In the Promised Land: Lives of Jewish Americans - Hardcover

Doreen Rappaport

9781422361399: In the Promised Land: Lives of Jewish Americans

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 142236139X ISBN 13: 9781422361399

Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc., 2005

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A magician plunges into the Mississippi River with wrists manacled together.

A doctor comforts children before injecting them with an experimental vaccine he hopes will save the lives of millions.

A law student, turned away from the Harvard library where women are not allowed, begins a career fighting for equal rights that leads to her appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.

These defining moments, described in vivid detail, introduce young readers to Harry Houdini, Dr. Jonas Salk, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as well as ten other distinguished Jewish Americans. By focusing on one key scene from each of thirteen people's lives, ac-claimed author Doreen Rappaport and noted artists Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu give young readers an exciting introduction to the great history of Jewish Americans.

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About the Author:

Doreen Rappaport is well known for her groundbreaking approach to multicultural history and literature for young readers. Her many books include Victory or Death: Stories of the American Revolution; We Are The Many: A Picture Book of American Indians; and Martin’s Big Words, winner of the Jane Addams Book Award. She and her husband divide their time between New York City and a rural village in upstate New York.

From Booklist:

Gr. 4-7. Rappaport presents an eclectic group of Jewish Americans whose lives show what has been achieved in "the promised land." Biographies of one page (the rest of the spread is taken up with art) have a you-are-there feeling: "Ten thousand people were jammed together near the Mississippi River for a free performance" begins the introduction to Harry Houdini, for instance. There's a good mix of well- and lesser-known people here, including Asser Levy, who fought against anti-Jewish laws put into place by New Amsterdam's Peter Stuyvesant; Jacob Davis, who helped invent blue jeans; and Steven Spielberg. Although the brevity of the profiles leads to gaps (readers will need to extrapolate the exact year of Olympic gold-medalist Lillian Copeland's win), and there are some awkward transitions, children will come away with an idea of how Jews and the U.S. have benefited one another. The watercolor art is attractive and adds flavor to the biographies. A short reading list and lists of Web sites and selected resources are appended. Refer more proficient readers to Susan Goldman Rubin's L'Chaim [BKL N 1 04] for more on American Jewry. Ilene Cooper
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