Hope Road

Journey to America by Sonia Levitin ****

I was very happy when I rediscovered one of my childhood favorites in the used books section of Barnes and Noble. Young Lisa Platt and her sisters Ruth and Annie are growing up in a dark time and place – Nazi Germany, just prior to World War II. Their father sees the situation for Jews growing more desperate, and leaves for America so that he can send for them as soon as possible. With their mother, they say goodbye to all of their friends and relatives, and escape to Switzerland under the guise of taking a vacation. Dwindling finances force them to split up while they wait for Papa to send for them.

In writing, it is difficult to show both darkness and light, fear and hope. But Levitin has done it for children in Journey to America, and that is why I love this story so much. Lisa is afraid of the coming darkness, yet she faces the future with courage and even hope – the fragile but persistent hope of a child. Journey to America is a simple, intimate tale of one family’s escape from Nazi Germany, to a place of possibility and freedom.

Recommended age level: 8+.