Grandmother and the Runaway Shadow

Rosenberg, Liz

ISBN 10: 0152009485 ISBN 13: 9780152009489

Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books, 1996

Synopsis

A young girl tells the story of her courageous grandmother, who as a young woman left her home and family to travel to the New World, where her only companion for a long time was her shadow.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

A classic theme?emigration to America?is considerably garbled by Rosenberg's (Monster Mama; The Carousel) addition of a "runaway shadow" that accompanies the heroine to the new world. Fleeing a Cossack raid, Grandmother, then a young woman, meets the shadow one moonlit night "in the middle of a potato field in the middle of nowhere," and tells it of her plans to go to America. The whimsical shadow speaks ("I will go with you"), engages in independent actions (the shadow "raced along with one foot in the gutter, and one in the street, scaring the horses") and, when Grandmother finds work in a garment factory, it even tells "funny stories that made all the women laugh." The episodic story of the brave young woman who journeys across the ocean alone and makes a new home seems at odds with the presence of a mischievous storybook shadow with whom she is "best friends despite their differences." Even Peck (A Christmas Memory; How Many Days to America) chooses to portray the shadow as a smudge rather than visually represent its capricious individuality. The unity and power of her scumbled oil paintings are not enough to clarify Rosenberg's message, but, in conveying the notion that Grandmother is alone even in a crowd, enhance the perception of Grandmother's inner strength. Perhaps the most moving element of this book is the author's note, which includes photos of Rosenberg's and Peck's immigrant grandmothers. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Ages 5^-8. Based on the author's and the illustrator's own family immigration stories, this picture book tells of a young Jewish woman coming to America to escape persecution in Eastern Europe around the turn of the century. "When my grandmother came to this country, a runaway shadow came with her." Her shadow gives her courage, makes her laugh, and shares her memories as she runs from her village, crosses the ocean, and finds a home, work, and friends in America. The idea of a secret companion will appeal to children, but the repeated mention of the shadow on every single page is overdone, especially since the immigrant story is drama enough. The oil paintings, in shades of brown, with rhythmic, sweeping lines, capture the vitality of the period, the flowing crowds in the tenement streets, the workers in the garment factory, and the brave young woman who finds in herself--in her own shadow--the strength for her journey. There's a story like this in nearly every family. Hazel Rochman

About this edition

• Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0152009485
• ISBN 13: 9780152009489
• Binding: Library Binding
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Peck Beth