When Jessie Came Across the Sea

When Jessie Came Across the Sea 

by Amy Hest

 Illustrated by P.J. Lynch

Grades: 1-5

Have you ever thought about what it’s like up and leaving your home and everything you love behind? Gone to a place where you don’t know a single person? Or hard to work when you are just a child? Jessie experienced all of these thing in just a short amount of time. Although moving to America would be best for her did she really have to go by herself?

Jessie was picked to leave her village and go to America and live with her rabbi’s sister-in-law. She was going to work in her dress shop. This was lucky for Jessie because her grandmother had made her learn how to sew lace. Jessie’s grandmother took care of her since her parents died when she was very young. Although her grandmother would miss her she knew that Jessie would have a better life in America so she made her go. When Jessie left she realized she had left her mother wedding ring behind and was very upset about it. At first Jessie was devastated when she was on the boat to America but she started to help others by sewing lace onto them. She became happier and met a boy named Lou who she grew found of. When Jessie got to America she moved in with her rabbi’s sister-in-law Kay in New York. The next day she began working. Every friday Jessie was given three coins that she saved up in a jar. Jessie one day accidentally made a wedding dress and suddenly was making them for many women in New York! Soon after her success Kay decided she needed to go to school. She became a very good student and she learned english very well. Three years later  Jessie was sitting in the park, she looked up and there was Lou! the two fell in love and he asked her to marry him but Jessie’s response was “soon”. Jessie then went home, took her jar full of coins and went to by a ticket to America for her Grandmother. When her grandmother got there they were so excited to see each other that they hugged for a very long time. Then her grandmother pulled out the wedding ring that Jessie had left behind so many years ago. There was soon to be a wedding.

Although this book is fiction there are many parts of this story that could be true. Many young boys and girls left their homes on their own to have a better life in America. Living with someone they knew was also a common thing to do. Although the background with the ring and marrying Lou may not be true this situation could happen, where someone found their spouse on the boat. Also many children worked at a young very age in those times and school came second. Although Jessie went to school and learned some children would not have the opportunity to do so.

The pictures in this book are truly amazing. Looking at these drawings could be looking at a picture thats how real they look. You can even see the wrinkles on her grandmothers hand and see the facial features of each character.

This book would be good to teach kids if there is someone new or different in their classroom. The MA ELA frameworks would be: 1 (discussion), 2 (Questioning, Listening, Contributing), and 9 (making connections).