Louise Peacock

I liked this book for two reasons. First, the writing is clear, organized, and engaging. While it has an informative and serious tone, the author also incorporates fictional letters to keep the audience motivated to read on and learn more about this historic decision made by George Washington. The writing follows a sequential pattern and clearly shows the cause and effect relationship that led to the crossing of the Trenton River. Each action had a clear and connected reaction, which made the event and the writing easy to follow. Along with the language, the writing itself was very descriptive and helped to paint an image in the audience's mind. Though some students may be unfamiliar with this event and the lifestyle during this time period, the author uses clear and descriptive language to help the audience envision the conditions, settings, and character throughout the book. For example, the author writes, "Suddenly a man staggered out of the line and came toward me. He had lost all his clothes. He was in an old dirt blanket-jacket, his beard long and his face full of sores. . . which so disfigured him that he was not known by me on first sight. Only when he spoke did I recognize my brother James" (p. 7). With such description, the author makes it more suspenseful and surprising when the main character cannot even recognize his own brother because of how poor the conditions were. The descriptive language helps add to the suspense and overall conflict of the story. With such descriptive language, the author engages the audience and allows them to envision these conditions that the soldiers were surviving through. Overall, the big idea of this book is to share the story of George Washington and his soldiers while they were debating on crossing the Trenton River.… (lisätietoja)

Summary:
This is a book about immigrants coming to American around the time of WWI. This book is made up of letters written by different people from different countries who came to the United States by way of Ellis Island. The letters tell a story about what it was like to sail to the United States around the time of WWI. It tells the readers what it was like when they first got to the United States. They were examined for lice and other diseases. They had to have a sponsor get them or be at least sixteen with $25 to be released. Many people were sent back to their native countries.

Personal Reaction:
I have heard stories about my family migrating to the United States from Poland, to escape Hitler. I never heard the details that I got from this book about what it was like. I have a new found pride in my family and our history because I now know what they had to go through to get here.

Classroom Extensions:
This book would be a good book to read when learning about family trees. This could be an introduction to the subject. The students could then ask their parents and grandparents about their ancestors and how they got to the United States.
This book could also be read when learning about WWI and the holocaust. We learn many thing about the holocaust, but there's usually not many details given about what the immigrants went through to get to the United states or what they had to go through once they got here.… (lisätietoja)