9. Lost in the Empire City. Avi. 2024. [October 29] 304 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, j fiction, mg fiction, j historical, mg historical, immigration/emigration]
First sentence: The promise took a second to make but became the story of my young life. I made the promise in Italy in 1905.
Premise/plot: COULD A BOOK BE MORE PERFECTLY PACED?!?!?! Seriously, Avi could teach a master class on how to make a book IMPOSSIBLE to put down.
The premise is simple enough, Santo, our hero, makes a promise to keep his family together always and forever. This promise becomes a challenge once the family immigrates to America. The family is separated at Ellis Island. Santo finds himself ALONE in a foreign country where he knows only the tiniest amount of English and he is essentially without resources. Every single day is focused on surviving--living long enough to keep that promise and reunite the family, somehow someway. This book chronicles that dangerous journey.
My thoughts: I LOVED this one. I didn't know if I would or not. (Though Ms. Yingling's review led me to believe that I would.) I loved the pacing, the suspense, the characterization, the story itself. It was SO good.
© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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