The castle on Hester Street

Julie's grandfather regales tales of how he and his wife emigrated from Russia to New York City. On the one hand, it gives a truthful depiction of what immigrants faced when they came here: name changes, background checks, and medical check ups, exceedling long days striving to make a living. The

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grandfather's wife, Ruth, does not like how fanciful he makes life in America seem, nor life in Russia either. Eventually, the Grandma commands Grandpa to tell the trutht: Julie's grandparents worked very hard, but they were happy because they were together. They were able to live life according to their own terms. Great illustrations capture the feeling of hope although Julie's grandparents life was hard. This is a good story to introduce to kids about early immigrants during the twentieth century. The Leifmotif of buttons is woven through this book. Its what Grandpa did for a living; selling buttons to keep his family together.

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This was a very fun book. It was about a grandfather talking to his granddaughter about how they came to America to start a better life with themselves. He tries to make things interesting, but her grandmother butts in everytime that he starts to exagirate. It would be an interesting book for

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children learning about immigration in the late 1800s or early 1900s, it is fun as a book about storytelling and tall tales, and it illustrates the importance of family ties and passing on stories about the family to younger generations.

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“Castle on Hester Street” by Linda Heller is a story about immigration. In this story, a young girl is spending time with her grandparents. While she is visiting them, her grandfather begins to tell her the “true” story about how he and his wife came over to America. The grandfather tells

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his granddaughter that he came over in a golden wagon pulled by a goat that could fly. He claims that his wife was famous and that he lived in an extravagant castle. The grandmother yells at the grandfather for making up such a story and tells the granddaughter the truth. Throughout the story, the grandfather makes up some extravagant story about immigrating from Russia while the grandmother makes a point of telling the truth. This story is a great way to begin the conversation about immigration with young readers. It makes them realize that immigrating is not easy and often times immigrants face a lot of hardships. This is also a great place for young readers to begin thinking about how everyone has a different point of view on a story and often times they are not all correct. I really enjoyed this book due to all of the things stated above and would definitely recommend it.

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