An eloquent account of the American immigrant experience. Booklist (starred review) Deserves to become a modern classic. BookPage (starred review) A resounding welcome to immigrants. Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Based in part on a 100-year-old family journal, Rosemary Wells brings to life a story that the diarys fragile pages tell. Its the story of a wooden rocking chair handmade in about 1825 by her great-great-grandfather, an immigrant Jewish boy who made his way to America from Germany in the early 1800s.In 1807, Sam Siegbert is born in southern Germany. Sams favorite pastime is carpentry, much to his fathers displeasure. His mother says he has a gift from God in his hands. After moving to America, he builds a wooden chair with the word WILLKOMMEN on the back. The chairs back panel was later marked with welcomes by four generations of the family in four different languages. After the family lost track of the old chair, the author created a new life for it among new owners from other corners of the world. All the families who loved the chair came to America, escaping religious conformity, natural disasters, tyrannies, war, and superstition. In its lifetime, the rocking chair, with its earliest word WILLKOMMEN, stood for openness, hospitality, and acceptance to all who owned it or rocked safely in its embrace.

 

 

This book is aimed at children in preschool-3rd grade.

This book has been graded for interest at 4-8 years.

There are 40 pages in this book.

This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+).

This book was published in 2021 by Simon & Schuster .

Jerry Pinkney has been illustrating children's books since 1964 and has the rare distinction of being the recipient of: Five Caldecott Honor Medals Rosemary Wells is the author of more than 40 books about Max and Ruby. She lives in Connecticut.