Rivka’s Presents
by: Lauria Wallmark nd Illustrated by Adelina Lirius
July 11, 2023 Random House Studio
40 pages
I was an unusual child. My friends had collections of all kinds of things – pogs, stickers, pokemon cards. Me? I was into office supplies. Which probably should have been a sign about my future in publishing. Nothing made me happier than being surrounded by post it notes and staplers. My favorite time of year was back to school – even when I grew up and was no longer attending school! Because all the wonderful school supplies were out in stores in fancy displays. Which is why I found it weirdly crushing when Rivka, main character of Rivka’s Presents written by Laurie Wallmark and illustrated by Adelina Lirius, finds out she cannot start school as planned.
Rivka is growing up in NY’s lower east side in the early 1900’s. Conditions are not great, and since her father is ill her mother must go to work to support the family. This means Rivka will stay at home to take care of her baby sister instead of starting school. I was slightly concerned that todays kids would not be as gutted as I was about this, because many of them would love to stay home from school, or that they would fail to relate to the level of responsibility falling to such a small child’s shoulders. I should not have been concerned. All the children I read the book with seemed to empathize with Rivka’s situation, even if such a sacrifice was beyond them. In fact, many said they would also watch their little siblings if their parents were sick, which I found very sweet.
Rivka is determined to learn, and she finds a way to do so by assisting various neighborhood business’s in exchange for lessons from their proprietors. The kids really enjoyed this resourcefulness. They also had a good time keeping track of the various neighborhood characters. he color scheme is a nice cross between somber and cheerful and the illustrations gave a goo sense of the passing of seasons.
Not a single one of the kids picked up on the fact that 1918 was when the large flu epidemic was going on, and that they recently went through a pandemic which kept them home from school as well. A fact that I found profoundly intriguing, since as an adult I couldn’t help but grasp those similarities and ponder the repetitive nature of history. I guess, like Rivka, kids today are resilient. Whether it’s zoom school or learning how to write from the green grocer, they find their own ways to deal with the reality in which they find themselves. Which also explains why they enjoyed reading about Rivka so much, even if they don’t share my stapler obsession.