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Young American Voices #3
Hannah's Journal: The Story of an Immigrant Girl
America! Hannah's small European village buzzes with tales of life in a faraway land free from persecution. Cousin Esther has passage for two aboard a ship bound for New York, and Hannah convinces Mama and Papashka to let her use the extra ticket. Will America really be everything they've dreamed of?
56 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
4 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
About the author
Marissa Moss
115 books264 followersMarissa Moss has written more than seventy books, from picture books to middle-grade and young adult novels. Best known for the Amelia's Notebook series, her books are popular with teachers and children alike. Her picture book Barbed Wire Baseball won the California Book Award gold medal. Moss is also the founder of Creston Books, an independent children's publishing house.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 2, 2018
Told in journal format, this book chronicles 11 year old Hannah's journey from Lithuania to the USA in the early 1900's. Definitely written for an elementary school audience (3rd-5th grade, maybe?) the book provides some nice history in a fun format. Things seemed a bit too "happily ever after now that we made it to America" to me, but overall, an enjoyable read.
March 9, 2025
This is a slow-moving book but is very descriptive about what is going on.
February 24, 2014
"Hannah's Journal" is a fascinating and interactive historical fictional book that takes place at the turn of the twentieth century. This book is a perfect companion text to a social studies unit about immigration.
"Hannah's Journal" is written like a real journal, as the book is divided into various dated journal entries. A 10 year-old Russian Jewish girl named Hannah narrates the journal in the first person. The inside of the book is made to look like an actual journal, with font that resembles someone's handwriting. In the margins, one finds various drawings, complete with captions and other pertinent information. The pictures around the text show the world as Hannah sees it, with drawings of her siblings, her belongings, the food she eats, etc. Younger readers especially will enjoy the pictures in the text of the journal. The illustrations allow students to easily picture Hannah's journal.
Hannah narrates the book in a vocabulary rich with figurative language, but still accessible to younger readers. She is easy to relate to and writes about her thoughts and emotions as she attempts a daring trip across the ocean from Europe to safety in America. Readers will be captivated by her journey as she describes her life in Russia, her uncertainty and reluctance to leave her family, her journey in a crowded ship, and her quest to establish a new life in America.
I found that this book moved at an appropriate pace. The story will maintain the interest of readers of a variety of ages. I would envision that this book could be a read-aloud book for 2nd and 3rd grade students. The teacher could present this book in a social studies unit about immigration. This book could also help a teacher to teach about cultural exchange and how people from other places adjust to life in America. This book would be an appropriate book for advanced third graders, all fourth graders, and all fifth graders to read independently. Although older students may be skeptical about picking up a picture book to read, they will find that the book presents complex and realistic themes about immigration. Such themes include persecution (based on religion), language barriers, and poverty, among other possibilities.
"Hannah's Journal" is written like a real journal, as the book is divided into various dated journal entries. A 10 year-old Russian Jewish girl named Hannah narrates the journal in the first person. The inside of the book is made to look like an actual journal, with font that resembles someone's handwriting. In the margins, one finds various drawings, complete with captions and other pertinent information. The pictures around the text show the world as Hannah sees it, with drawings of her siblings, her belongings, the food she eats, etc. Younger readers especially will enjoy the pictures in the text of the journal. The illustrations allow students to easily picture Hannah's journal.
Hannah narrates the book in a vocabulary rich with figurative language, but still accessible to younger readers. She is easy to relate to and writes about her thoughts and emotions as she attempts a daring trip across the ocean from Europe to safety in America. Readers will be captivated by her journey as she describes her life in Russia, her uncertainty and reluctance to leave her family, her journey in a crowded ship, and her quest to establish a new life in America.
I found that this book moved at an appropriate pace. The story will maintain the interest of readers of a variety of ages. I would envision that this book could be a read-aloud book for 2nd and 3rd grade students. The teacher could present this book in a social studies unit about immigration. This book could also help a teacher to teach about cultural exchange and how people from other places adjust to life in America. This book would be an appropriate book for advanced third graders, all fourth graders, and all fifth graders to read independently. Although older students may be skeptical about picking up a picture book to read, they will find that the book presents complex and realistic themes about immigration. Such themes include persecution (based on religion), language barriers, and poverty, among other possibilities.
March 7, 2013
This was a wonderfully written book about a young girl yearning to be in America. It is a picture book set for older students and one that is creatively made. The story is told with many interesting details about the girl and her life in her native country. She is thirsty for an education, but girls in her country in that time period cannot receive an education. The more I read, the more I fell in love with this character. The character development, combined with the many illustrations and comments throughout all the pages were fantastic. There was a lot of details with many explanations as to why things were the way they were. The reader can really understand this time period and how/why immigrants yearned to come to America.
I think this would be an exceptional choice as a text about immigration. Students can learn a lot from the text and it can also spark interesting discussions. As mentioned the author does a great job developing the characters, the plot, and the illustrations.
I think this would be an exceptional choice as a text about immigration. Students can learn a lot from the text and it can also spark interesting discussions. As mentioned the author does a great job developing the characters, the plot, and the illustrations.
July 15, 2013
gr 3-5 unpaginated
1901 Lithuania. After Cossacks attack her village, it is decided that 10 year old Hannah will be sent to America with her older cousin Esther. Together the girls will earn money to bring the rest of the family to America. Hannah is sad to be leaving her family, but excited about going to America. Maybe she will even be able to go to school there! Her cousin Esther is terrified of leaving home and does nothing but cry. It is up to Hannah to figure out how to reach the boat and how to survive the voyage. On the trip, she meets Samuel who is traveling alone, but like Hannah is fearless. Togeher they share their stories and help each other on the long voyage.
Although it touches upon Hannah's life in Lithuania and her life once she arrives in NY, the focus of the story is the weeks-long boat voyage. I would recommend this story to readers who like books written in a journal-style format.
1901 Lithuania. After Cossacks attack her village, it is decided that 10 year old Hannah will be sent to America with her older cousin Esther. Together the girls will earn money to bring the rest of the family to America. Hannah is sad to be leaving her family, but excited about going to America. Maybe she will even be able to go to school there! Her cousin Esther is terrified of leaving home and does nothing but cry. It is up to Hannah to figure out how to reach the boat and how to survive the voyage. On the trip, she meets Samuel who is traveling alone, but like Hannah is fearless. Togeher they share their stories and help each other on the long voyage.
Although it touches upon Hannah's life in Lithuania and her life once she arrives in NY, the focus of the story is the weeks-long boat voyage. I would recommend this story to readers who like books written in a journal-style format.
March 1, 2025
What a delightful little book! I knew it wasn’t an adult book, but couldn’t resist when I looked through it so picked it up and was not disappointed. I’m fascinated with the history of Ellis Island and the immigrant experience, so this gave me an inside perspective about both. As an added bonus (for me) it was about a Jewish girl and I learned a bit more about that perspective as well. Only wish it had gone on further, or had a sequel so I could learn more about her life in America.
September 18, 2023
This book was beautifully written! I really enjoyed it and love the descriptions.
November 10, 2020
The ending seemed a little abrupt but it certainly didn't pull any punches. I liked that! I have to take this home for the neighborhood kiddos. Hopefully they will like it.
November 28, 2010
I really liked reading this book. I tried to read one of the other books that was similar to this, but it was very hard for me to read. I especially liked reading this book because we had just finished talking about immigration in social studies class. This book was written from a little girl's perspective of being moved to the United States. Even though this is historical fiction, it was written so well that it made you feel like you were actually in the book and that the girl was in real life. I thought it was very well written and would be a good book for the children to read maybe as a book club book during an immigration unit.
November 5, 2012
I loved the little side pictures and notes that were on the sides of the page in this book. They highlighted the story in a fun way. The journal style helped give the main character a stronger, more genuine voice. It also allowed for more exploration of the emotions and specific family dynamics that go into the decision to immigrate to a new country. It would be interesting to have this book in a classroom library with the book Jesse Goes to America, which is also a story of a young girl immigrating to a new country, just presented in a different style. Older elementary students would be able to compare and contrast those differences.
April 11, 2008
Like "Nothing Here But Stones," which I recently read, this is about Russian Jews becoming American immigrants, although "Hannah's Journal" is more about my stereotypical view of the experience: Ellis Island and the streets of Manhattan. With Karen Hesse's "Letters from Rifka," I've now got a nice little unit for someone who will be interested. I liked the format of "Hannah's Journal"--a faux handwritten and illustrated journal--and I like the story.
December 1, 2010
This is a great book for teaching social studies because it is written so that student can easily put themselves into the role of the character.
A possible lesson to incorporate this book is to have 4th or 5th grade students read this book. Then, students can write their own versions of letter they expect they would have written if they lived the life of this young immigrant girl.
The students enjoy reading this book for leisure!
A possible lesson to incorporate this book is to have 4th or 5th grade students read this book. Then, students can write their own versions of letter they expect they would have written if they lived the life of this young immigrant girl.
The students enjoy reading this book for leisure!
April 18, 2016
Hannah's small European village buzzes with tales of life in a faraway land free from persecution. Cousin Esther has a passage for two aboard a ship bound for New York, and Hannah convinces Mama and Papashka to let her use the extra ticket. I like the book because it is based on a real life time and she writes almost everything that happens every day. I will recommend this book to people who like to read about someone's life.
April 17, 2012
This is a book about a girl's immigration journey. This book is great, because it covers many social studies topics within the context of an interesting journal. The different pictures throughout also make it more engaging. This is a great book to use when teaching a unit on immigration in upper elementary grades.
February 12, 2015
Seventh grade students in the school I teach read Letters from Rifka (which I have not read in its entirety, but if I wind up teaching a section of language arts, I guess I will have to). There are a lot of similarities, but what's great about this book is the journal format, with illustrations. I would like to use this book as a supplement to my students Rifka unit in my remedial classes.
April 1, 2016
Hannah is an imagrant girl. She is Russian, she went all the way to America to go to school and learn. I like this book because I learned about evry thing they did while they were crossing. I would recommend this book to all the people that like learning new things, and that like books about imigrant people.
August 20, 2010
What I learned: When Hannah moved to America it was hard because even though she came from a long way, she could have been sent back. Back then it was very hard for immigrants to move to America.
February 8, 2013
Great story to help my students prepare for our Ellis Island simulation!
February 27, 2013
A great book to introduce the craft of writing in the style of a diary or journal entry.
April 24, 2013
Different craft of writing (journal entry) fictional tale of history and showing identity
September 4, 2016
It was really well-written and it taught us stuff.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews