Rebecca is a young Jewish girl growing up in 1914. The story has a bit about Jewish customs, but more importantly examines the problems of Jewish families back then trying to 'fit in' to American society, and how this sometimes caused cultural problems. Rebecca's class at school is involved in making Christmas decorations and Rebecca has a problem with this since, of course, her family does not celebrate Christmas but celebrates Hanukkah instead.
A second theme revolves around a man in the apartment building she is living in. He seems to dislike children intensely, but ends up making an agreement with Rebecca so she can feed his pigeons he keeps in pigeon lofts on the apartment building's roof, and feed his cat which has had kittens.
Rebecca has to figure out what to do with the Christmas decoration she made and is tempted to throw it away but ends up finding someone who can really appreciate it. The normal historical section is included.
A good addition to the series.
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