c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Miriam, 10, is a Russian Jewish girl who in 1914 has her entire life uprooted when her family decides to flee from persecution and pogroms to America.

Reyna, 12, is Chinese, part of a small population of Chinese “Israelites,” who live in Kaifeng on the Yellow River. Through her sharp intuition, Reyna saves her father from a disastrous business deal.

The girls are the subjects of new illustrated paperback books in what will be a series of historical fiction combined under the title “Gali Girls.”

Each book focuses on a young Jewish girl at a different time and place in history. And each heroine undergoes adventures and challenges she learns to survive.

Crafting the series was itself a surprising challenge for author, editor and writing teacher Robin Levinson of Hamilton, N.J.

The Gali Girls assignment came about after Levinson attended a writing workshop and met Arthur Kurzweil, a scout for Jewish-oriented publications.

Impressed with her credentials and enthusiasm about writing, Kurzweil put Levinson in touch with Aliza Stein, head of Q and A Publishing in Teaneck, N.J., and now also of Gali Girls Inc.

Stein, whose Q and A press specializes in Judaica and health and fitness, had already marketed four Jewish character dolls.

The idea of creating new dolls corresponding to book characters, an idea that built an empire for the American Girl Co., had always been in the back of her mind, Stein says. Now each Gali Girl book’s heroine is sold separately for $60 a doll, complete with Jewish sabbath kit and related accessories.

Levinson began writing “Miriam’s Journey: Discovering a New World” as homage to her grandmother Mamie who years before agreed to record on tape a discussion with Levinson about her journey to America.

Like Grandma Mamie, Miriam is a Russian girl who escapes with her family and arrives at “the golden door” of America only to find some surprises waiting there.

Ellis Island is vividly described through Miriam’s young eyes in all its excitement and tumult: families’ names changed with the jot of a pencil; people put in quarantine; exhausted travelers turned away.

“I was writing fiction, so I felt free to change things, but I wanted Miriam to reflect the mix of courage and desperation my grandmother and thousands like her felt there,” Levinson says.

“The bottom line is telling a dramatic, well-crafted story. But I also wanted the stories to contain Jewish values,” says Levinson, who has been studying Judaism for more than a decade.

“And I really think these are, in many ways, universal values,” she says. “Family loyalty, concern for the community, hard work and respect for scholarship, support in times of need, tolerance and diversity.”

While these things are woven into the stories, Levinson says it’s the resourceful protagonists and their experiences that will capture readers.

For her second Gali Girl book, Levinson was urged by her husband, Larry, to consider an Asian heroine.

“I went on the Internet and found a Sino-Judaic Institute in California. I learned from the rabbis and scholars there that there had been a small community in China in the 12th century.

“There were several thousand Jews who called themselves Israelites and had a magnificent synagogue. One of the institute scholars agreed to vet the book for me and he was meticulous.”

Set in 1175, “Reyna and the Jade Star” concerns a merchant’s daughter with an uncanny sense about people. Her jade pendant Star of David plays a major part in the story. So does her friendship with a Confucian boy.

The third book, which is almost finished, is set in the 17th century. “Shoshana and the Native Rose” is about an 11-year-old girl whose family comes to America from Brazil after being attacked by pirates. As part of the first Jewish settlement in the New World, her name means rose in Hebrew. She has never seen her namesake flower and yearns to find one.

“Names are incredibly important in Judaism,” Levinson says. “We even celebrate a naming ceremony.”

Shoshana finally finds a rose and the discovery leads to a friendship with a Lenape Indian girl. The two share the richness of each other’s traditions.

A fourth book is in the planning, Levinson says, about an Ethiopian Jewish girl airlifted to Israel.

These days, when she’s not writing, Levinson is busy speaking to community groups, synagogues, sisterhoods and classrooms.

“The most important thing to me is that people read these books to their children and that those children read them to their grandchildren. That’s the promise my kids have made to me.”

Gali Girls books (http://www.galigirls.com) sell for $12.

MO JL END SCHLEGEL

(Sharon Schlegel is a features writer with The Times of Trenton in Trenton, N.J.)

Editors: To obtain a photo of author Robin Levinson, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.