The Return Mass Market Paperback – July 12, 1988

I enjoyed the book, which I bought for a young relative

This is a gorgeous and important book. I stayed up and read it in one night after finding it in a Little Library in my neighborhood. Learned so much about all the steps before the airlifts of Ethiopian Jews - which was all I'd known prior. Grateful to the author for this beautiful expression and just bought 4 copies for sisters and friends.

Was required reading for my Catholic school. I thought it was interesting and liked the characters.

This book was about a young Jewish girl, Desta, who lived high in a village in the Ethiopian Mountains. She lived there with her aunt Kibret and her uncle Tekle. Her specific Village was known as Falasha, which translated means Stranger. At this time in history, the Ethiopians treated the Jews as outcasts, and would not let them leave Ethiopia. Times got harder for the Jews, and many people were trying to escape to Jerusalem. Some made it, and some died or were caught trying to leave. Desta, her brother Joas, her sister Almaz, and a few other people from the neighboring village plan to escape. On the night of Segid, a religious holiday, soldiers come to their village and the three of them have to leave a night earlier then they had planned. They were supposed to meet up with Dan, Melake, Kess Haim, and Werzero Channa, but they had taken a different road. They then decided to start along to Sudan, the place where they would go to a camp before going to Israel, and they would meet the others along the way. Desta, Joas, and Almaz would walk by night and rest by day so it would be harder for soldiers to find them. One night they see a fire going, and Joas goes ahead of the two girls to see if it was the other village people. It turned out that it was not the others, and it was a group of bandits. The Bandits saw Joas and shot him. The bandits took everything valuable from Joas and then left. Desta then wrapped him in her shawl and buried him the best she could. After that she had to take care of Almaz. They had no food and scarce water. They go through many challenges throughout the way, and they have to find the border of Sudan without knowing the way. They finally get to a town where there is a market place, and Desta meets Melake. She tells him what happened to Joas, and he tells her that Kess Haim has been captured. Melake brings them back to the group, and tells her that they have a guide. Kasa, the guide, leads them to the borderline of Sudan. There they have to get through a gate with out the guards noticing. After awhile the guards come out to watch. Dan races across to save the rest of the group from prison. The group, minus Dan, goes to the camp in Sudan. After a period of time they are secretly put on a plane to Israel. In Israel they are fed and clothed, and they get an education. Werzero Channa is in the hospital in Israel, and is going mad. She thinks that Melake is Dan. Then before they go to Jerusalem Werzero says that Dan was there and they disagree, but then Dan shows up from inside the other room. They greet each other with many kisses, and Werzero Channa grows impatient and wants to go see Jerusalem. They then all go to Jerusalem together, and Desta realizes how much her faith means to her. This book was one of the best books I have ever read. It is well written, and has a lot of information. It teaches about the Jewish religion, and the Ethiopian culture. It has a lot of excitement, drama, and reality. I would highly recommend it to any one. Desta shows a lot of faith and bravery through out the whole book. Levitin truly wrote a spectacular book.

The Return by Sonia Levitin was a really good book. At first I did not want to read it but then as I read it, the book got better and better. It was very interesting to read how Desta lived.The Return was about a young girl Desta who lived in a high mountain in Ethiopia. She lived with her aunt, uncle, her brother Joas, and her sister Almaz. Desta was Jewish and in Ethiopia the Ethiopians did not like the Jews. They wanted to keep the Jews away from them because they believed that Desta and her people were cursed and wherever they went they would bring bad luck. In Desta's village their soil was not that good so they did not have many crops. They also did not have much money. A lot of the people in Desta's village were leaving the village to go to Jerusalem "the promised land" where they would be free to do as they pleased. In Desta's village they were forbidden to leave and they were not free to do, as they wanted. Guards who made sure that they did not try to leave or get into trouble watched them. At night when no one was looking, some of the people took their families and their belongings and left to go on a long hike to Jerusalem. Desta's brother Joas wanted to leave their village and go to Jerusalem with Desta, Almaz and another group that was leaving. He asked Desta if she would come with him but she was not sure if she wanted to leave her aunt and uncle. She knew her aunt and uncle depended on her to help out but she also knew that they would not be able to come because they would not be able to make the long journey. After thinking for a long time however, she decided to go on the journey.Weeks past and some strange people came to the village. Nobody knew who they were or what they were doing. Everyone got nervous. Instead of leaving the next day to meet the others in the next village like they planed, Desta's aunt told them to leave right away. So they left and they went as far as they could. They went to the village to meet with the others and the guide who would show them where to go. When they got there, they could not find the others. A lady told them that they already left because they heard that strangers were going to come and nobody knew who they were. The others left because they thought that if they waited for Desta and her family they would not be able to leave without getting caught. Joas told them that if they could walk really fast and not rest that maybe they could catch up. So they left.After days of walking they thought that they saw the others. Joas told them to stay and not to move till he got back to see who was making a fire. So Almaz and Desta waited for him. After a couple of hours they saw a figure in the moonlight. It was Joas. He had been shot and was bleeding really badly. Desta tried to help but it was no use. Joas died. Desta could not stay there so she buried her brother and left to go on their long journey without him.They were walking for days when they found a market. They needed food so they stopped and saw some of their friends Dan, Kess Haim, Melake and Weizero Channa from the group that they were supposed to have gone with. Desta and Almaz went with them and after more walking they finally reached the boarder. At the boarder they had to make a run for it because if they were caught they would be imprisoned and killed. They were going to make a run for it but then one of the guards came out. Dan ran and went right in front of the guard to distract him while everyone else ran. Dan was captured and the others made it to the other side. When Desta and everyone else stopped to take a rest, they realized what had happened and what Dan had done for them and their safety. They were really saddened by the loss of their friend but they went on. They found the camp that they were to go to where they would get shelter and food. They were there for weeks. After a while, a little boy told them about an airplane that would take them to Jerusalem. On the night that the plane was to come, Desta made sure that Almaz, Dan's grandmother and herself were first in line. They made it and got to Jerusalem. They stayed in a nice hotel and were well taken care of. They finally could start their new life were they would be free.I thought that this book was really good, especially if you like books about the Jews and the struggles they went through

The Return was a great book. I enjoyed it. It was very interesting and well written. I thought it was good and I would read it again. One of my favorite parts is at the beginning of the book when Desta found out she was going to leave her country. It was a good and exciting part. I enjoyed it. Another part I enjoyed was when they were crossing the border to go to Sudan. It was a good part because they were almost free. I thought this part was exciting and interesting. So all in all I thought The Return was a great book. I very much enjoyed it. I thought it was good and interesting. And I would read it again. I give it five stars.

The book came in on time and was exactly as pictured.The only concern I have was that in one of the product descriptions it lists ages 10 + up which was why I bought it for my 11 yr old son.After looking at it and briefly scanning it when it arrived I would say this is more for a high school student, 14+.