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The Length of a String
Imani is adopted, and she's ready to search for her birthparents. But when she discovers the diary her Jewish great-grandmother wrote chronicling her escape from Holocaust-era Europe, Imani begins to see family in a new way.
Imani knows exactly what she wants as her big bat mitzvah gift: to meet her birthparents. She loves her family and her Jewish community in Baltimore, but she has always wondered where she came from, especially since she's black and almost everyone she knows is white. When her mom's grandmother--Imani's great-grandma Anna--passes away, Imani discovers an old diary among her books. It's Anna's diary from 1941, the year she was twelve--the year she fled Nazi-occupied Luxembourg alone, sent by her parents to seek refuge in Brooklyn. Written as a series of letters to the twin sister she had to leave behind, Anna's diary records her journey to America and her new life with an adopted family. Anna's diary and Imani's birthparent search intertwine to tell the story of two girls, each searching for family and identity in her own time and in her own way.
Imani knows exactly what she wants as her big bat mitzvah gift: to meet her birthparents. She loves her family and her Jewish community in Baltimore, but she has always wondered where she came from, especially since she's black and almost everyone she knows is white. When her mom's grandmother--Imani's great-grandma Anna--passes away, Imani discovers an old diary among her books. It's Anna's diary from 1941, the year she was twelve--the year she fled Nazi-occupied Luxembourg alone, sent by her parents to seek refuge in Brooklyn. Written as a series of letters to the twin sister she had to leave behind, Anna's diary records her journey to America and her new life with an adopted family. Anna's diary and Imani's birthparent search intertwine to tell the story of two girls, each searching for family and identity in her own time and in her own way.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2018
66 people are currently reading
2075 people want to read
About the author
Elissa Brent Weissman
12 books112 followersElissa Brent Weissman is an award-winning author of novels for young readers. Best known for the popular Nerd Camp series, she and her books have been featured in Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, NPR’s “Here and Now,” and more. Named one of CBS Baltimore’s Best Authors in Maryland, Elissa spent many years in Baltimore City, where she taught creative writing to children, college students, and adults. She currently lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her husband and their two super cool nerds-in-training.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 245 reviews
January 30, 2019
Wow, wow, wow. This book is really special. Highly recommend for all middle school bookshelves, and it should be easy to tie into curriculum. Beautiful wonderful book.
This is the story of Imani, an adopted Black girl in a Jewish family, who discovers her great-grandmother's diary, telling the story of that 12 year old girl's escape from Europe in 1941. And at the same time, Imani wants to know about where SHE came from, her bio family. The book addresses Imani's feelings about Judaism, where she belongs, as well as how she's treated by some people in the Jewish community. And Imani finds more roots and connections than she expected to find. (No spoilers!) This book is a great addition to a middle school curriculum that teaches the Holocaust and will help kids make those connections between our lives and the lives of people who survived the Holocaust. 5 stars, highly recommend. This book is a great addition to a middle school curriculum that teaches the Holocaust and will help kids make those connections between our lives and the lives of people who survived the Holocaust. 5 stars, highly recommend.
The author cites her research as well as thanking sensitivity readers in the acknowledgements, and owns that any mistakes are her own, which I appreciate!
This is the story of Imani, an adopted Black girl in a Jewish family, who discovers her great-grandmother's diary, telling the story of that 12 year old girl's escape from Europe in 1941. And at the same time, Imani wants to know about where SHE came from, her bio family. The book addresses Imani's feelings about Judaism, where she belongs, as well as how she's treated by some people in the Jewish community. And Imani finds more roots and connections than she expected to find. (No spoilers!) This book is a great addition to a middle school curriculum that teaches the Holocaust and will help kids make those connections between our lives and the lives of people who survived the Holocaust. 5 stars, highly recommend. This book is a great addition to a middle school curriculum that teaches the Holocaust and will help kids make those connections between our lives and the lives of people who survived the Holocaust. 5 stars, highly recommend.
The author cites her research as well as thanking sensitivity readers in the acknowledgements, and owns that any mistakes are her own, which I appreciate!
November 27, 2023
*libby app, Overdrive was better *
----
Was in a mental funk, and I went to my favorite genre on the library app and just started scrolling through historical fiction,looking for anything that would catch my eye.
The title of this was intriguing, and the synopsis was even more so.
Learning your family history can be exciting. It's a big blank canvas that stretches out in front of you, waiting for the ink to be put down.
I know more about my dad's side of the family, thanks to my uncle doing research for many years. When I asked him how far back he got, his answer was surprising.
He found some interesting people in our line.
You see all of this laid out in front of you and think... Holy crap? I come from all these people?
One thing going wrong or different could have meant you weren't born. All of the ones before you leading down to the here and now.
Just wow.
My mom's side we know very little. I've offered to help mom look but she's not sure yet and I understand.
This book touches in two different people in the same family with both different and similar circumstances.
Both are going through their own challenges and/or fears. You can feel the invisible threads that connect them.
Imani's search for who she is and where she comes from is very relatable. Having puzzle pieces missing can sometimes be a lonely feeling. Sliding them into place can be a big relief... or it could cause more pain.
How do we know if it is the right time to search for answers?
Anna... when you think about everything she's going through... it's hard to wrap your mind around it. It hits you that these were real people, and they did not deserve what happened to them.
With her diary, we get to know Anna through Imani and her friend, reading through her entries. From the happy to the slow realization that something is wrong.
The way connections are made are beautifully done. You are drawn in bit by bit and feeling what everyone in there is feeling.
Even when I had the awful feeling knowing what happened..still hoping it wasn't true.
Family stories are important. Unfortunately, we don't realize it sometimes until the person is gone and so is the things they could have told us.
If I could go back in time, I would ask for everything they could tell me and write it down.
I teared up multiple times during this but one time especially got to me.
The book ends in a way that is both sad and wonderful.
Would highly recommend this one.
It hit me more especially... got me thinking too.
Hold your loved ones tight, and listen to what they have to tell you about their lives before you... you'll wish you had those tales.
----
Was in a mental funk, and I went to my favorite genre on the library app and just started scrolling through historical fiction,looking for anything that would catch my eye.
The title of this was intriguing, and the synopsis was even more so.
Learning your family history can be exciting. It's a big blank canvas that stretches out in front of you, waiting for the ink to be put down.
I know more about my dad's side of the family, thanks to my uncle doing research for many years. When I asked him how far back he got, his answer was surprising.
He found some interesting people in our line.
You see all of this laid out in front of you and think... Holy crap? I come from all these people?
One thing going wrong or different could have meant you weren't born. All of the ones before you leading down to the here and now.
Just wow.
My mom's side we know very little. I've offered to help mom look but she's not sure yet and I understand.
This book touches in two different people in the same family with both different and similar circumstances.
Both are going through their own challenges and/or fears. You can feel the invisible threads that connect them.
Imani's search for who she is and where she comes from is very relatable. Having puzzle pieces missing can sometimes be a lonely feeling. Sliding them into place can be a big relief... or it could cause more pain.
How do we know if it is the right time to search for answers?
Anna... when you think about everything she's going through... it's hard to wrap your mind around it. It hits you that these were real people, and they did not deserve what happened to them.
With her diary, we get to know Anna through Imani and her friend, reading through her entries. From the happy to the slow realization that something is wrong.
The way connections are made are beautifully done. You are drawn in bit by bit and feeling what everyone in there is feeling.
Even when I had the awful feeling knowing what happened..still hoping it wasn't true.
Family stories are important. Unfortunately, we don't realize it sometimes until the person is gone and so is the things they could have told us.
If I could go back in time, I would ask for everything they could tell me and write it down.
I teared up multiple times during this but one time especially got to me.
The book ends in a way that is both sad and wonderful.
Would highly recommend this one.
It hit me more especially... got me thinking too.
Hold your loved ones tight, and listen to what they have to tell you about their lives before you... you'll wish you had those tales.
September 6, 2018
Well that made me cry. (But in a good way.)
June 22, 2018
Twelve-year-old Imani Mandel was told she could have anything she wanted as her Bat Mitzvah gift. And she knows just what she wants, but she's too afraid to ask for it. Imani was adopted and now she is wondering about her biological parents and wants to know who she is and who they are. It's especially important to her since she is a young black girl and her parents are a white Jewish couple, albeit very loving parents.
As part of their Bat Mitzvah preparations, everyone in Imani's hebrew school class must do a Holocaust project, an assignment she has found to be pretty uninspiring. That is until she finds the diary.
Imani knew her great grandmother Anna has come to America from Luxembourg when she was young, but when the Rabbi at her funeral mentions something about her new family, Imani begins to wonder if Anna had also been adopted. Later, Imani is told that Anna had left all her books to her, her younger brother Jaime, and a younger cousin, Isabel. While sorting through the books, Imani finds the diary that Anna begun on the ship to the United States in August 1941 (and which she had conveniently translated the Luxembourgish entries into English in 1950).
As she reads the diary, Imani learns about Anna's life with her twin Belle, her parents, older brother Kurt, and young siblings, Mina, Greta and Oliver, about life in Nazi-occupied Luxembourg, and, despite have sponsors in the US, about how they were forced to make a last minute when the passeur* suddenly jacked up the cost of false papers and passage, allowing only one person to travel to New York and safety instead of two.
Anna was taken in by a couple, Max and Hannah, living in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Max was a furrier, working in the garment district for his two uncles, who has escaped the Russian pogroms as young men. Anna's first friend is a boy named Freddy, who helps her pick up English pretty quickly, teaches her the kind of street games played by kids, and even introduces her to the Coney Island Cyclone. Anna records all of this in her diary hoping to share it with Belle if and when she and the rest of her family arrive in NY. Sadly, Imani already knows that Anna's family has perished in the Holocaust, making her yearning all the more poignant.
As Imani reads her diary, she decides to make Luxembourg during the Holocaust her hebrew school project with the help of Anna's diary. Using Anna's story as a way to speak to her own parents about finding out who she is seems like a good idea, but she is still too scared to talk to her parents about it. It takes a surprising discovery for Imani to finally open up about what she wants.
In the end, both Anna and Imani have to learn that their identity is not necessarily jsut a matter of a biological connection, as much as it is feeling a deep connected to one's family, traditions, and history. A word about the title: it is the answer to the question how long is a piece of string? and length is unknown, variable or infinite. Here, the Anna and Imani's connection to their families is unmeasurable.
This was an interesting story about identity, though I felt that a little more about Imani being black could have been included with the same conclusion. Her Jewish roots were definitely privileged over her African American roots and I couldn't help but wonder what Imani sees when she looks in the mirror. Deep down inside, I also felt that, in real life, this would be an issue that will return in Imani's future.
I have to agree with Ms. Yingling when she says she wished the book had followed Anna's story and Imani's had been it's own story. Both would have felt richer and more full-bodied then combining them. I did want to know more about Anna's family in Luxembourg. Did they ever receive the package that Anna and Hannah sent to them? Were they really forced into the Lodz Ghetto, as the people in shul speculated?
And I wanted to know why Imani was given up for adoption. And why her adoptive mother kept the name her biological mother gave her. Weissman writes they both mean Faith, but I would have expected her Jewish mother to change it to Faith, but she didn't.
I did like the fact that Weissman included enough about Imani's life so that the reader knows she is also just a kid on the verge of becoming a teen. There are tennis games (Imani is quite a good player), a best friend, other friends, parties, boys, crushes, and all the usual interests of a girl who is 12 going on 13.
While some things make this novel feel a bit incomplete, which is too bad, I still think it is an important book about adoption and family and definitely recommend it to young readers.
This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL
*A passeur was a person who smuggled people out of Nazi-occupied territories. They were often resistance fighters who escorted down pilots to safety, as well as Jews. Here, the impression is that the passeur isn't a very honorable person. Though some passeurs were heroes, after the war, there were also charges that some has profited from the desperation of the people they were helping to escape.
As part of their Bat Mitzvah preparations, everyone in Imani's hebrew school class must do a Holocaust project, an assignment she has found to be pretty uninspiring. That is until she finds the diary.
Imani knew her great grandmother Anna has come to America from Luxembourg when she was young, but when the Rabbi at her funeral mentions something about her new family, Imani begins to wonder if Anna had also been adopted. Later, Imani is told that Anna had left all her books to her, her younger brother Jaime, and a younger cousin, Isabel. While sorting through the books, Imani finds the diary that Anna begun on the ship to the United States in August 1941 (and which she had conveniently translated the Luxembourgish entries into English in 1950).
As she reads the diary, Imani learns about Anna's life with her twin Belle, her parents, older brother Kurt, and young siblings, Mina, Greta and Oliver, about life in Nazi-occupied Luxembourg, and, despite have sponsors in the US, about how they were forced to make a last minute when the passeur* suddenly jacked up the cost of false papers and passage, allowing only one person to travel to New York and safety instead of two.
Anna was taken in by a couple, Max and Hannah, living in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Max was a furrier, working in the garment district for his two uncles, who has escaped the Russian pogroms as young men. Anna's first friend is a boy named Freddy, who helps her pick up English pretty quickly, teaches her the kind of street games played by kids, and even introduces her to the Coney Island Cyclone. Anna records all of this in her diary hoping to share it with Belle if and when she and the rest of her family arrive in NY. Sadly, Imani already knows that Anna's family has perished in the Holocaust, making her yearning all the more poignant.
As Imani reads her diary, she decides to make Luxembourg during the Holocaust her hebrew school project with the help of Anna's diary. Using Anna's story as a way to speak to her own parents about finding out who she is seems like a good idea, but she is still too scared to talk to her parents about it. It takes a surprising discovery for Imani to finally open up about what she wants.
In the end, both Anna and Imani have to learn that their identity is not necessarily jsut a matter of a biological connection, as much as it is feeling a deep connected to one's family, traditions, and history. A word about the title: it is the answer to the question how long is a piece of string? and length is unknown, variable or infinite. Here, the Anna and Imani's connection to their families is unmeasurable.
This was an interesting story about identity, though I felt that a little more about Imani being black could have been included with the same conclusion. Her Jewish roots were definitely privileged over her African American roots and I couldn't help but wonder what Imani sees when she looks in the mirror. Deep down inside, I also felt that, in real life, this would be an issue that will return in Imani's future.
I have to agree with Ms. Yingling when she says she wished the book had followed Anna's story and Imani's had been it's own story. Both would have felt richer and more full-bodied then combining them. I did want to know more about Anna's family in Luxembourg. Did they ever receive the package that Anna and Hannah sent to them? Were they really forced into the Lodz Ghetto, as the people in shul speculated?
And I wanted to know why Imani was given up for adoption. And why her adoptive mother kept the name her biological mother gave her. Weissman writes they both mean Faith, but I would have expected her Jewish mother to change it to Faith, but she didn't.
I did like the fact that Weissman included enough about Imani's life so that the reader knows she is also just a kid on the verge of becoming a teen. There are tennis games (Imani is quite a good player), a best friend, other friends, parties, boys, crushes, and all the usual interests of a girl who is 12 going on 13.
While some things make this novel feel a bit incomplete, which is too bad, I still think it is an important book about adoption and family and definitely recommend it to young readers.
This book is recommended for readers age 10+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL
*A passeur was a person who smuggled people out of Nazi-occupied territories. They were often resistance fighters who escorted down pilots to safety, as well as Jews. Here, the impression is that the passeur isn't a very honorable person. Though some passeurs were heroes, after the war, there were also charges that some has profited from the desperation of the people they were helping to escape.
February 13, 2018
This is an extremely well-written and engrossing novel connecting the past to the present.
In 2014, Imani's great-grandmother Anna dies leaving all of her books to her great-grandchildren. Among the stacks, Imani discovers Anna's journal from 1941. Anna chronicles her journey from Luxembourg to America. Sent to live with a family in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn Anna must not only adapt to life in a new country, new school, new language and culture, but also cope without her news of her family's safety and well being following the Nazi invasion of her tiny homeland. The book does an excellent job of putting a face and a story to the statistics. How gut wrenching and desperate Anna's parents must have been! With only enough money to cover the cost of sending one child to possible safety, her parents chose the resilient and determined twelve-year-old to not only cross the Atlantic on her own but also settle into a new family without the guarantee of being reunited with her loved ones. Anna chooses to document her experience for her twin sister, Belle.
On the cusp of her bat mitzvah, Imani decides to bring Anna's story off the pages of the journal and into the spotlight. At the same time, she feels a kinship with her ancestor because, as Anna was adopted into a new family in America, Imani herself is an adoptee. She is curious about her biological parents and her own origins yet afraid to hurt her parents' feelings should she broach the subject. The simultaneous searches for clues into the fate of Anna's family and Imani's birth parents intertwine into a fascinating story.
I would highly recommended this book to fans of coming of age novels, historical fiction, and educators. Additionally, Weissman expertly describes Imani's conflicted emotions as she feels a part of her family yet strangers are often quick to judge the situation given that she is black in a family of white relatives.
In 2014, Imani's great-grandmother Anna dies leaving all of her books to her great-grandchildren. Among the stacks, Imani discovers Anna's journal from 1941. Anna chronicles her journey from Luxembourg to America. Sent to live with a family in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn Anna must not only adapt to life in a new country, new school, new language and culture, but also cope without her news of her family's safety and well being following the Nazi invasion of her tiny homeland. The book does an excellent job of putting a face and a story to the statistics. How gut wrenching and desperate Anna's parents must have been! With only enough money to cover the cost of sending one child to possible safety, her parents chose the resilient and determined twelve-year-old to not only cross the Atlantic on her own but also settle into a new family without the guarantee of being reunited with her loved ones. Anna chooses to document her experience for her twin sister, Belle.
On the cusp of her bat mitzvah, Imani decides to bring Anna's story off the pages of the journal and into the spotlight. At the same time, she feels a kinship with her ancestor because, as Anna was adopted into a new family in America, Imani herself is an adoptee. She is curious about her biological parents and her own origins yet afraid to hurt her parents' feelings should she broach the subject. The simultaneous searches for clues into the fate of Anna's family and Imani's birth parents intertwine into a fascinating story.
I would highly recommended this book to fans of coming of age novels, historical fiction, and educators. Additionally, Weissman expertly describes Imani's conflicted emotions as she feels a part of her family yet strangers are often quick to judge the situation given that she is black in a family of white relatives.
August 4, 2019
This book is about a 12 year old girl named Imani! She was adopted by a Jewish family at a very young age! At the time of her bat mitzvah her parents said that she ask for anything ! So Imani desperately want to find out more abut her biological parents! But how will she say it without hurting her parents feelings.
Meanwhile her great-grandma Anna has passed. So when she goes through her great-grandma's book shelf she found a diary dated back in the 1940s! As Imani reads the diary she uncovers some very heart-breaking material! But while realizing this she starts to undestand the importance of family!
This book was so good!! I loved the whole plot!!!
Meanwhile her great-grandma Anna has passed. So when she goes through her great-grandma's book shelf she found a diary dated back in the 1940s! As Imani reads the diary she uncovers some very heart-breaking material! But while realizing this she starts to undestand the importance of family!
This book was so good!! I loved the whole plot!!!
February 21, 2024
This made me cry, so good. So touching.
A great middle grade read about intersectional identities and that representation in children's books is so needed.
A great middle grade read about intersectional identities and that representation in children's books is so needed.
October 15, 2020
What a powerful middle grade novel exploring themes such as family (both biological and found families) identity, religion, and the ties that bind.
Imani is such a plucky and fearless young heroine. She loves her family dearly, she has great friends, and her backhand in tennis is second to non, but feels as if some piece of her is missing-- she's adopted and she has never learned anything about her birth mother or birth father. She is an African-American young girl adopted into a White, Jewish family; her younger brother Jaime is adopted too, from Guatemala. So, as she is studying for her coming bat mitzvah, she discovers a family heirloom at her great-grandmother's house and learns about some hidden history set in Luxembourg during WWII and that she and her adoptive great-grandmother shared more in common than she would have expected.
This was a fantastic dual timeline historical fiction for higher level middle grade and YA readers... and adults too!
Imani is such a plucky and fearless young heroine. She loves her family dearly, she has great friends, and her backhand in tennis is second to non, but feels as if some piece of her is missing-- she's adopted and she has never learned anything about her birth mother or birth father. She is an African-American young girl adopted into a White, Jewish family; her younger brother Jaime is adopted too, from Guatemala. So, as she is studying for her coming bat mitzvah, she discovers a family heirloom at her great-grandmother's house and learns about some hidden history set in Luxembourg during WWII and that she and her adoptive great-grandmother shared more in common than she would have expected.
This was a fantastic dual timeline historical fiction for higher level middle grade and YA readers... and adults too!
March 18, 2023
I want everyone to read this book! It was just that good! I can’t believe this book doesn’t have more ratings/reads on here. This story is told from two perspectives and dual timelines. Present day, Imani is an adopted 12 year old girl preparing for her Bat Mitzvah, and while researching comes across a diary of her great-great grandmother Anna. In 1941, 12 year old Anna Hirsch is sent from Luxembourg to America to live with her father’s cousin as the Nazi’s take over Luxembourg, leaving behind her 5 siblings, including a twin sister and her parents. Both Imani and Anna embark on a journey of self-discovery, redefining family, and grieving lost family as they battle coming to terms with events not in their control. A beautiful story of love, friendships and family.
July 13, 2024
This is a truly beautiful and amazing book! It is geared for middle school age students, but worth the read for anyone! It’s about a modern girl and her search to understand her heritage while learning about her adopted great grandmother’s experiences escaping the Holocaust. I highly recommend this book.
“I was looking up my name,” I told her. “Did you know that Imani means faith in Swahili? ”
I watched Mom’s face to see if her eyebrows would go up or down. It was like I was in science class, recording the color change of a piece of litmus paper. The result was better than I could have hoped: One eyebrow up!
“Really?” Mom said, sounding genuinely interested. “Your Hebrew name means faith too. They must come from the same root.”
“I was looking up my name,” I told her. “Did you know that Imani means faith in Swahili? ”
I watched Mom’s face to see if her eyebrows would go up or down. It was like I was in science class, recording the color change of a piece of litmus paper. The result was better than I could have hoped: One eyebrow up!
“Really?” Mom said, sounding genuinely interested. “Your Hebrew name means faith too. They must come from the same root.”
September 3, 2021
Oh my goodness. Phenomenal. I'd give it 6 stars if I could. It's been a long time since I've cried reading a book. The letter from Anna's mother made me cry. And then the surprise discovery at the end?!?! More tears!
Exploring Anna's story and watching Imani work through her own questions ... Her relationship with her Grandpa... All of it was tremendous.
Such an excellent, middle-grade appropriate introduction to the Holocaust. We'll be getting this one on audio to listen to as a family.
Exploring Anna's story and watching Imani work through her own questions ... Her relationship with her Grandpa... All of it was tremendous.
Such an excellent, middle-grade appropriate introduction to the Holocaust. We'll be getting this one on audio to listen to as a family.
September 23, 2024
It's been a long time since a middle grade novel moved me to tears (several times). This follows a young woman's journey of discovery as she navigates her adoption and questions about who she is, paralleling it with excerpts of her great grandmother's diary covering the time she was smuggled out of WWII Luxembourg to America and adopted by a couple in NYC. I wish I could give both these girls hugs.💗
May 6, 2021
I really enjoyed the two storylines of this book and found both Imani and Anna’s stories very interesting. It was a great way to talk about the events of the Holocaust while still connecting it to living descendants. I liked learning more about the Jewish culture through Imani’s time in Jewish school and preparing for her bat mitzvah presentation.
The only thing that I didn’t absolutely love was the adoption representation in the present timeline. I have been reading a lot of middle grade books lately with adoption in order to see which ones would be good to pass on to my kids when they get older, so that they can see themselves in stories. But it seems to be a trend in the books that I have read so far to make the adoptive parents very secretive, insecure, and not willing to talk to their kids about their adoption or birth family. I am really getting tired of using adoption just as a way to add some drama to a story, and I would like to find some books where the parents actually talk to their kids. Is that too much to ask?
Overall, though, I thought this book was really well written and a great mix of historical fiction and contemporary. I loved the personalities of both girls, and enjoyed following them at a pivotal point in their lives with the struggles and joys that time contained.
The only thing that I didn’t absolutely love was the adoption representation in the present timeline. I have been reading a lot of middle grade books lately with adoption in order to see which ones would be good to pass on to my kids when they get older, so that they can see themselves in stories. But it seems to be a trend in the books that I have read so far to make the adoptive parents very secretive, insecure, and not willing to talk to their kids about their adoption or birth family. I am really getting tired of using adoption just as a way to add some drama to a story, and I would like to find some books where the parents actually talk to their kids. Is that too much to ask?
Overall, though, I thought this book was really well written and a great mix of historical fiction and contemporary. I loved the personalities of both girls, and enjoyed following them at a pivotal point in their lives with the struggles and joys that time contained.
October 9, 2020
This story covers a lot of tough bases--adoption, race, and the Holocaust, not to mention being twelve and growing up in general. But Imani and her family and friends are believable and (mostly) likeable, and her family history was as enchanting for me as it was for her. Also, it's hardly the climax of the story, but I just loved Chapter 4.
February 26, 2019
Anna and her twin Belle are identical. They live in Luxembourg with their parents and siblings. It is 1941 and Hitler has invaded the small country. All the Jews, including Anna and Belle's family must wear yellow stars on their coats. All of those who can get out are doing so, getting to America if they can - but it's very expensive. Anna's parents decide that some of the children must get out now, and the rest of the family will follow as soon as they can. Anna is to go to her father's second cousin and his wife, who live in Brooklyn, NY. Anna is terribly sick on the long journey by boat, and writes her thoughts and fears in her journal so she can remember everything to share with her twin when she sees her again. Her relatives are kind, and Anna's English improves quickly once she is enrolled in school, but she worries that she hasn't heard anything from her family...
Years later Anna's great granddaughter finds her journal, and is drawn in to Anna's journey. Just like Anna did at first, Imani also feels like an outsider. She is adopted, and her dark skin doesn't match her parents at all. She has always wondered about her birth parents, but hasn't been able to get up the nerve to ask her parents for information about them. But through Anna's story, Imani begins to see her family, and her place in it, in a whole new way. Loved this one! Recommended for historical fiction fans in grades 5 and up.
Years later Anna's great granddaughter finds her journal, and is drawn in to Anna's journey. Just like Anna did at first, Imani also feels like an outsider. She is adopted, and her dark skin doesn't match her parents at all. She has always wondered about her birth parents, but hasn't been able to get up the nerve to ask her parents for information about them. But through Anna's story, Imani begins to see her family, and her place in it, in a whole new way. Loved this one! Recommended for historical fiction fans in grades 5 and up.
July 10, 2018
In spite of this fairly common trope - connecting the past to the present through a diary - I found this book engrossing and worthwhile. The characters are well-drawn and the story interesting. The connections between past and present are sometimes a bit tenuous, but, in a way, that only adds to the feeling that sometimes you just can't know everything and you must accept what you do know.
Aside: in this digital age, I wonder what will take the place of these olden-days, relatively ubiquitous diaries. Having recently needed to look for old photographs for an upcoming wedding, I discovered that digitized pictures aren't always as available as I thought. My current computer doesn't have a CD reader attached and I didn't upload all of the pictures from my first computer era. Interestingly, the most accessible, but most tedious to use, are the (hard copy) pictures in that I long ago placed in albums. I wonder how children generations from now will find out about their heritage.
Aside: in this digital age, I wonder what will take the place of these olden-days, relatively ubiquitous diaries. Having recently needed to look for old photographs for an upcoming wedding, I discovered that digitized pictures aren't always as available as I thought. My current computer doesn't have a CD reader attached and I didn't upload all of the pictures from my first computer era. Interestingly, the most accessible, but most tedious to use, are the (hard copy) pictures in that I long ago placed in albums. I wonder how children generations from now will find out about their heritage.
June 16, 2018
This one made me cry. Imani is a black girl adopted into a Jewish family, and is now preparing for her bat mitzvah. Some months before that event, her great-grandmother, Anna, dies, and she inherits Anna’s diary of the year she was 12, 1941. Anna was sent from her family in Luxembourg to live with relatives in NYC by herself, and records her sorrows, hopes, and joys. Imani reads this journal and wrestles with how to tell her parents about her interest in her own biological parents. Well done, and with a satisfying surprise and conclusion.
January 29, 2018
This should be required reading. Seeing into the life and past life of this fictional family paints a really solid picture that shows determination, hope, love, loss, and kindness all wrapped up in a page turner that feels real.
December 18, 2022
In the Length of a String , some girl named Anna had to move to the USA due to the holocaust leaving her parents, sister, brother, and twin sister Bella behind. Because Anna’s parents had such a big poverty, they only could afford sending one person in the family out. Anna wrote a journal to send out to her family sharing her journey around New York!! But sadly, Anna could never have mailed to her family. Now it’s back in 2016, where Anna had sadly passed. As her granddaughter, Imani received her journal and started reading it with her friend Madeline, she uncovers secrets that her family never knew about her. It shares such a beautiful story about love, friendship, and family.
My rating: 5 of of 5 stars!! It’s such a phenomenal book. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone if I could!!
My rating: 5 of of 5 stars!! It’s such a phenomenal book. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone if I could!!
August 15, 2021
It took me awhile to get into this...I think the dual narratives slowed down at the beginning and I wish we hadn't really gotten so much of Anna's story until we got to know Imani better. For awhile it really felt like a lot of things I've read before. But stick with this...it is authentic and really comes through nicely in the end. I was worried this would have a trite ending and it doesn't.
I would love to see a review of this by a transracial adoptee but in reading the acknowledgements I think this author worked really hard to make sure that representation was authentic so I really appreciate that. Great for anyone who loves a good family history story.
I would love to see a review of this by a transracial adoptee but in reading the acknowledgements I think this author worked really hard to make sure that representation was authentic so I really appreciate that. Great for anyone who loves a good family history story.
July 2, 2022
Wow omg the book was good. The main character Imani wanted one thing for her bat mitsvhah (sorry If I spelled that wrong) and that was to find her biological parents. She found her Jewish great grandma’s diary. The great grandma wrote chronicles of what was happening in her life. There was one part of the book that I sad about but then the ending it was happy. The writing was great and the author did a fantastic job. I was Imagining what it be like in the 1950/40s anyone else or just me?. I also wonder what it be like without internet or computers. If you haven’t read the book I recommend it. A really good book.
March 3, 2021
Adopted Imani is the only black girl in her Jewish community and she really wants to find out about her birth parents but can’t find the way to ask. In researching her great grandmother Anna’s removal from Luxembourg, she uncovers a diary which provides a priceless account of how a young girl felt to be away from her family. Told through part diary, part modern day narrative, this book covers racism, identity crisis, loneliness, fear, friendships, first love. I think this will be a crossover for historical WW2 fiction and Raina Telgemeier fans.
July 29, 2022
Whenever I think I’ve read enough books about the Holocaust (and I’ve read MANY), I’m surprised when a new one brings yet another perspective to this incredibly important part of our world’s history. This unforgettable story blends so many different themes into one haunting story. Transracial adoption, identity, the meaning of family, and blends it into a story of past and present. Highly recommended.
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October 14, 2021Sweet story. It’s a little annoying when an author writes in a characters’ voice and it doesn’t ring true to the character’s know ability to either speak the language or fit their age. That happens a few times in this book, but overall a very compelling story and enjoyable.
April 17, 2025
The juxtaposition of the 1941 and 2014 coming of age stories of Anna and her great-granddaughter, Imani, both adopted, is expertly crafted. Highly recommend for middle grade readers interested in WWII era Europe and America, bar/bat mitzvah preparation, adoptive families.
April 1, 2019
Such a great book. I loved this unusual take on the holocaust and the two different time periods this takes place in. Really glad I stumbled on this and will definitely be recommending it.
May 10, 2020
What a well thought out story. The combination of Imani's desire to find her birth mother, coupled with her great-grandmother's story of leaving Luxembourg to come to the States, to escape the Holocaust, was tied together really well. I quite enjoyed this, and can think of several students who will really like it.
August 19, 2021
Really enjoyed this book about family and identity. Distinct believable characters with understandable/relatable struggles and life lessons that weren’t too heavy handed.
September 17, 2021
I really should know better than to read books like this at work.
October 12, 2018
Such a great book! I loved the bit of historical fiction blended with a coming of age story. Such a feel good story of learning who you are and being happy with your family.
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