The Night Journey

Kathryn Lasky's young adult novel The Night Journey is loosely based on her Aunt Ann's own escape from Tsarist Russia.  Much like the during the Holocaust, during this time Jews were mistreated and murdered during pogroms.

In the fictional account, Rachel spends time with her aged great-grandmother, Nana Sashie.   Rachel dreads this time.  However, Nana Sashie begins to tell Rachel tales of her childhood in Russia and Rachel is suddenly hooked!  However, Rachel's parents believe that reliving the past upsets Nana and discourages Rachel from discussing the past.

Rachel visits Nana covertly, in the middle of the night.  Through these secret story-telling visits Rachel learns to a bit more about who she is and learns to appreciate the elderly relative.

I like this story because it reminded me of my reluctance to spend time with my elderly grandmother.  My grandma has since passed away, and now I struggle to remember her stories with any great clarity.  It saddens me that, at the time, I did not appreciate her stories for what they were.  This novel will, hopefully, help to remind students that relatives have wonderful histories to share with them.

I bought this book at the Scholastic Warehouse Sale, and one annoying issue with the book is that although Rachel is spelled correctly on the back cover, throughout the entire book her name is spelled "Rache".