National Network for Equitable Library Service

In this story without words, "a king emerges from a hidden door in a city park, startling two children sheltering from the rain.

Using a red marker, a young girl draws a door on her bedroom wall and through it enters another world where she experiences many adventures, including being captured by an evil emperor.

Rachel is a Jew living in Kishinev, Russia. At fourteen, she has dreams of being a writer.

It is 1904, and Rachel and her family are leaving Russia to escape the continuing riots against Jews. They take the Trans-Siberian Railway across the country and board a ship to Shanghai.

Rachel, a young Jewish woman from a small town in Russia, has made an incredible journey.