Post­ed by Nao­mi Firestone-Teeter

We’ve been wait­ing years for the Jew­ish equiv­a­lent of Saman­tha, Kirsten, Felic­i­ty, Mol­ly, Nel­lie, and Addie, and we final­ly have it: Rebec­ca Rubin. PHEWWWWW.

The series will fea­ture the titles:

Meet Rebec­ca

Rebec­ca Rubin is a live­ly nine-year-old girl grow­ing up in a big Jew­ish fam­i­ly in New York in 1914. She dreams of becom­ing an actress, but her par­ents and grand­par­ents have tra­di­tion­al ideas and don’t think young ladies should per­form. When Rebec­ca learns that her cousins in Rus­sia are in great dan­ger and must escape to Amer­i­ca, she puts on a show to raise mon­ey – until her dis­ap­prov­ing grand­moth­er steps in. Unex­pect­ed­ly, Rebec­ca finds anoth­er way to earn mon­ey. But for her plan to work, she’ll have to keep it a secret. Includes an illus­trat­ed ​“Look­ing Back” essay about Jew­ish immi­gra­tion and culture.

Changes for Rebecca

Rebec­ca thinks it’s a grand idea to make a movie with her cousin Ana, but when gen­tle Ana plays the role of a cru­el fac­to­ry boss, the fun turns sour. Lat­er Rebec­ca goes to the fac­to­ry where Ana’s broth­er and father work, and she’s hor­ri­fied at the ter­ri­ble con­di­tions-but she knows the work­ers des­per­ate­ly need their jobs. There’s got to be a way to make things bet­ter at the fac­to­ry, and Rebec­ca is deter­mined to do her part – even if it means march­ing straight into dan­ger. Includes an illus­trat­ed ​“Look­ing Back” sec­tion about the labor move­ment in Rebecca’s time.

Can­dle­light for Rebecca

Rebec­ca is trou­bled when her teacher assigns her class to make Christ­mas dec­o­ra­tions. Rebecca’s fam­i­ly is Jew­ish and doesn’t cel­e­brate Christ­mas, but her teacher says Christ­mas is a nation­al hol­i­day, for all Amer­i­cans to cel­e­brate. Yet Rebec­ca knows she’s as Amer­i­can as any­one else, even with­out cel­e­brat­ing Christ­mas! She wants to please her teacher, but she’s sure her fam­i­ly will be upset. Then, on the first night of Hanukkah, Rebec­ca finds kind­ness in an unex­pect­ed place, and learns the real mean­ing of the hol­i­day sea­son. Includes an illus­trat­ed ​“Look­ing Back” sec­tion about Christ­mas and Hanukkah in 1914.

Rebec­ca to the Rescue

Rebec­ca is thrilled to spend a day at the Coney Island amuse­ment park with her cousins. If only Papa hadn’t put her bossy broth­er Vic­tor in charge of all the games and rides! Fum­ing, Rebec­ca resolves to show Vic­tor that girls can do any­thing boys can do. When the boys tease and laugh at her, she and Ana decide to leave their broth­ers and have fun on their own. Then the Fer­ris wheel gets stuck and Ana dis­ap­pears – and the girls get more excite­ment than they bar­gained for. Includes an illus­trat­ed ​“Look­ing Back” sec­tion about Coney Island in 1914.

Rebec­ca and Ana

At last, Rebecca’s cousin, Ana, has made the long jour­ney from Rus­sia to Ellis Island. It’s crowd­ed with two fam­i­lies liv­ing in one small apart­ment, but Rebec­ca is hap­py to share every­thing with Ana. At school, she is deter­mined to help Ana learn Eng­lish. But when the teacher tells her to include Ana in a spe­cial per­for­mance, Rebec­ca pan­ics – Ana’s bro­ken Eng­lish will ruin the show! As the big day draws near, Rebec­ca learns an impor­tant les­son about what mat­ters most. Includes an illus­trat­ed ​“Look­ing Back” sec­tion about urban schools in 1914.

Rebec­ca and the Movies

On her tenth birth­day, Rebec­ca can hard­ly believe it when her cousin Max, the actor, invites her to come to his movie stu­dio! Although her par­ents don’t approve of actors or movies, Mama relents and says Rebec­ca may go. When the cam­era begins to roll, Rebec­ca finds her­self fac­ing an oppor­tu­ni­ty she nev­er imag­ined in her wildest dreams. Does she have the nerve for it? And what would her par­ents say if they knew? Includes an illus­trat­ed ​“Look­ing Back” sec­tion about the ear­ly days of silent movies.