Soumchi

A tale of “dazzling brilliance . . . a simple story which conveys boundless meanings both modest and diverse, set in Jerusalem directly after WWII” ( Historical Novel Society ). When Soumchi, an eleven-year-old boy growing up in British-occupied Jerusalem just after World War II, receives a bicycle as a gift from his Uncle Zemach, he is overjoyed—even if it is a girl’s bicycle. Ignoring the taunts of other boys in his neighborhood, he dreams of riding far away from them, out of the city and acro