A Sky Full of Song was a wonderfully engaging historical fiction novel about an immigrant Jewish family who settles in North Dakota. It immediately made me think of the Little House on the Prairie books based on the setting and the writing style. Jews settling in North Dakota was something I knew very little about. The extensive research that went into this novel added details that made Shoshana's world feel real. I appreciated the list of 'works consulted' at the end of the novel.
In addition to an engaging narrative, Meyer explores issues of anti-Semitism, the immigrant experience, identity, and assimilation in ways that are thought provoking. Thank you to NetGalley and Union Square Kids for the ARC. I throughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

In “A Sky Full of Song”, Susan Lynn Meyer has wonderfully captured the beauty of the North Dakota prairie. I have lived in North Dakota all my life, and while the landscape in places has changed dramatically since 1905 when the book takes place, many areas of North Dakota retain that allure. Ms. Meyers' descriptive phrases gave Shoshanna's new homeland a wonderful radiance that I loved.
Shoshanna and her family have to flee their homeland of Ukraine because of the Russian pogroms against Jews. Her father and older brother went to North Dakota a few years earlier to prepare a new home for the family and to raise money to bring the remaining five members to their new country. The story of their ship journey, Ellis Island, and the train ride to North Dakota are all similarly well-described.
Papa has built the family a house in true North Dakota tradition - a dugout. While the top of the home is above ground, the living quarters are dug into the ground to provide protection from the elements. Dugouts were also practical because trees for lumber on the prairie were scarce. The dugout is quite different than what the female family members were expecting. They set to work making it as homelike as possible. With their efforts and the great love of the family, it becomes a home as much as their home in Ukraine, just different.
Different is a keyword in this novel. There are very few Jews in the area, and none but Shoshanna and her sister at school. While Shoshanna picks up the new language more quickly than her older sister, she struggles with her identity and how to fit in with the other students.
"A Sky Full of Song" will draw comparisons to Laura Ingalls Wilder's books, among others, the descriptive quality of Ms. Meyers' writing, in my opinion, rises above that of Ms. Wilder. The description of the migration of the sandhill cranes alone, "a sky full of song", was an intoxicating read. This is a book that can be enjoyed by any age.
Thank you to NetGalley and Union Square Kids for the ARC of this book.

Shoshana and her family have had to flee Russia, in 1905, because the attacks on their Jewish village are just getting to be too much. Their father has been living on a homestead in North Dakota, and gets them tickets to join him.


Because Shoshana knows about being attacked for her religion, and knows about being displaced, she has an affinity for the few Indigenous people that she meets, though most are now living on reservations. What she can’t seem to get is how to be treated like a regular American. A common problem amongst immigrants, even to this day. Do you embrace you differences, or do you try to eat what the other kids eat, and wear what the other kids wear. It is a hard problem, and one book is not going to solve it.


What I love is how the story takes on a version of The Long Winter, by Laura Ingles Wilder, which also happened in the Dekota territory, and uses it to tell Shashana’s story. The Wilder book too place in 1880. This story is taking place in 1905, but blizzards can be just as deadly no matter when they are happening.


Like “Parie Lotus” by Linda Sue Park, which told of an Interatial Chinese-American girl in the 1800s, this book shows what it is like for a Jewish girl, when there are no other Jews around.


Whenever I read a book that I can’t put down, and I stay up late to read, and find myself shedding hot tears as the poor protagonist is going through their problems, I know this is a book I have to let others know about. The writing is so good. The people are so human. And one thing that Shoshana has to take to heart is that people are not black and white, they are not either good or bad. There is a little bit of both in everyone, whether you like it or not.


A five star review. If only for the descriptions of the cranes migrating overhead, and their calls filling the sky with song.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

I wasnt sure in the beginning where this was headed. But we see a family struggling who gets a chance at a better life. It is a story of a young Jewish immigrant from the pogram-era of Russia / Ukraine. We get to see her go through trials and tribulations in adjusting to her new life in North Dakota. This was a good read.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

I was expecting a children's book, but was pleasantly surprised with an engaging and historically-informative young adult read instead! This is the story of a young Jewish immigrant from the pogram-era of Russia / Ukraine, including her inner thoughts, trials, and adjustment to a new life in North Dakota. It's full of adventure, but doesn't focus as much on the cultural / religious aspect as I would have hoped. However, it might be just the right about of inclusion for other families. Overall, a fantastic read! We will be using it with our Jewish studies year for history.