Instead of spending the summer with her friends at camp, Molly goes to Israel for a month for a family wedding. She is nervous about the trip, not wanting to leave her beloved Bubbe to go to a foreign country and stay with family she’s never met, who speak a language she barely knows. However, Molly is pleasantly surprised by Israel and the people she meets there. She learns to communicate with her family on the kibbutz through laughter, smiles, and splashing in the pool. Her aunt and uncle speak English with her and tell her about her family’s roots and the sights and history of Israel. She even learns to understand her grandparents, Safta and Saba,who don’t speak English but are loving and want to connect with their granddaughter.
This sweet story offers vivid descriptions of Israel in the 1980s, and offers history lessons woven in through family lore, along with a healthy dose of Jewish education.
Paula Chaiken has worked and volunteered in a variety of capacities in the Jewish world — teaching in religious school, curating at the Spertus Museum, and serving on the boards of her JCC and Temple — for more than twenty-five years. The author of I Know Grandpa (Timber Grove Press, 2015), she also runs a boutique public relations consulting firm.
