Title: Pickled Watermelon
Author: Esty Schachter
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: Kar-Ben Publishing
Source: Thomas Allen & Son (book distributor)
Release Date: August 1, 2018
It’s the summer of 1986, and eleven-year-old Molly just wants to spend the summer with her friends at camp. Instead, she reluctantly heads to Israel to visit family she barely knows! With a less-than-basic knowledge of Hebrew that she picked up in Hebrew school, Molly wonders how she will be able to communicate and have fun in a country that is new and foreign to her. Luckily, surprises are in store.
I enjoyed this story about a girl who travels to Israel with her family.
I learned a lot about Israeli culture from this book. I have never read a book set in Israel before, so it was new to me. Molly was also discovering new aspects of her culture, because her mother’s family lived differently from her father’s family in the United States.
I’m curious as to why the story was set in 1986, rather than today. Perhaps this reflects a real trip that the author took. This setting put the characters in a unique position in time. Molly’s parents lived through the after effects of World War II, and her grandparents lived through it. That close relationship to WWII wouldn’t have been apparent if the young girl was living in today’s world.
This is a great story for middle grade readers.
What to read next:
Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol
Anya’s Echoes by Esty Schachter
Have you read Pickled Watermelon? What did you think of it?