The evoca­tive, time-sat­u­rat­ed imagery that draws the read­er into this sto­ry begins well before the first page of this book that cel­e­brates immi­gra­tion, Jew­ish resilience, hope, courage and new begin­nings. From the artis­tic end­pa­pers show­ing a steamship approach­ing the Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty, to Lady Lib­er­ty regal­ly bear­ing her torch in the book’s fron­tispiece, the read­er sens­es that some­thing spe­cial is about to occur before the sto­ry even unfolds.

Nine-year-old Git­tel and her moth­er are prepar­ing to set sail to New York from Europe, where life is dif­fi­cult and dan­ger­ous for Jews. They can’t bring their loved ones or their dear goat but they can bring Basha, Git­tel’s beloved doll, and the fam­i­ly’s tra­di­tion­al candlesticks.

When they arrive at the port, though, the health inspec­tor takes one look at Mama’s red eye and says she won’t be allowed to board the ship. Gittel’s moth­er tells her she must make the jour­ney alone because as fright­en­ing as it sounds, it’s safer than stay­ing in Europe. The long voy­age all alone is scary but Git­tel is brave and does not lose hope. She clutch­es the paper with the name and address of her mother’s cousin in New York, ter­ri­fied that she might lose it, and holds Basha close for comfort.

When the ship arrives at Ellis Island, the note Git­tel has clutched so tight­ly has smeared to illeg­i­bil­i­ty. Even the Yid­dish trans­la­tor can’t read it and does­n’t know where Git­tel should go in the big, con­fus­ing city. He tries to cheer her up and a pho­tog­ra­ph­er takes an endear­ing pho­to that ends up in the Jew­ish news­pa­per. Mama’s cousin sees the pho­to, rec­og­nizes a fam­i­ly resem­blance and comes to take Git­tel home. Gittel’s moth­er even­tu­al­ly joins them in the New World.

This charm­ing tale is based on author Lesléa New­man’s rel­a­tive’s true sto­ry. The accom­pa­ny­ing illus­tra­tions, woven through­out the prose, are paint­ed in rich but sub­tle shades and show expres­sive faces and poses.

A detailed Author’s Note tells more about the time peri­od and the fam­i­ly mem­bers who inspired the sto­ry. It also pro­vides infor­ma­tion about Ellis Island today. A glos­sary, bib­li­og­ra­phy, and list of web­sites for fur­ther learn­ing about immi­gra­tion and Ellis Island are append­ed, so that read­ers and par­ents can learn more about fam­i­lies like Git­tel’s who made the life-chang­ing trip to the Unit­ed States. The warm and hope­ful sto­ry, along with these edu­ca­tion­al enhance­ments, pro­vide a per­fect start­ing point for a dis­cus­sion of immi­gra­tion and its role in the devel­op­ment of the U.S.