A young girl named Jessie lived with her Grandmother in a poor neighborhood in Eastern Europe. Her parents had died when she was just a baby, and she had lived with her Grandmother ever since. They were very close and the Grandma taught Jessie how to sew every night. Jessie's most prized possession was her mother's wedding ring that she kept in a tiny silver box. One day, the Rabbi of the town told everyone that he was going to America to stay with his brother, but his brother ended up dieing the night before. He decided to give his ticket to someone in the town that he thought deserved it. The next day he chose Jessie to leave for America. Jessie and her Grandmother were very sad to leave each other, but if the Rabbi said it was best, then they knew it was best. Jessie set out in the pouring rain for America to stay with the Rabbi's brother's widow, Kay. As they were on the ship, Jessie was very depressed knowing that her Grandmother wasn't coming with her. Jessie sewed for many people on the boat who needed the help. One boy who she sewed for was named Lou, she really liked him. When they arrived to Ellis Island, Jessie had to fill out tons of paperwork and didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Lou. Kay was there to pick her up from Ellis Island and showed her around the city everyday so that Jessie would become familiar with it. Jessie worked at Kay's parlor and made her a lot of business. Kay gave Jessie 3 coins everyday, and Jessie saved all of them. Jessie kept in touch with her Grandmother by writing her letters, but one day when she was 16 years old, she sent her Grandma a letter telling her that she saved enough money to buy her a ticket to come to America. Her Grandmother wrote back telling her thank you and that she couldn't wait to be with her in America. One day as Jessie was walking down fifth avenue, she happened to see Lou from the ship! After spending a lot of time together, Lou proposed to Jessie. When Jessie picked up her Grandmother from Ellis Island in the pouring rain, she handed Jessie that wedding ring in the silver box being that she was getting married to Lou.
This is a great story to introduce immigration and the affects of it. Ellis Island was an extremely important place at this point in time, and it is important for the students to understand just how important it was. I would use this book to show the students how emotional immigration was for everyone involved. As an activity I would use a book pass. I would have the children read a few more books about immigration and Ellis Island, and then fill out a chart for that book pass to learn the most they can about this topic.
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