Is It Night or Day?

E/A Chapman, Fern Schumer. Is It Night or Day? Farrar Straus Giroux. ISBN: 978-0-374-17744-7. 205p., $17.99. 2010.

An excellent coming of age story of a twelve years old Jewish girl leaving her hometown Stockstadt am Rhein, Germany and seeking a new life in America. Her parents feared for Edith’s safety and future when they encountered anti-Semitism in 1938 Germany. They wanted to send her to Chicago to live with her Uncle Jacob. During the journey on the sea Edith made some friends on the ship, however she was both seasick and homesick. She really missed her family and feared of their safety as well. After arriving in Chicago, she was faced with the antipathy of her Aunt Mildred, wife of Uncle Jacob, and her cousin Dorothy. Her sister Betty was sent to American only a few years ahead of her, they try to meet up and rekindle the relationship of sisters. Edith thought she would be living with Betty, however another family adopted Betty since Betty could not bear the treatment by Aunt Mildred, who treated Betty as their maid of the house. Now Edith is faced with the same treatment and she must bear it because she need Uncle Jacob’s help in getting her parents out from Germany. The war of Germany and United States had begun; many banners in the neighborhood were replaced with the gold star instead of blue ones (i.e. the soldiers in their family were killed in action). Edith also received news that her parents were killed in concentration camp; she shared the same feeling among her neighbors who lost their sons (i.e. love ones) in the Germany. She told one of her neighbor, “ You and I, both of us, have lost so much.” Dora Ho – LAPL Young Adult Librarian