Publisher's Weekly Review
Despite the book's somewhat misleading title (only two pages are devoted to the practice of changing names), Levine ( I Hate English! ; If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King ) offers a comprehensive, well organized discussion of the immigration procedures followed at Ellis Island between 1892 and 1914. One- or two-page chapters offer concise answers to questions (``What did people bring with them?'; ``What happened if you were detained?''; ``How did people learn English?''), enabling youngsters to digest easily a significant amount of information. Facts about the many rigorous routines and tests (medical, legal, literacy) that new arrivals endured are peppered with the intriguing personal reminiscences of individuals who lived through them. Sometimes sharply focused, sometimes effectively hazy, Parmenter's acrylic paintings admirably evoke the period, as well as the anguish and joy that characterized the bittersweet Ellis Island experience. Ages 7-10. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Around the turn of the twentieth century, over twelve million immigrants passed through Ellis Island as they entered the United States. A question-and-answer format and color illustrations explore the procedural aspects and human emotions related to the Ellis Island immigrant experience. From HORN BOOK 1993, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Arranged in Q&A style, this survey of earlier immigrations asks: ``Did all immigrants come through Ellis Island?'' (no); ``Did you have to have a job waiting for you?'' (again, no; in fact, it was not allowed). It's evident that America has always been a polyglot magnet--even in 1643, 18 languages were spoken in one colonial area. It's also evident that there's been long-standing prejudice against certain immigrants (ability to read was required for entrance, and first and second class arrivals didn't have to sweat it out at Ellis Island). Perhaps most interesting here are the individual stories: the name change in the author's own family; the child who had never seen a banana and ate it whole; the ``six- second'' medical exam. Levine (If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon, 1986) gives multiculturalism an extra boost by ending with a sampling of words and other contributions from many heritages. Nostalgically warm impressionistic paintings, suffused with sepia, simultaneously signal suffering and hope. (Nonfiction. 7-10)
Booklist Review
Gr. 3-5. Was the ocean voyage dangerous? Where would you sleep and eat on the ship? What happened if the doctors on Ellis Island found something wrong with you? Did immigrants ever return? What was the Staircase of Separation? Levine provides one- or two-page answers to these questions and many more. She writes in a clear, direct style that's packed with information and lively case histories of the millions who passed through Ellis Island in the period from the 1880s through 1914. We've had picture books that dramatize a single immigrant family's story; and there are lots of young adult titles, fiction and nonfiction, about the immigration experience; but this is one of the best general historical accounts for younger readers. Levine focuses on the immigrants' Ellis Island experience, but she also covers what the immigrants left behind, how and why they came, and what happened when they first arrived. There are many illustrations, sometimes full-page, sometimes small, in acrylic earth colors; while not as dramatic as the period photographs in Freedman's Immigrant Kids (1980), they are an attractive part of a clear and accessible design. For classroom discussion and for personal research projects, this is a great starting place. Kids will discover that we are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants, and that prejudice against them started very early, when we were settlers or colonists and everyone else was an immigrant. ~--Hazel Rochman
