna's fear and struggle to belong. Imani, her friends Madeline and Ethan, and Imani's extended family celebrate their history as they deal with its horror and triumph. Imani finds clarity regarding her own background. Imani's first-person narration flows naturally with conversations about the mundane—Ethan's crush on her—and the serious—Holocaust research. Imani's curiosity and her tense relationship with her mother make her likable and relatable. Weissman maintains pace and interest between Anna's diary sections and Imani's story. The attention to detail, such as the scenes of Anna playing Chinese checkers with her cousin and Imani's tennis practice, make the story memorable. VERDICT Pair with this with Lois Lowry's Number the Stars for Jewish historical fiction with heart. An excellent addition with strong curricular ties.—Caitlin Augusta, Stratford Library Association, CT
Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.ALA/Booklist
Review quotes
"Told in two voices which Weissman weaves together like a double helix, this is a story of family ties, some of which are broken by war, some broken by choice, some broken by unanswered questions. But by the end, readers will see that love and faith—from strangers, from friends, and from long-gone ancestors—have the power to knit us together with strings that are so much stronger than genetics. I loved this sweet refuge of a book." —Kathi Appelt, Newbery Honor-winning author of The Underneath and The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp "You'll yearn with this wonderful heroine as she searches for long-ago Anna and her own hidden past. The characters are unforgettable, and the ending is entirely satisfying. A book readers will love; I know I did." —Patricia Reilly Giff, Newbery Honor-winning author of Lily's Crossing "The Length of a String is a resounding continuum of connection and search for self. As universal as it is personal. A must read." —Rita Williams-Garcia, Newbery Honor-winning author of One Crazy Summer "Pair this with Lois Lowry's Number the Stars for Jewish historical fiction with heart. An excellent addition with strong curricular ties." —School Library Journal "Both Anna and Imani are richly drawn characters, complex and sympathetic. . . . [A] moving, deftly plotted story." —Publishers Weekly
"The reader watches as [Imani] deepens her understanding of who she is and the world around her—page by page, emotion by emotion. . . . Highly recommended." —Jewish Book Council
Omer Hoffmann is an illustrator and comics artist. He has illustrated 10 published children's books, lots of comics, numerous advertisement campaigns, and dozens of editorials. He likes drawing funny and humorous pieces. He also likes coffee. He lives in Givatayim, Israel, with his wife, Maia, and their daughter, Zoe, and son, Lenny.
JUV013010 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Adoption
JUV016060 - Juvenile Fiction | Historical | Holocaust
Identity (Psychology)
African Americans
United States
Families
Jews
JUVENILE FICTION / People & Places / United S
Adoption
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
JUVENILE FICTION / Historical / Holocaust
JUVENILE FICTION / Family / Adoption
