I just finished reading, The Length of a String. A wonderful read, one of those kinds of reads that one wishes would have gone on much longer, and yet, it was just right. This is the story of a young black girl (Imani) who had been adaopted by a white Jewish family. While unquestioning in her faith, this is the only family she has ever known, but she’s longing to find out more about her actual birth parents. In her search, she comes upon the diary of her great-grandmother (Anna) who recently died.
While looking through the diary, Imani and her friends become involved in the early life and struggle of the great-grandmother when she was sent from war torn Europe to New York in 1941 to live with a different family.
I found the story to be a captivating insight into the lives of these characters. I also found the story to be moving and sentimental, showing that what happens in the long run is sometimes more important than the imediate wants we may have.
Author: Elissa Brent Weissman
Genres: Family, Historical Fiction, Holocaust, Middle Grade
Imani is adopted, and she's ready to search for her birth parents. Anna has left behind her family to escape from Holocaust-era Europe to meet a new family--two journeys, one shared family history, and the bonds that make us who we are. Perfect for fans of The Night Diary. Imani knows exactly what she wants as her big bat mitzvah gift: to find her birth parents. She loves her family and her Jewish community in Baltimore, but she has always wondered where she came from, especially since she's black and almost everyone she knows is white. Then her mom's grandmother--Imani's great-grandma Anna--passes away, and Imani discovers an old journal among her books. It's Anna's diary from 1941, the year she was twelve and fled Nazi-occupied Luxembourg alone, sent by her parents to seek refuge in Brooklyn, New York. Anna's diary records her journey to America and her new life with an adoptive family of her own. And as Imani reads the diary, she begins to see her family, and her place in it, in a whole new way.
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The Length of a String