Anna & Solomon
Gr 2–4—Anna and Solomon's story begins with their 1897 wedding in the Russian town of Vitebsk, where they lived in the Jewish quarter. Both are talented in their work, he as a house painter and she as a bookkeeper. Their life together is soon interrupted by a cruel, house-wrecking invasion by the Czar's soldiers. Snyder's true-to-life tale recounts her grandparents' history as immigrants in New York City at the close of the 19th century. Their journey to a safer country took several years to achieve as they earned money to travel one at a time. The spare tale focuses on Anna's refusal to make the trip and join Solomon until she sent first her younger brother, then an older brother, and finally her mother before her own happy reunion with her long-waiting husband. Bliss creates congenial characters and busy scenes colored in earth tones on single-page, facing views. The energetic pastiche of family and city life is a bit cluttered but also conveys a nice realism. Though the picture-book telling suggests fiction, a concluding page of photographs of Anna and Solomon reminds readers that this all happened to real people. Featuring adult concerns, the book may not draw children as readers. Teachers and families, however, can make very nice use of this well-crafted account for sparking discussion and creative work focusing on family histories, the long history of immigration in this country, and the current worldwide flow of emigrating families.—Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston