Rivka's First Thanksgiving

I think the story “Rivka’s First Thanksgiving” is a great informational story. Personally, I learned a few things from this story and I think children could learn a lot, too. The language is clear, although contains many difficult words. But, with this being said, the back of the book

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contains a glossary, defining words such as pogrom, bubbeh, kotchka, seder, etc. In addition, I love that this book was written in first person point of view in the perspective of Rivka, a young Jewish girl. Rivka was a resilient girl who fought for what she believed in. She never gave up or took no for an answer. In the end her hard work paid off and her and her family were able to give thanks on the holiday of Thanksgiving with many other American families. I think the big idea of this story is to share the author’s family memory while informing and encouraging readers to fight for what they believe in.

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When Rivka, a little Jewish girl living in New York City's Lower East Side in the early twentieth century, learns about Thanksgiving at school, she longs for her own family to join the celebration. Much like the Pilgrims in the story she has been taught, her people came to America for religious

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freedom and for safety. Having found those things, she reasons, they too should be thankful. Her Bubbe takes the issue to the Rabbi Yoshe Preminger, who declares that Jews do not celebrate Thanksgiving. Rivka knows the rabbi is wrong, but what can one little girl do in the face of such authority...?

In Rivka's First Thanksgiving, author Elsa Okon Rael answers that question by demonstrating how sometimes a child, by questioning and even criticizing her elders, by questioning and criticizing religious authority, can be the one to effect change, leading her community in the right direction. The story reminded me a bit of Barbara Cohen's Molly's Pilgrim, which also features a young Jewish girl finding meaning through the Thanksgiving story, although here the conflict is internal to the Jewish community, whereas there the conflict is external. The text here is quite long for a picture-book, and discusses the history of Rivka's family and community in Poland, where they experienced persecution and violence. For these reasons, this isn't a book I would recommend to very young children, although older picture-book audiences (six and up, I would say) will probably be the right target group. There is a glossary at the rear, explaining the meanings of some of the names and words used in the story, from Rivka (a variant of Rebecca, meaning "Bound") to Bubbe (grandmother). The artwork by Maryann Kovalski is cute, although sometimes I found her human faces a little too cartoonish, in odd ways. Leaving that last aside, all in all this is an engaging Thanksgiving story, one which illuminates the fact that the Thanksgiving story, whatever one thinks of it, has given comfort and meaning to a diverse range of Americans.

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Having heard about Thanksgiving in school, nine-year-old Rivka tries to convince her immigrant family and her Rabbi that it is a holiday for all Americans, Jews and non-Jews alike.