 | Across so many seas Author: Behar, Ruth | |
| Price: $8.19 | ||
Summary:
Spanning over five hundred years, a novel telling the stories of four girls from different generations of a Jewish family, many of them forced to leave their country and start a new life.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: MG Reading Level: 5.30 Points: 7.0 Quiz: 551928 |
Awards:
Newbery Honor, 2025
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (+) (12/01/23)
School Library Journal (+) (02/01/24)
Booklist (02/01/24)
The Hornbook (00/01/24)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 02/01/2024 In a novel that profiles four 12-year-old Sephardic Jewish girls (three of them grandmother, mother, and daughter), Behar introduces Sephardic history, culinary culture, music and poetry traditions, and Ladino language. Each girl’s story is told in its own section, moving readers from the distant past to more recent times. In 1492, Benvenida and her family flee Toledo, Spain, eventually settling in Turkey. Reina is exiled to Cuba in 1923, where she is betrothed to another Turkish Jew. Alegra flees Castro's Cuba for Miami in 1961. And in 2003, Paloma travels from Miami to Toledo, Spain, where she learns about her history while visiting the Sephardic Museum there. Behar's sprawling saga, based in part on her own family history, captures the poignancy of being expelled from one's home. Ladino poetry appears throughout, and a family heirloom, a stringed instrument known as an oud, connects all the sections. While the final section is fraught with coincidences, the return to Spain brings the story full circle and provides readers with a satisfying conclusion. Generous author notes are appended. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.
