Ice Cream Town

• The main characters are Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants from Poland living in 1920s New York City, where they experience a great deal of antisemitism.
• Sammy goes to shul with his father and enrolls in a cheder (Hebrew school) to study for his bar mitzvah. Papa wants to continue to keep Shabbat and eat only kosher. When they celebrate Hanukkah Papa points out that everyone can make a difference by fighting hard for what they believe.
• After falling in with a bad crowd, Sammy does teshuva (repentance) and gets most of the group to work instead of stealing.

In 1920, following their mother’s death, 10-year-old Sammy Levin and his older sister Malka sail to New York City from Poland. They reunite with the father Sammy barely remembers and move into a tenement on the Lower East Side. While the Jewish immigrant community is busy and lively, Sammy’s excitement about living in America is dampened by peer pressure from a local gang, antisemitism, and frequent prejudice against immigrants. In addition, he and Malka must balance their new lives with Papa’s insistence on holding tight to their Jewish traditions. Relatable characters, vivid details and suspense, and Sammy’s discovery of his inner strength and bravery make this an engaging historical novel.