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Is It Night or Day? |  | Author: Fern Schumer Chapman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Category: Book
List Price: $17.99
Buy New: $10.28
as of 7/30/2010 05:38 CDT details
You Save: $7.71 (43%)
New (29) Used (16) from $2.93
Seller: indoobestsellers
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 568408
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 6.6 x 0.9
ISBN: 0374177449
EAN: 9780374177447
ASIN: 0374177449
Publication Date: March 16, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780374177447 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Product Description
It’s 1938, and twelve-year-old Edith is about to move from the tiny German village she’s lived in all her life to a place that seems as foreign as the moon: Chicago, Illinois. And she will be doing it alone. This dramatic and chilling novel about one girl’s escape from Hitler’s Germany was inspired by the experiences of the author’s mother, one of twelve hundred children rescued by Americans as part of the One Thousand Children project.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Book June 24, 2010
George Monroe (Evanston, IL)
A very interesting statement that gains its power from the telling by a first-hand witness to the effects of being sent away from family to escape the terrible situation in Nazi Germany and winding up as an exploited servant in the American home that reluctantly took her in.
 A powerful look at immigration May 15, 2010
J. Prather (IN USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a stunning portrayal of a young girl struggling to fit into American culture after fleeing Nazi Germany in the years leading up to World War II. Edith comes to our country at the age of 12 after saying goodbye to her family and friends, sent to America by parents who fear for her future but are only able to get visas for their children. The awful decision that families had to face, the heart wrenching grief of parents having to send their young children off alone to a new country is all seen through the bewildered eyes of this young girl. Edith can't really understand why she has to leave, and her parents go back and forth about how much hope to give and how much truth to tell.
Edith's experiences in America are by no means perfect; her aunt is overbearing, she gets placed in a first grade classroom because she can't speak english, and she soon realizes that anti-semitism is common in America too. Some moments, such as her puzzlement over the Jim Crow rules of the south, and her panic at having to say the Pledge of Allegiance at school were particulary telling and will generate lots of discussion.
While this book does not present a particulary happy ending, it takes a unique look at child immigration and will be a perfect addition to a social studies curriculum for middle schoolers. There are many parallels to be drawn here between Edith's plight and the troubles of many immigrants today. I was impressed by the author's ability to tell such a powerful story in so few words. She portrays Edith's growth throughout the book and it was very gratifying to see her finally obtain a sense of pride in her Jewish heritage. A big recommend for grades 5-8.
Is It Night or Day? March 21, 2010
Beth Ivanoski
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Is It Night or Day? raises awareness about a rarely discussed topic, child-immigrants assimilating into American culture. Edith, who represents scores of child-immigrants, suffers with waves of confusion and emptiness. Classmates bully her while she is acclimating into American classrooms. Prejudice hurts Edith many times over. She grapples with a greater identity crisis than before leaving her motherland. She is forced to ask herself questions that plague many adolescents: Who am I? Do I belong? Will I ever be loved again?
Fern Schumer Chapman's Is It Night or Day? and her memoir, Motherland, capture childhood trauma and the legacy that results. Both are important works that appeal to young adults and adults. They raise interesting topics for book clubs and are a valuable addition to school curriculums.
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