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Is It Night or Day?

by Fern Schumer Chapman
207p. 978-0-37417-744-7.
COPY ISBN
Gr 5-9 Tiddy, 12, can't understand why she is being forced to leave her beloved family to go and live in a strange land. By 1938, anti-Semitism has taken hold in Germany and the Westerfields, "an old and once respected Jewish family of Stockstadt," are suddenly "filthy Jews." Grandmother refuses to leave, but Vati and Mutti fear for the lives of their daughters, so they send Betty to a family in Chicago. A year later Tiddy is put on a ship to America to live with her Onkel Jacob. She soon finds that her aunt and cousin do not want her there, and that her sister lives too far away to visit often. From her first day in her new home and school, Tiddy is stripped of her identity and connection to her homeland. She is horrified when Aunt Mildred throws away her beautiful handmade blouse. She faces the humiliation of being placed in first grade at the age of 12 because she can't speak English. The final cord is severed when her parents die in a concentration camp. The author has "given voice" to her mother, Edith Westerfield, in this fictionalized account of her immigration experience. In doing so, Chapman has created an engaging memoirlike novel."Wendy Scalfaro, G. Ray Bodley High School, Fulton, NY" Copyright 2010 Media Source Inc.
In 1938, Edith's parents send her to Chicago with other German Jewish children. Her aunt treats her like a servant, and the immigration office registers her as an enemy alien. Her parents' concentration camp deaths push Edith to make a life for herself in America. Though somewhat didactic, Edith's story offers insight into America's One Thousand Children rescue project.
World War II and Holocaust stories like Edith’s are scarce in children’s literature; unlike many European Jews, she manages to flee her homeland and become an American immigrant. Readers will be intrigued by Edith’s unique perspective. A powerful and moving story. It is easy to relate to Edith and her emotional struggles, such as her devastation when a friend from her passage to America later rejects her because he now considers himself an American and denounces any associations with “the old country.” The time period is clearly rendered, with evocative descriptions and telling details about topics including race relations, popular music, fashions, and the cost of living.

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