Product Description

Fifteen-year-old Desta belongs to a small, isolated mountain community of Ethiopian Jews. She and her brother and sister leave their aunt and uncle and set out on the long and dangerous trip to freedom -- an airlift from the Sudan to Israel, the Promised Land. They travel barefoot, facing hunger, thirst and bandits. "Vivid and compelling...Levitin's tour de force is sensitively written." BOOKLIST. An ALA 1987 Best Book for Young Adults.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1930652 in Books
• Published on: 1988-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: School & Library Binding
• 192 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Levitin's book is a glorious, heartrending account of Operation Moses, the airlift of Ethiopian Jews from the Sudan into Israel, as seen through the eyes of Desta, 12. Desta's family belongs to a small community of Jews in dire poverty, isolated in the mountains and terrorized by Ethiopia's communist regime. A dream foretells the arrival of other Jews promising freedom in Israel; subsequently Desta's older brother, along with her betrothed, Dan, and his family, are chosen to travel to the Sudan, where they will be flown to Israel. The journey becomes a nightmare for them all. This book will remind readers that there are thousands of children in the world who spend each day in jeopardy. The story ends with Desta and Almaz healing in Jerusalem, but there is a last note that the airlift was stopped, and that many Jews remain trapped in Ethiopia. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up Between November, 1984, and January, 1985, a secret airlift dubbed ``Operation Moses'' flew hundreds of refugee Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Levitin's novel tells of how increased religious persecution, forced conscription, and an unwanted arranged marriage drove two young people and their nine-year-old sister to undertake the hazardous journey from their Ethiopian village to an overcrowded refugee camp in Sudan for a chance at a new life in Israel. It is an old-fashioned survival story narrated by a contemporary heroine who is torn between her love for her country and family and the knowledge that home means fear, deprivation, and maybe an early death for her older brother. Tragedy and triumph are interwoven in this rather formally told and sometimes brutally realistic tale that focuses on a people and a culture that is rapidly disappearing. Unfamiliar Amharic and Hebrew terms are made clear in context. A one-page bibliography of adult material is provided for motivated readers. The adventure of the exodus is totally absorbing, and the emotional impact is strong. Amy Kellman, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ingram
When 12-year-old Ethiopian Jew Desta learns there are camps in the Sudan where transport for Israel is waiting, she sets out with her brother and younger sister on a journey to freedom. When her brother is killed, Desta must take the lead courageously as they travel to the promised land. HC: Atheneum.