The Phoenix Award is granted to a twenty-year old book that was not given a major award the year (or award cycle) it was pub­lished. What a fun way to hon­our those favourite books that were orig­i­nally over­looked by Award Lords!

This year’s recip­i­ent was the semi-biographical Let­ters from Rifka by Karen Hesse. A Russ­ian Jew, Rifka and her fam­ily must flee to Amer­ica when one of her broth­ers aban­dons the army in 1919. In a series of let­ters to her cousin, Rifka recounts the dif­fi­cult trip from Rus­sia to Amer­ica. Rifka’s trip is delayed when ring­worm keeps her detained in Europe while her par­ents and broth­ers go on to Amer­ica. Lonely as she is, a year alone in Antwerp and Ellis Island unex­pect­edly pre­pares Rifka for life as an immi­grant. A brave and clever girl, Rifka’s voice is one worth hear­ing. That chil­dren get a taste for Pushkin’s voice (through epigraphs and addi­tional quotes from Pushkin since she is writ­ing her let­ters in one of his books) is an added bonus.

Let­ters from Rifka did not go com­pletely unrec­og­nized when it was first pub­lished. It received the National Jew­ish Book Award in 1992.

These books were read as part of the Award-Winning Book Chal­lenge. See what oth­ers have been read­ing in Octo­ber at Gath­er­ing Books.