Brooklyn Doesn't Rhyme

Rosie struggles to complete a school writing assignment about her life in early twentieth-century Brooklyn, finally finding her subject matter at home in the lives of her immigrant family, teacher, and first boyfriend. By the Newbery Medalist for A Gathering of Days.

Grade 4-6-Rosey Sachs's beloved sixth-grade teacher believes that a way to gain self-knowlege and respect is to write about oneself. So, Rosey embarks on a narrative about who she is (poetry won't work because "Brooklyn doesn't rhyme"), relating, almost journal style, stories of her Jewish-Polish-Austrian immigrant family and their friends and neighbors. Her descriptions of her life in the early 1900s are tender and, in the way of children raised in bygone times, naive, although she does touch on the enormous poverty of some of the people she knows. She also mentions how hard it must be for her parents, who left behind so many loved ones. Moving to a new house, the marriage of a favorite uncle, helping to reunite a newly emigrated woman with her husband, getting used to having a telephone, and working towards equal rights for workers and women are all discussed. Knitting together the strands of her tale is the love Rosey's family has for one another and a strong sense of community. However, time does not run through the book in a strictly linear fashion, making it a bit difficult to keep certain facts straight. Still, this gentle remembrance will make a fine read-aloud.
Sharon Grover, Arlington County Department of Libraries, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 5-7. Rosey Sachs, 11, narrates these loosely connected stories about a Polish Jewish immigrant family in New York City in the early 1900s. Her voice is gently upbeat, with an authentic Yiddish idiom ("He bought for us a house"), evoking the warmth of the extended family that celebrates the old ways even as it eagerly tries to become part of America. Like Blos' Newbery winner, A Gathering of Days (1979), the focus is on the small events of daily life. The account of the family's move to a new house is a marvel of affectionate comedy. The story "Momma and the Vote" personalizes history with wit and verve. There's a touching episode about two brothers who can only go to school alternate weeks because they share a pair of shoes. Unfortunately, much of the material reads like bits and pieces of anecdote and local color, with characters that come and go too quickly to hold our interest. As Rosey comes to realize, there's a difference between something that happens and making it a story. This is family folklore, and in fact, that's the way the book will be best used: in writing classes to encourage kids to find their own family stories, whether the immigration was many generations back or is happening right now. Hazel Rochman