Too Far from Home

by Naomi Shmuel, Avi Katz (Illustrations)

There's an Ethiopian; there's an Ethiopian! I heard them shouting. I looked behind me, but I couldn't see any Ethiopian. Children began crowding round me, and I still didn't realize that they meant me, I was the Ethiopian.

Meskerem was born in a small town in the Golan Heights of Israel, to an Ethiopian mother and an American father. Soon after Operation Solomon, when several thousand Ethiopian immigrants were brought to Israel, Meskerem's parents decided to move to the center of the country, to the town of Herzelia. Meskerem comes face-to-face with the ignorance and prejudices of her new classmates, many of whom are meeting someone dark-skinned for the first time. With the help of her Ethiopian grandmother, who remained in Kazerin, Meskerem comes to terms with who she is and finds strength in belonging to three different cultures.

-- "Blog"

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade, Cultural, Fiction, Jewish, Historical Fiction, Israel

96 pages, ebook

First published March 3, 2020

Reviews

[Lexi Haala · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is short but amazing its pretty similar to Indian no more and I definitely think you should read it if you like Indian no more.

[Jill H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is meant for parents, teachers, and other people that work with children to read.

This is a book that I think will help children to understand some of the challenges of being too far from home. It shows that in time things will get better when you are feeling homesick and need to adjust to living in a new place. It gives an excellent example in it of how people can try to make things better when they are in difficult situations.

I noticed a couple of times that Meskerem was too far from home, first with her and her family moving from Katzrin to Herzliya, which are both in Israel, then when she visited a family member in Katzrin after she moved Herzliya.

It will help to educate children on what it was like for some Jewish people in the past who lived in Ethiopia and how strong family bonds usually never die when people are separated for long periods of time.

I like how this book throws in some Hebrew words every now and then, which I think will help children to start grasping onto some Hebrew words.

It shows some examples of how being too far from home is different for people, whether it's being in another country or in a new town within the same country that is different than where they grew up and already had friends at.

This book encouraged me as an adult to continue to keep trying in my person-to-person relationships when I've made a mistake and I think people are mad at me or I get mad at them for something. We stay mad at each other for a little while but pretty soon after it feels like it is wiped away if we keep trying to make things better in the relationship and improve ourselves.

It doesn't give any examples that I noticed of what to do when people try to fix things in person-to-person relationships and they are ignored or are shown unforgiveness, but I think that would be a good discussion question when discussing this book in classes, in groups, or individually.

I received this book free from the publisher for the purpose of reviewing it.

[Jennybeast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really nice little book about moving, about microaggressions, about being proud of who you are when the world doesn't understand. Loved that the family/teachers were so supportive, even when they didn't really know what Meskerem was going through. Fascinated to learn more about the Ethiopian connection to Israel, and to see a book in such a different setting.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know anything about Ethiopian Jews immigrating to Israel, so this book was interesting in that regard. Very short and simple story about skin-color prejudice - not sure why one of my students would be drawn to this book, but for the right reader, it would be good.

[Stacy Mozer · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can find my review of this book here: https://www.sydneytaylorshmooze.com/2...

[Hannah of the Sky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, not spectacular. The plot is good. A bit short. I was hoping there would be more about the culture of Ethiopian Jews.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is interesting that the ISBN pulls up "Call Me Meskerem" but the Cover shows "...Too Far From Home." The title must have been changed for the American audience. This books was originally published in Hebrew in Israel, and was translated into English by Kar-Ben Publishers. CIP says it was originally published as "Rainbow Child." It is about a girl whose mom is an Ethiopian immigrant to Israel and whose father is an American immigrant to Israel. When they move from a small town to a town near Tel Aviv for her mom's new position helping Ethiopian refugees, there are a lot of adjustments for the entire family, but especially for Meskerem who is eleven years old. As the only dark-skinned student in her classroom, she is immediately identified as the "Ethiopian" or other. It takes a visit back to see her grandmother to get some advice on how to handle the prejudice she is up against.

[K.L. Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meskerem is leaving her home. She’s been raised by her grandmother since she was a baby. Her mother is an educational counselor and works for Israel’s Ministry of Education and manages the placement of new Ethiopian kids in public school. Her family was moving to Herzliya. On her first day of school she was bombarded by kids asking her lots of questions because she was the only Ethiopian in her class. Now, she is faced with the challenge of proving that she is Jewish too.

Young readers will become engaged in this trying story of identity and belonging. Parents and teachers can use this as a tool to teach heritage and multiculturalism to young readers to help them better understand diversity. This is also a great read-a-loud book to help open up discussions of race and religion.

[Liz Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there is a great overall message, the beginning was a little bit dry.

[Sylvie Gold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hardcover edition. Actual title and author published as: "Too Far From Home" by Naomi Shmuel; illustrated by Avi Katz. I LOVED it!