Across so Many Seas by Ruth Behar

Across So Many Seas tracks the destiny of a Jewish family exiled from Spain in 1492.

Across So Many Seas by Ruth Behar. Nancy Paulsen Books (Penguin Random House), 2024, 258 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 10-14

The year 1492 was a pivotal one for the Americas, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue. But it was also the year Ferdinand and Isabella issued an expulsion order for the Sephardic Jews of Spain: convert or leave. Many Jews did superficially convert to Catholicism, but Benvenida’s father is too honorable a man to violate his faith. The family embarks on an arduous journey from their home in Toledo across the arid, blistering field of central Spain toward the sea, where they hope to embark for Turkey.

Centuries later Reina, a young descendant of Benvenida’s family, is exiled by her own father to Cuba, where an arranged marriage is waiting for her. Her daughter Alegra will be caught up in the Cuban revolution of 1961. Alegra’s daughter Paloma will grow up in the United States, where a family visit to Spain will complete the circle and reveal connections to Cuba, Turkey, and long-ago Toledo.

“The past is a lost country,” but connections can overcome time, such as the song passed from Benvenida to her distant relatives. It’s a sad song, but mournful music, as Paloma’s Abuela says, can remind us “that we all are searching for something that perhaps we will never find . . .” This family saga includes much sadness and searching—for home, for acceptance, for peace. The Jews’ own faith is a story of wandering, but it reflects the human story of loss and hope of redemption. Across So Many Seas is valuable as an excursion into history, geography, faith (with superstition), and tradition.

Overall Rating: 3.75

• Worldview/moral value: 3.75
• Artistic/literary value: 3.75

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Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Review: Gail Carson Levine writes of her own Sephardic Jewish ancestors and their expulsion from Spain in A Ceiling Made of Eggshells.
• Resource: See our “Children of Israel” booklist!

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