Is It Night Or Day?

Is It Night Or Day?

YA fiction
"What is left when a child has everything taken away--home,
family, language, loyalties, identity? Only a story remains."
Did you know that between 1934 and 1945, in an operation similar
to Europe's Kindertransport, a group of Americans saved 1,200 Jewish
children by bringing them to this country? I surely didn't until I
discovered Fern Schumer Chapman's Is It Night Or Day?, in which I
found the poignant quote with which I started this review. Chapman's
mother, Edith Westerfield, was one of those rescued youngsters,
traveling alone in 1938 from her native Germany to live with an uncle
and aunt in Chicago. Fortunately for us, she turned her mom's
experiences into a haunting work of historical fiction.
As the story begins Edith is being taken by her parents on a
train ride from their small town to Breman where she will embark on
her voyage. Her parents had wanted to emigrate before but had been
deterred by her grandmother's refusal to leave. Through months that
turned into years they had clung to the hope that things would get
better. Then her father had been severely beaten. He and her mother
had decided their daughters must be sent to America where they would
be safe.
America is somewhat less than welcoming. Her aunt despises
anything German. She enforces an English only rule in the house and
is always correcting her husband's pronunciation. Although she seems
to resent Edith's presence in her household, she has no problem with
giving her scads of household chores.
School holds its own challenges. Placed in first grade where
she can't even fit into the desks, she is ridiculed by the kids her
age. Even after she has been promoted to seventh grade she is
excluded. When she finally makes a friend she is not allowed to bring
her home or visit. The library, the only place she feels like she can
be herself, becomes her refuge.
Apart from the fact that this coming of age story is beautifully
told, Is It Night Or Day? is unfortunately relevant to the twenty-
first century. Immigrant children, as Chapman reminds us in her
afterward, are still being torn from family and homeland and sent to a
very confusing and often much less than welcoming United States. Only
now, instead of Germany, they're coming from countries like Sudan.
The quote is sadly as relevant to them as it was to Edith and her
fellow travellers.
On a personal note, I have happily entered my voracious reading
vacation. Other than cooking, laundry, minimal cleaning, and quality
time with family and friends it's reading all the way.
A great big shout out goes out to all who help our country's newest
arrivals feel at home.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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