Is It Night or Day?: A Novel of Immigration and Survival, 1938-1942

by Fern Schumer Chapman

• ISBN10: 1250044219
• ISBN13: 9781250044211
• Publish Date: 18 March 2014 (first published 16 March 2010)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 10 May 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

We all have those books that we know we're going to like, but we don't expect to love. Finding good YA historical fiction surrounding WWII and children is hard to find. Most focus on a sort of romance and less on what the people actually went through. This book though is all about Edith's journey to America and her life once she's gotten here.
Edith's parents protected her from a lot of what was happening in Germany and how it was affecting her family. It's completely understandable why they did so and I would have done the same thing if I was in there position. By doing this though they left her at a disadvantage when things got bad. Which makes things more complicated when it comes time for here to leave Germany on her own and follow in her sister's footsteps to America. The problem? She's not going to the same place as her sister, instead, she's going to her dad's brother's family who she knows nothing about and has never met before.
To get there she must take a ship and on this ship, she meets several other children who are escaping to America in the same way. They know nothing about the families they will be living with, or if they will ever see their parents again. I can't imagine how terrifying this would have been and I completely understand the one kid who cries the whole time.
Once Edith gets to her Uncle's house things are nothing like what she thought they would be. She struggles to fit in both at school and at her new home, and this is something that was very common for immigrant children during this time.

Overall I loved this story. I loved the friendships Edith made; and how she stayed innocent about certain things throughout the whole book. Her love for some American things, and how she did acclimate to American life after awhile, but she also still is very okay with her Jewish heritage and embraces it as much as she can during this time. I think this is a book that so many more people should read if they want to learn more about the children that came to America from Germany.

Edith's story is one that is inspired by the author's own mother's journey and experience during WWII. Having the author be so knowledgeable and connected to this story it made it so much better in my opinion. Seeing her mother's story and how this book has affected her life as well was so nice, and something we never really get to see.