Gittel’s Journey: An Ellis Island Story is an award-winning picture book from author Lesléa Newman and illustrator Amy Bates.
Gittel and her mother were supposed to immigrate to America together, but when her mother is stopped by the health inspector, Gittel must make the journey alone. Her mother writes her cousin’s address in New York on a piece of paper. However, when Gittel arrives at Ellis Island, she discovers the ink has run and the address is illegible! How will she find her family?
Both a heart-wrenching and heartwarming story, Gittel’s Journey offers a fresh perspective on the immigration journey to Ellis Island. The book includes an author’s note explaining how Gittel’s story is based on the journey to America taken by Lesléa Newman’s grandmother and family friend.
“Beautifully designed and illustrated . . . The watercolor illustrations artfully c
Trade Review
“Mixed-media images by Bates (The Big Umbrella), washed in yellows and browns and framed by woodblock motifs, give readers a vivid sense of the historical context while infusing the story with a timeless emotional immediacy. Newman (Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed) skillfully modulates her narration, capturing her protagonist’s feelings of excitement, loneliness, and fear. The ending, handled with both restraint and warmth, relies on one of those improbable twists of good fortune that define so many immigrant stories—and it’s based on a real event.” -- Publishers Weekly
“Lesléa Newman has drawn from two stories told in her family for the beautiful picture book “Gittel’s Journey”, a moving account of a young Jewish girl’s voyage from czarist Russia to America… In Amy June Bates’s superb illustrations, framed by woodcut-style borders, we see the child, so small in the world of adults, her red scarf bright amid the muted hues of the late 19th century.” -- Wall Street Journal
“A book about immigration, as seen through the eyes of a child who makes the journey to America alone and must find her way in a strange new world.” -- The New York Post
