The Memory Coat

This story follows the journey of two cousins and their Jewish family as they escape Russia and flee to America during the early 1900s. It describes the immigrant inspection station at Ellis Island, including a close call with a hurt eye and tattered coat.

Summary: A story of hope and survival! A story about the trials and tributes of a family being forced from their homeland and their struggles to keep their family intact with high hopes of survival and a better life.The story begins with a family from Russia having to migrate to America to be safe

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and survive. Two children along with their family depart on a trip to American and learn the importance of family and heritage. When the family reaches Ellis Island one child is turned back but the love and persistance of the family and quick thinking results in the family remaining intact and a brighter hope for survival and a future together.

Personal Reaction: Truly a great story about the determination and family values. The fear of being forced from your homeland and seperated from your family, going to another land, but holding to the hope of a brighter and safer future shows the inner-strength and confidence of the human spirit.

Teaching Extensions:
1) The Memeory Coat could be used in a history lesson to some of the issues that forced so many people to migrate to America, which formed the culture and diversity of this great nation.
2) The Memeory Coat could be used in a geography lesson to show migration patterns of immagrants comming to America.
3) The Memeory Coat could also be used to teach children family values.

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This is the story of a Jewish family who must flee Russia to escape persecution. It describes their journey to America and the fear of being turned away at Ellis Island in New York. Quick thinking by the main character, Rachel, helps her cousin keep from being separated from the family in New York

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and possibly deported. I wish that the story had been longer. It reminds me of Patricia Polacco's books.

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Summary: This story is about cousins named Rachel and Grisha and their family who make the journey from Russia to New York City. At the beginning of the story the family is living in a small poor village in Russia. Rachel and Grisha enjoy using their imagination through telling and illustrating

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stories. Grisha is living with Rachel's family because his parents were killed in an epidemic. Grisha wears a thin coat that he refuses to replace because the inside of it is lined with fabric from his mother's coat. When cossacks get closer to the village the family decides to make the voyage to America where it will be safer. After a two week journey they arrive at Ellis Island and wait to be processed. While they are waiting Grisha gets a scratch on his eye and the first doctor says he cannot stay in America. Rachel gets the idea to turn his coat inside out so the fabric from his mother's coat is visible. They sneak him over to another doctor who allows Grisha to pass through.

Review: I think this book was well written in a way that young children could easily understand. The author does a good job of introducing the concept of immigration. The book focuses mostly on the events leading up to the family's trip to America rather than their experience when they get there. The story flows nicely and there is a good amount of detail. The illustrations are very well done and they add to the text and overall point of the story.

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Summary: This book is about a girl named Rachel and her cousin Grisha who live in Russia with their families. Grisha had just lost his family due to an epidemic across the land. In order to help him cope with his loss, Rachel and Grisha played a storytelling game that made them get close. Shortly

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after, the Tsar's soldiers invaded the Jewish community so the family quickly planned to flee to America. They were frightened that if one of them had any problems arriving in Ellis Island, the whole family would be sent back to Russia which was the last thing that the family wanted. Grisha had kept an old coat of his mothers from when she passed away. The coat was old and beat up and the family wanted Grisha to get a new coat so they would make a good impression when arriving in Ellis Island. In the end, the whole family including Grisha passed through in Ellis Island and Grisha got to keep his mothers coat to always be reminded of her.

Argument: I think the main message from this book is about holding on to memories. The memories that were stored in Grisha's coat were so important to him that he really could not afford to lose the coat. This book would be especailly good for students who had recently lost a family member and could relate to holding onto something that belongs to that family member as a strong memory of them. Another main message from this book is the truth behind many families having to flee Russia during the invasions from the Tsar. This book makes these tough concepts easier for children to understand because they can relate to either Grisha or Rachel and follow their journey.

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I've always been fascinated with Russian history. When watching a netflix movie titled The Last Tsar, I was reminded of the bloody revolts, and the ineptitude of Tsar Nicholas II, who did not want to rule, did not know how to rule, and in the end his life and that of his family came to a bloody

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end. His father, Tsar Nicholas I , at the beginning of the 19th century felt entitled to have the Cossacks randomly ride into Jewish settlements and kill. In fact, Tsar Nicholas I during the first part of 1900, listed 600 anti Jewish decrees. The author of this book provides a trove of information regarding the harshness of life of these pheasant people who eeked out a living. Many families lived in the same small wooden homes.

This is a story of Russian families who pulled together as much as they could in order to escape. Their escape destination was the United States. Two cousins, Rachel and Grisha lived together with Rachel's family. Sadly, Grisha lost his mother, and the only remaining thing he has is a raggedy coat she made for him.

When the family came to Ellis Island, they tried their best to look presentable, to look as through they could indeed not be a burden to the American population. Grisha wanted to keep his coat. In order to look presentable, he had to turn it inside out.
Tragically, many families were split apart at Ellis Island.

This is a story of many things, the harsh life of Jewish people in Russia, their determination to live without fear of being killed, and escaping to America. Once again, a well-written children's illustrated book explains historical experience woven into an understandable story of two Jewish children and the fears experienced in Russia. And, then the hope of going through the lines of Ellis Island and staying together as an intact family.

I firmly believe these excellent books that weave historical context to children, might spur them to learn more.

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