I really enjoyed Robert Sharenow’s “The
Girl in the Torch”. The story is about a
girl named Sarah who has traveled to North America i(the United States) n early 1900’s.
The crime activity is high in the
country where they are from. A relative
sends a postcard with the statue of liberty and Sarah's father starts setting money aside
hoping that one day they will make the voyage to the promised land.
When Sarah’s father is killed, she and
her mom get on a boat by themselves and leave their country behind – hopefully never
to return.
The Statue of Liberty is a sign of
hope, and they are happy to see it.
When they arrive in New York, Sarah
is forced to part company with her mother who had gotten sick on the boat. After her mother passes, the authorities tell
Sarah that she has to be sent back to her native land where an uncle
lives. Sarah tells she the authorities that she has a relative in
Brooklyn, but when the authorities are unable to contact the relative, they put Sarah on
a boat to take her back.
As the boat pulls away and Sarah
looks again upon the Statue of Liberty, she decides to jump off the boat and
swim toward the statue.
The story shares Sarah’s life on
Ellis Island and then in New York – where after a time a judgement is brought
against her to send her back to her native country.
I really enjoyed following Sarah
through her journey and the friendships that were made and the compassion that
is shown in this story. I thought it
might be historical fiction, but the author makes note that not all of the
facts brought up were true to the situation.
At
the conclusion of the book are his commentaries and then a time line about
Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
There were some things that I had remembered reading about already, but
even more that I hadn’t known. I enjoyed
reading about that as well.
It is written in third person and I
think geared to 4th to 8th grade reading levels. Though I’m obviously outside of that range,
and I enjoyed it.
I highly recommend this book.
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