Five Stories, the new book by Ellen Weinstein is a love letter to New York City and the immigrants who have shaped the Big Apple, the Great American Melting Pot.

Five children from five different cultures and five different decades all grow up in the same building on the Lower East Side of New York City. Five Stories is their story. Their building and neighborhood are at the heart of their shared experience. This cross section of American history celebrates the many cultures that make up our diverse nation.

Five Stories Synopsis:

Jenny Epstein and her family arrive on a steamship from Russia in the 1910s. Jenny writes letters in Yiddish to her grandmother, while practicing her English in her new neighborhood. By the 1930s, when Anna Cozzi and her Italian family move into the building, Jenny has become a teacher in Anna’s school. Then José Marte moves in during the 1960s, Maria Torres in the 1980s, and Wei Yei in the Lower East Side of today.

Our Review:

Growing up in New York City isn’t much different than growing up in a small town. Yes everything is bigger and noisier, but at its heart New York City is a community like any other. NYC kids reside in buildings within neighborhoods. They get to know their neighbors just like those living in a smaller town. But New York City’s uniqueness lies in its beautiful patchwork of differences. Vastly different people united by their similarities. Ellen Weinstein does an incredible, yet subtle job of explaining this without an explicit explanation. Five Stories expresses how so many lives and cultures are woven together into a tapestry that tells a common story of dreams, hope and love of family. It touched this life long New Yorker and gave me the comforting feeling of “neighborhood” or what others call “home”.

About The Author:

Ellen Weinstein is the illustrator of the picture book Yayoi Kusama: From Here to Infinity. She is also the author/illustrator of Recipes for Good Luck: The Superstitions, Rituals, and Practices of Extraordinary People. As an illustrator, she regularly contributes to Time Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic, amongst many others. Seven pieces of Ellen’s work are in the Permanent Collection of the Library of Congress. Ellen is a third-generation resident of New York’s Lower East Side, where she lives with her husband and mini-dachshund, Fritzie.

Five Stories is recommended for children 4-8 years old.  It is published by Holiday House and available at major retailers for $18.99.

**Disclosure- This article contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience. You can purchase recommended items via my Amazon Affiliate Links at no extra cost to you and help me continue to run Kid Congeniality!