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Once I Was a Plum Tree
Once Gerry's family name Pflaumenbaum, which means "plum tree" in German. Now, it's just plain flam, which means nothing at all. "What religion are you?" is the worst thing anyone could ask ten-year-old Geraldine Flam. Gerry, growing up in the Bronx just after the Second World War, doesn't have any religion at all." We are assimilated, " Gerry's father tells her. But Gerry wants more. Here's a funny and warm story about belonging -- to a particular community and to the world.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
57 people want to read
About the author
Johanna Hurwitz
115 books66 followersJohanna Hurwitz is an American author of more than sixty children's books. She has sold millions of books in many different languages.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 31, 2022
We might call ourselves Jewish, but we never did anything special to prove it. Instead of feeling Jewish, I just felt different.
Revisiting this book many years after first reading it as a kid, I was impressed with how well it stood up.
This children's novel follows a young girl growing up in the Bronx, New York City circa 1947, struggling to come to terms with her identity. Her family is Jewish, but conscientiously non-practicing Jewish.
"We are assimilated," my father explained. "We fit into American life like everyone else."
And yet, the sensitive main character Gerry feels adrift from her heritage, increasingly aware that she does not fit so seamlessly into "everyone else" as her father might think.
She is frustrated by her family restricting her from attending school on Yom Kippur, while simultaneously being "not Jewish enough" to follow any other traditions or rules.
Their family name has been white-washed into a meaningless Americanized surname, as opposed to their original last name, which meant "plum tree."
Mostly, my parents said we were American. My grandfather changed his German-sounding name from Pflaumenbaum, which means plum tree, to Flam, which has no meaning, to show that he was truly American.
Gerry also talks about her love of reading, particularly of Nancy Drew books, but notes that none of the characters in books she's read have ever been Jewish.
"Nancy Drew wasn't different or odd the way I was," Gerry tells us. "She was just like everyone else except she solved mysteries."
Gerry has become aware that the heroines she looks up to in books are noteworthy for what they've done, not their heritage. They already know where they fit in the world, and she envies them for it.
I was really impressed by the author's noting of the lack of diversity in literature at the time, since this book was published in 1980. Those sorts of topics weren't brought up often back then; you just didn't really see them mentioned or acknowledged.
I certainly respect the original 1980 publisher, William & Morrow Co., for not editing that line out.
Much of this book feels very autobiographical, or like a memoir slipped into fiction. The author, Johanna Hurwitz, was also a young Jewish girl growing up in the Bronx in the 1940's.
There were a lot of small details about living in the Bronx at that time that feel too detailed and minute to be complete fictions. This gave the book a really pleasant, warm undertone of nostalgia.
I did feel that the story lost steam as it progressed, but it still remains impactful as Gerry learns more about Judaism, her shock of realization when first hearing about the Holocaust, meeting a boy who is a Jewish refugee from Germany, experiencing cruel anti-Semitism personally, longing to be a part of Christmas with her friends, and finally ending up attending and celebrating Jewish holidays, and comfortable with her identity.
The ending felt a bit contrived and overly tidy, but this little children's novel does manage to pack in quite a good amount of complexity and depth for its size and target reading age.
Revisiting this book many years after first reading it as a kid, I was impressed with how well it stood up.
This children's novel follows a young girl growing up in the Bronx, New York City circa 1947, struggling to come to terms with her identity. Her family is Jewish, but conscientiously non-practicing Jewish.
"We are assimilated," my father explained. "We fit into American life like everyone else."
And yet, the sensitive main character Gerry feels adrift from her heritage, increasingly aware that she does not fit so seamlessly into "everyone else" as her father might think.
She is frustrated by her family restricting her from attending school on Yom Kippur, while simultaneously being "not Jewish enough" to follow any other traditions or rules.
Their family name has been white-washed into a meaningless Americanized surname, as opposed to their original last name, which meant "plum tree."
Mostly, my parents said we were American. My grandfather changed his German-sounding name from Pflaumenbaum, which means plum tree, to Flam, which has no meaning, to show that he was truly American.
Gerry also talks about her love of reading, particularly of Nancy Drew books, but notes that none of the characters in books she's read have ever been Jewish.
"Nancy Drew wasn't different or odd the way I was," Gerry tells us. "She was just like everyone else except she solved mysteries."
Gerry has become aware that the heroines she looks up to in books are noteworthy for what they've done, not their heritage. They already know where they fit in the world, and she envies them for it.
I was really impressed by the author's noting of the lack of diversity in literature at the time, since this book was published in 1980. Those sorts of topics weren't brought up often back then; you just didn't really see them mentioned or acknowledged.
I certainly respect the original 1980 publisher, William & Morrow Co., for not editing that line out.
Much of this book feels very autobiographical, or like a memoir slipped into fiction. The author, Johanna Hurwitz, was also a young Jewish girl growing up in the Bronx in the 1940's.
There were a lot of small details about living in the Bronx at that time that feel too detailed and minute to be complete fictions. This gave the book a really pleasant, warm undertone of nostalgia.
I did feel that the story lost steam as it progressed, but it still remains impactful as Gerry learns more about Judaism, her shock of realization when first hearing about the Holocaust, meeting a boy who is a Jewish refugee from Germany, experiencing cruel anti-Semitism personally, longing to be a part of Christmas with her friends, and finally ending up attending and celebrating Jewish holidays, and comfortable with her identity.
The ending felt a bit contrived and overly tidy, but this little children's novel does manage to pack in quite a good amount of complexity and depth for its size and target reading age.
March 2, 2019
This touches on some interesting topics related to the subject of religion, but the story is only average. Sometimes it veers into Judy Blume territory. Unfortunately, there is no discussion of what really matters in religion - Judaism is not just the external trappings of seders and the like. We get a tiny excerpt of scripture, but nothing about the covenant that God has made or the law He gave to the Jews. There is mention of Catholicism, but it is similarly superficial.
June 10, 2016
I weeded this book from my school library but wanted to read it so I held onto it and have finally gotten around to it. Set in NYC after WWII it's a story of a Gerry Flam who is Jewish but her family are not observant Jews so she knows nothing about being Jewish. She does know some about Catholicism since her best friends are Catholic and as now that she is in 5th grade she finds she wants to know more.
May 30, 2022
This story doesn’t go deeply into what it means to be Jewish, so if that’s what you’re looking for, this isn’t the book for you. What it does do explore the feelings of a young child growing up in America without religion, and feeling both the same as everyone else and also very different. It explores the confusion of watching all of her friends participate in Christian rituals and wanting to partake too, but also feeling like she’s wrong or it’s bad if she does. It’s the story of a child beginning to find her way to Judaism.
Even though this story is set in the 1940’s, I relate to it. I grew up with more knowledge of and participation in Judaism, but because I didn’t live near any Jewish friends, I always felt different. I wanted to take part in Christmas and Easter, but never did. I understand the confusion and struggle with reconciling being the same and different from the majority of my friends.
As an adult, I can look back on those feelings with different eyes and have more empathy for my struggles. I’ve also seen the rise of more vocal anti-semitism and that has forced me to explore my connection to being Jewish in new ways. Nowadays I have no problem claiming my Jewishness. But had I had a book like this one, I think I would have felt a little better about my questioning everything.
I think where this book really stands out is helping other people who question their Jewishness not feel alone.
The story is well written. It’s funny, sad, painful, and full of love. I think it’s still a relevant book for anyone to read, but I also think it will struck a chord in many Jewish kids, and even some adults.
Even though this story is set in the 1940’s, I relate to it. I grew up with more knowledge of and participation in Judaism, but because I didn’t live near any Jewish friends, I always felt different. I wanted to take part in Christmas and Easter, but never did. I understand the confusion and struggle with reconciling being the same and different from the majority of my friends.
As an adult, I can look back on those feelings with different eyes and have more empathy for my struggles. I’ve also seen the rise of more vocal anti-semitism and that has forced me to explore my connection to being Jewish in new ways. Nowadays I have no problem claiming my Jewishness. But had I had a book like this one, I think I would have felt a little better about my questioning everything.
I think where this book really stands out is helping other people who question their Jewishness not feel alone.
The story is well written. It’s funny, sad, painful, and full of love. I think it’s still a relevant book for anyone to read, but I also think it will struck a chord in many Jewish kids, and even some adults.
May 28, 2014
I love her courage
September 1, 2009
Great story about a Jewish girl trying to find out what it means to be truly Jewish.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews