Ellis Island:

Rosalia’s Story
 Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2024

https://archive.org/details/ellisislandrosal0O0Ohard
 —_
OXFORD BOOKWORMS LIBRARY
True Stories

Ellis Island
Rosalia’s Story

JANET HARDY-GOULD

Stage 2 (700 headwords)

Illustrated by Thomas Girard

Series Editor: Rachel Bladon

Founder Editors: Jennifer Bassett
and Tricia Hedge
 OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, ox2 6pp, United Kingdom

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade
mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries

© Oxford University Press 2019

The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First published 2019
109. 8W7 6d 4°3;2, 9

No unauthorized photocopying
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as
expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the
appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning
reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the ELT
Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must
impose this same condition on any acquirer
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and
for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials
contained in any third party website referenced in this work
ISBN: 9780 19 463444 1

A complete recording of this Bookworms edition

of Ellis Island: Rosalia’s Story is available.
Printed in China

Word count (main text): 8,707

For more information on the Oxford Bookworms Library,

visit www.oup.com/elt/gradedreaders

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Cover images by: Getty Images/Shanina; Shutterstock/Boumen Japet/
art of line/Melok/jcwait/ADragan/VladisChern.
Main illustrations by: Thomas Girard/Good Illustration.
Other illustrations by: Martin Sanders/Beehive Illustration (map).
The publisher would like to thank the following for permission to
reproduce photographs: Alamy Stock Photo pp.58 (immigrants showing
passports/Everett Collection Historical), 58 (female immigrants
examination/Everett Collection Inc), 58 (Immigration Station/Hi-Story);
Getty Images pp.56 (Registry Room/Patti McConville), 58 (Ellis Island/
Archive Holdings Inc.), 67 (Charlie Chaplin/Imagno).
The publisher would like to thank Barry Moreno, Historian at the
Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, New York City, for his help
with this book.
 CON TEINGIS

MAP: JOURNEY FROM PALERMO

AND NAPLES TO NEW YORK

Brooklyn, New York, 1925 (Part 1)

Leaving Sicily
Life on Board
New Friends
The Necklace
The Atlantic
Ellis Island
The Registry Room
‘6
WH
WD
YN
ON
BW Brooklyn, New York, 1925 (Part 2)

GLOSSARY
STORY NOTES
BEYOND THE STORY
PHOTOS OF ELLIS ISLAND
Activities: Think Ahead
Activities: Chapter Check
ACTIVITIES: Focus on Vocabulary
ACTIVITIES: Focus on Language
ACTIVITIES: Discussion
PROJECT
RECOMMENDED READING
 CHAPTER ONE

Brooklyn, New York, 1925 (Part 1)

MM. friend has just visited us in our new apartment
in Brooklyn, and now | need to begin unpacking.
There are boxes all around me, which are full of clothes,
books, and kitchen things. The children are climbing all
over them, and laughing or shouting.
“Be careful, you two!” | say, and then | begin to take
the things out of one of the boxes. There are a lot of
letters and books inside it. | have not looked at these
things for years, so it is a big surprise when | see my old
red sketchbook. | remember it immediately, and quickly
open it. On the first page, there is a note:

Spadafora, Sicily November 1, 1910

Dear Rosalia,

Here’s a sketchbook for your voyage to America.

Draw a picture in it every day on the ship, and
think of me. I'll never forget you.

Your friend,
Nicoletta

| remember Nicoletta’s smiling face, and | think,

“Where is she now? Is she still back in Italy?”
2 Ellis Island

But a voice in my ear brings me back to here and now,

and my daughter, Giovanna, pulls at the book.
“Mommy, Mommy! What’s that in your hand?” she
asks.
“It’s my old sketchbook,” | say. “With my drawings in
tae
“Can we look at it?” asks my son, Matteo.
“Yes, of course,” | answer. So Giovanna and Matteo
come and sit next to me, and we begin looking through
it together.
“Who are these people?” asks Giovanna when she
sees the first drawing.
“Those two people are my grandparents, and that girl
was my best friend, Nicoletta,” | answer.
“Oh yes,” says Matteo. “You told us about them.”
“But where are they in the picture?” asks Giovanna.
“They're on the island of Sicily — you know, | was born
there. And theyre all saying goodbye to me at the docks
when | came here to America by ship fifteen years ago.”
“Let’s show the book to Daddy when he gets home
from the office,” says Giovanna.
“Yes,” | smile. “I know that he’ll be very interested.”
They run away to play. | watch them, but | am thinking
about something different. | am thinking about my
voyage here long ago.
“It’s my old sketchbook
 CHAPTER TWO

Leaving Sicily
verything began with a letter from our father in
America. He was already in New York and he wrote
to us in Sicily with news.
The letter arrived on October 4, the day before my
fourteenth birthday. I remember it well. Mother went
and sat at the table in our kitchen with the letter in her
hand. My four-year-old brother, Arturo, and I came to
sit next to her, while ten-month-old Sebastiano lay in
his small bed. Mother opened the letter, but just then,
Sebastiano began to cry.
“Can you hold him, Rosalia?” Mother asked. So I
took him in my arms, and Mother read the letter to us.

New York September 1, 1910

Dear Piera, Rosalia, Arturo, and Sebastiano,

I'm writing to you with good news! At last, after

seven months, I have the money to bring you
here to America. So I bought you tickets for the
ship The Napolitan Princess. It leaves Sicily on
November 2, and it will arrive in New York about
three weeks later. I'll meet you at Ellis Island when
you get off the ship.
 Leaving Sicily 5

Mother read the letter to us.

“Where’s Ellis Island?” I asked, and Mother stopped

reading and looked up.
“Tt’s a small island near New York,” she explained.
“People arrive there when they want to live in America,
and they have health checks, and answer lots and lots of
questions.” Then she read some more:
6 Ellis Island

I haven’t found us a place to live yet. Right now,

I’m working long hours at the clothes factory. But
in the next few weeks, I'll try to find somewhere.

Mother looked up. “Poor Father has to work in that

dirty factory now,” she said.
“Poor Father!” said Arturo, and he took Mother’s
hand.
My father had a shoemaking business in Sicily before
he left for New York. He had a beautiful store in our
village, and rich people came from the city of Messina
to buy his shoes. But in 1908, there was a big earthquake.
Lots of people died, and after that, nobody had any
money for shoes, clothes, or even food. So Father went
to America, to look for a new job.
Mother went on reading the letter:

You need to know some important things

about the voyage. When you first go on the ship,
the officials will ask you lots of questions, like,
“Where are you from?” and “Why are you going to
Americaé” You need to give the right answers. Also,
I only had money for steerage tickets — the cheapest
ones. So you'll be on the lower deck of the ship
with hundreds of other passengers, and you'll sleep
ina room with a lot of other people. But you'll be
all right, ’'m sure.
 Leaving Sicily 7

You can only bring two suitcases — nothing

more. But remember, winters are very cold here
and you'll need warm clothes. Also, be careful
with money, rings, or necklaces because people
sometimes steal things on board.
I want you to come very soon, so 1 bought you
tickets for November. There can be storms in the
Atlantic in the winter months and the voyage is
often difficult. But I know that you won't be afraid.
Eat well and stay away from people who are
sick while you are on board. 1 don’t want to worry
you, but when you arrive at Ellis Island, there are
doctors with hooks. They use these hooks to open
your eyes and look for infections. Two passengers
on my ship had an eye infection called trachoma,
so the doctors sent them back to Italy!

“Doctors with hooks!” I said. “That sounds terrible!”

“Shh...” Mother said quietly, and she looked at
Arturo. But he was watching a bird outside, so she went
on reading.

I'll say goodbye now. But I send you my love,

and I'll write again soon.

Your husband and father,

Carlo
8 Ellis Island

Mother put the letter away. “Well,” she said, looking

at me, “we leave in four weeks, so we need to begin
making plans.”
———4
A month later, on November 2, we were at the busy
docks in Palermo, far from our village. The weather
was warm and sunny, but we were wearing heavy winter
clothes because our suitcases were full.
“I’m hot in this coat and hat,” I said to Mother. “I
want to take them off now.”
“No,” she said. “Keep them on. You can take them off
when you get on board.”
We were standing with our grandparents. They
looked old and worried in the large crowds of people.
Grandfather had Sebastiano. Grandmother held Arturo’s
hand.
“Look at that big ship, Arturo,” she said, and she
looked up at The Napolitan Princess and tried to smile.
“It’s going to take you to America!”
She took some sweets from her bag and gave them to
Arturo. “Here’s something for the journey,” she said.
Then she took out a box and gave it to me. “This is for
you, Rosalia.”
In the box was a gold necklace. “It belonged to my
mother,” she explained. “Wear it, and think of us in
Sicily.”
“Thank you!” I said. “It’s beautiful!”
 In the box was a gold necklace.

Just then, I heard my name. Someone was calling me.

I turned and saw my friend, Nicoletta.
“Nicoletta!” I said happily. “What are you doing
here?”
“IT came with my father,” she laughed. “He was
bringing some vegetables to the market here in Palermo.”
She saw the box in my hand.
“T have a present for you, too,” she said, and she gave
me a bag. Inside, there was a sketchbook and a pencil.
She knew that I loved drawing.
10 Ellis Island

“It’s for the voyage, she said. “You can sdraw

everything on board.”
“Thank you, Nicoletta. ’ll always—” I began, but
suddenly, we heard the ship’s horn.
“We have to go now!” said Mother.
She took Sebastiano from Grandfather, and, still
holding the bag with the sketchbook and pencil, I took
Arturo’s hand. My grandparents put their arms around us
one last time. Then Mother and I took the two suitcases
and hurried to the ship. I could see Grandmother out of
the corner of my eye — she was crying.
We walked up the gangplank onto the ship, behind
a line of people, and followed them to a desk with an
official behind it. “You must give true answers to these
questions,” he said, and he began to ask Mother many
different things.
“Where were you born?” he started. “And where were
your children born?” Mother tried to answer carefully,
but her voice was shaking. The official listened and
wrote her answers on a large piece of paper.
“Are you going to meet family in America?” he asked,
and “Have you ever been to prison?”
“All these strange questions!” I thought.
But at last, he said, “That’s fine.”
We walked up to the top of the ship, and out onto
the open deck, and looked down at the crowds below. I
could see my grandparents and Nicoletta — they looked
—————
eee
Leaving Sicily
ee eee

so small. Then I remembered the sketchbook and pencil.

I took them out of the bag and began to draw.
“I want one last picture,” I thought. “To remember
my old life here in Sicily.”

“I want one
_ last picture,”
I thought.
if:

CHAPTER THREE

Life on Board
\ , J heard the sound of the horn again, and then the
ship began to move slowly away from the docks.
I finished drawing, and looked up at Mother next to me.
Arturo was holding her hand, and Sebastiano was asleep
in her arms. There were tears in her eyes.
The crowds of people below waved and cheered. I
could see Nicoletta. She was jumping up and down
wildly and shouting, “Goodbye!” Grandfather was
waving his newspaper. Grandmother was holding his
arm and trying not to cry.
At first, we called and waved, too, but after a while,
we could not hear the people’s voices or see their
faces anymore. The streets of Palermo looked smaller
and smaller, and soon, we began to see all the high
mountains behind the city.
“All steerage passengers down below decks!” a sailor
shouted.
“That’s us,” said Mother. We walked with many other
passengers down some stairs, and came to a half-open
door. Inside, we saw a bright room with comfortable
chairs and a colorful carpet.
“That looks nice!” I said to Mother. “Is it for us?”
“No,” she replied quickly. “That’s for the first-class
passengers.”
 Life on Board 13

Arturo and I followed Mother, with Sebastiano in her

arms, down some more stairs. They were narrower than
the first ones, and it got darker and darker when we
went down. At last, we arrived at one of the lower decks.
A sailor was standing there.
“Steerage?” he said to Mother.
“Yes,” she answered.
“Women and children, this way,” he said, and showed
us an open door.
“Thank you,” Mother smiled. But when she looked
through the door, the smile suddenly left her face.
There, in front of us, was a large, dark cabin full of old
bunk beds. The floor and walls were very dirty. Some
other passengers were already sitting on their beds, so
we walked around and looked for some empty places.
“Let's go to that corner,” said Mother, and she
pointed to two empty bunk beds. We walked across the
cabin to them, then sat on the bottom beds with our
suitcases. The beds felt hard and uncomfortable, and the
pillows were old and dirty.
For a while, we sat silently. We looked around at
everything, and listened to the noise of all the people in
the cabin. The ship was moving up and down a lot more
now, and some of the passengers were already feeling ill,
I could see: they were lying on their beds, and their faces
were white. I did not want to say anything to my mother,
but I suddenly felt very worried and afraid.
 There was a large, dark cabin full of old bunk beds.

We looked around, and I found a bath

room next to
our cabin with places to wash and a few toilet
s.
“Are these for everybody in our cabin?”
I whispered
to Mother.
 Life on Board 15

“Yes,” she said. “But it’s only for three weeks.”

Early that evening, we had our first meal. We sat
around tables at the far end of our cabin with all the
other women and children. The ship’s cooks gave us all
brown soup. I took a mouthful of it.
“What’s in this?” I asked Mother. “I can’t eat it.”
“We have to finish the food, or we’ll be hungry later,”
she whispered, and she tried to give Sebastiano some
soup.
I held my nose and finished the soup. Then I looked at
the other passengers. There were lots of little children,
but only one girl who was older — and she was sitting
at the next table. She had long, dark hair and wore old
clothes, and she had two brothers, like me. They called
her name — it was Carolina. I looked at her and smiled,
but she did not smile back. She just looked down tiredly.
After dinner, most of us went and sat on our beds and
read or talked. I looked at the empty beds in our cabin,
and said to Mother, “The ship isn’t very full, is it? That’s
good.”
“More passengers will get on when we arrive in
Naples,” she said. “Now, come on. Get ready for bed.”
“But where can I change my clothes?” I asked.
“Here,” she said.
“What? In front of everybody?”
“Pll hold this blanket around you,” she said. “Nobody
is looking at you.” So I quickly put on my nightclothes,
16 Ellis Island

got into the bunk bed above Arturo, and took off my
gold necklace and put it under my pillow. Mother got
into the bottom of the next bed with baby Sebastiano.
I lay there quietly, but I could not sleep. The ship
made strange noises, and I did not like moving up and
down all the time. Two babies were crying loudly and an
old woman was talking in her sleep.
I thought about Sicily and my favorite places there —
Nicoletta’s little house with fruit trees in the garden,
and the store in our village with bread in the window.
I wanted to be back in my comfortable bed at home,
with my things all around me. It was very late when I
fell asleep.
When I woke up the next morning, I could not
remember where I was. Our cabin smelled of last night’s
dinner, and I looked in surprise at the strange people
around me. I put my hand under my pillow and found
my necklace there.
“Come On, “Rosalia!” -said Mother, ““Time tor
breakfast!”
I put my head under my blanket. “I don’t want
breakfast!” I answered.
“You have to eat something,” she said.
I climbed down from the bunk bed, got dressed, and
we went and sat at the tables with all the other people
from the cabin. Soon, we were eating gray oatmeal.
“This doesn’t taste like anything,” I said unhappily.
 Life on Board 17

But I ate the oatmeal, and after breakfast, I began to

feel more excited about our adventure.
“Can I look around the ship now?” I asked Mother.
“Yes,” she said. “But take Arturo with you, and be
very careful.”
In the dark corridor next to our cabin, we saw
Carolina and her younger brother. She looked away
when I smiled at her, and Arturo and I walked past her.
We began to climb the stairs to the higher decks, but a
sailor stood in our way.
“lm sorry,” he said, “but you can’t go up on the
open deck. Only first-class passengers can go there
in the mornings. You can go there for an hour in the
afternoons.”
We went back down the stairs. “Where can I play,
then?” Arturo asked me.
“In the cabin, maybe?” I said.
“But there are too many people there!” Arturo said.
“And it smells!”
We walked back down the corridor, and Arturo began
to cry. There was no one in the corridor outside our
cabin, and I saw a door at the far end, and opened it
carefully. “Maybe there’s another room in here!” I said.
The door did not open into a room, but into a very
large closet with a light. There were some boxes in one
corner, but you could walk around in it.
“Took, Arturo!” I said. “Maybe you can play in here.
18 Ellis Island

It can be our secret place! We won’t tell anyone.”

Arturo’s face lit up, and he ran into the closet and
jumped around.
“Thank you, Rosalia!” he smiled, and I put my arms
around him.

Arturo ran into the closet and Jumped aroun

d.
 Life on Board 19

The next morning, I walked around the cabin and

corridor with Arturo, played with him in the secret
closet, and made sketches. The other passengers talked
and played cards on their beds.
In the afternoon, all the steerage passengers could go
up on the open deck for an hour. The sun and wind on
our faces were wonderful after our dark, noisy cabin
with its bad smell and crowds of passengers. But I felt
lonely without any friends. I smiled at Carolina when I
saw her, but she did not smile back.
Later that afternoon, the ship stopped at Naples and
the sailors said that we could go on the open deck again.
I took my sketchbook and drew the docks and the big
crowds below.
While I was drawing, the new passengers began
walking up the gangplank, and out of the corner of my
eye, I saw a girl in a green dress with lots of wild, brown
hair and big eyes. She was walking with a boy, and he
looked just like her. They were both about fourteen, |
thought. They looked up, and when they saw me, they
smiled, and I smiled back.
“Oh, good!” I thought. “Some friends.”
20

CHAPTER FOUR

New Friends
inner that evening was very busy, because of all the
D new passengers from Naples. The girl in the green
dress was at a dinner table near us. She was eating her
meal very slowly. When she saw me, she pointed at the
food and made a funny face. I laughed.
Later, I saw her on a bunk bed on my side of the
cabin, so I went to talk to her.
“Welcome to our cabin!” I said. “What’s your name?”
“Angelina Di Pietro,” she said. “What about you?”
“l’m Rosalia Lorino,” I said. “I’m from Spadafora.”
“I’m from near Castellabate,” she said.
She spoke a little differently from me, but I could
easily understand her. I wanted to talk more, but just
then, my mother called me because she was putting my
brothers to bed and needed some help.
“See you tomorrow, maybe?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said, smiling.
The next morning, Angelina was not on her bed when
I got up. I saw Carolina, but as usual, she did not smile
at me, so I went to look for Angelina, and found her
outside the dirty, smelly toilets.
“How was your first night?” I asked. I held my nose
because of the terrible smell.
“I slept very badly,” she said. “It’s so noisy in the
 New Friends 24

cabin, isn’t it? Can you sleep?”

“It was hard at first,” I answered. “But I’m so tired
now. I fell asleep right away last night.”
Angelina looked around at all the people who were
waiting to use the toilets, and asked, “How do you get
away from everyone during the day?”
I knew that Arturo would like Angelina, so I decided
to tell her about the closet. “I know a secret place,” I
said. “I’ll take you there now if you want.”
Angelina’s eyes lit up. “A secrét_ place?” she said.
“How exciting! Can I ask my twin brother, Vincenzo,
too? He’s in the men’s cabin because we’re fourteen. But
he doesn’t know anybody there.”
2Of course; «lp replicds “hill bring my little: brother,
Arturo, too. See you by the cabin door.”
I quickly went to find Arturo, then hurried back to the
cabin door, and the twins were already waiting there.
Shistis Artuto, oa said:
“And this is my twin brother, Vincenzo,” said Angelina.
“Pleased to meet you,” he smiled.
Angelina and Vincenzo followed Arturo and me to the
secret closet.
“This is great!” said Vincenzo, when we were inside.
“Tr’s Arturo’s secret place, isn’t it, Arturo?” I said.
“Well, Arturo, I like your secret place very much!”
laughed Vincenzo, and Arturo smiled happily.
Arturo had two little soldiers, and he began playing
22 Ellis Island

with them in the corner. Vincenzo took out some cards,

and he, Angelina, and I played a game and talked.
“This is better than our cabin!” laughed Angelina.
“Yes!” I agreed. I dropped a card, and when I moved
to get it, the end of my necklace fell out from my dress.
“What a beautiful necklace!” Angelina said.
“Thanks. My grandmother gave it to me.”
“Is she on the ship?” asked Angelina.
“No, she’s in Sicily. She was unhappy when we left. But
she knows that we need to start a new life in New York.
My poor father lost his business after the earthquake,
you see. He was a shoemaker.”
“That’s hard for your family,” said Vincenzo. “Our
father was a barber — he cut people’s hair in Castellabate.
But he didn’t get a lot of money for his work, and he
thought that he would get more in America.”
“Yes, we heard our parents sometimes when they
talked about it at night,” said Angelina. “They were very
worried about money. So, in the end, our father decided
to go to New York and then bring us there later.”
“That’s what our father did, too,” I said, and I put
down my last card.
“You won!” they laughed, and Vincenzo got ready for
another game.
“Look at this,” said Angelina. She took something
out of her pocket — it was a page from a newspaper with
photos of New York on it.
a
New
ee
Friends ee ee

It was a page from a newspaper with photos of New York on itt.

24 Ellis Island

“That’s the Statue of Liberty,” she said, pointing to

one picture. “We’ll see it when we arrive.”
“Really?” I said, and I looked at the picture excitedly.
It was a statue of a woman, and she looked tall and
strong.
“And that’s Manhattan Island — so many big modern
apartment buildings!” Angelina said. “Just think: we’ll
be there soon!”
SYeslilnmyeryeexcited, slksatan
“Can you speak any English?” Angelina asked.
“Only a few words.”
“Maybe Vincenzo and I can help you,” said Angelina.
“Our mother’s friend taught us some English — she’s
a teacher. And Vincenzo has an old English book — he
studies with it all the time.”
“Yes,” said Vincenzo. “I’m going to work very hard at
my English in New York, too. Our father has a job as a
builder there. I want to work with him during the day,
but I’m going to study English at night, because then I
can get good work in an office.”
“I'd like to be a dressmaker,” said Angelina, smiling
brightly. “I’ve already begun to learn. What about you2”
“T don’t know,” I said. “My father says that some of
the jobs in New York are terrible. He works long hours
in a dirty factory, and he doesn’t get very much money —
but he thinks that he’ll get a better job soon.”
The ship suddenly moved very heavily to one side, and
 New Friends 25

Vincenzo’s cards all fell across the floor of the closet.

“Pm not worried about being in New York,” said
Vincenzo. “But I am worried about the voyage. In a few
days, we’ll begin crossing the Atlantic. There are stories
about ships that have gone down in the stormy seas at
this time of year.”
“Don’t say that!” said Angelina.
“Well, I’m worried about Ellis Island,” I said. “There
are doctors there who open your eyes with hooks.”
“No!” said Angelina.
“Yes. They’re looking for eye infections,” I explained.
“If you have an infection, they send you home.”
“They sent home a fifteen-year-old boy from Naples
last year,” said Vincenzo. “He went back alone, without
his parents.”
“What are you talking about?” said a voice suddenly.
We turned and remembered Arturo.
“Let’s play another game of cards,” I said quickly.
“You can help me, Arturo.”
After that, Angelina, Vincenzo, Arturo, and I began
to go everywhere together. In the mornings, Arturo and
I often sat in the secret closet with the twins and talked
or played cards — and they taught me some English from
Vincenzo’s book. But the best time of the day was our
hour on the open deck every afternoon, out in the sun,
the rain, and the wind.
Mother was soon good friends with Angelina and
26 Ellis Island

Vincenzo’s mother, and they often sat and talked for

hours. All the adults in the cabin spent their time
talking, playing cards, or studying English — and in the
evenings, they sometimes sang and danced together.
ww

One afternoon, when Vincenzo came up for our hour on

the open deck, he had something under his arm.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s a soccer ball,” he said, and*he*gaveiit toume:
“One of the sailors gave me an old blanket, and I made
a soccer ball from it!” I kicked the soccer ball along the
deck to Angelina. To my surprise, it moved very quickly.
Arturo and I kicked it around with the twins for a while,
and some of the other children came and watched.
“Do you want to play?” Vincenzo asked, and soon,
there was a big group of us. Some of the sailors came
and played, too — but Carolina just stood and watched.
It was so good to run around. For a while, we forgot
that we were on a ship. We forgot that we were on our
way to a new life on the other side of the world, and just
enjoyed ourselves.
After a while, I stopped playing and made a quick
sketch of the game. Vincenzo was in the middle. I
wanted to remember his smiling face.
“This is the strangest game of soccer ever — soccer on
a ship, with all the sailors!” he shouted to me, his wild,
brown hair in his eyes. “I?ll always remember this!”
 I wanted to remember Vincenzo’s smiling face.

“Me too!” I said. I took the bottom of my long dress

in my hand and went to kick the ball. Vincenzo ran after
it, and I watched him. “Yes, I’ll always remember it,
too,” I thought to myself.
28

CHAPTER FIVE

The Necklace
\ X Then I woke up the next morning and put my hand
under my pillow, my gold necklace was not there.
“It dropped on the floor,” I thought, but I could not
find it. I did not want to tell Mother, because I knew
that she would be worried. So I ran to Angelina and she
looked for it with me.
“Maybe somebody took it,” she whispered.
“Yes,” I said, and I thought about Father’s letter —
maybe he was right about thieves.
Angelina and I went and found Vincenzo, and we
explained about the necklace.
“[’m going to find it, Rosalia,” he said. “I know that
it’s important to you.”
We looked everywhere, but we could not see it, and I
began to feel even more worried.
At lunch, I sat with Angelina, but I did not want to
talk. | pushed my food around on my plate: the smell
and the noise of the cabin were worse than ever. When I
thought about my grandmother, I wanted to cry. “Why
wasn’t I more careful with the necklace?” I asked myself.
I looked across and saw Carolina. She was finishing
her lunch already. “How can she eat it so quickly?” I
thought. But then I saw something bright around her
neck — it was my necklace.
 The Necklace 29

When I told Angelina, in a whisper, she said, “We

need to talk to Carolina. But let’s wait until after lunch.
And let’s ask Vincenzo to come with us.”
A little later, Vincenzo, Angelina, and I found Carolina
in the corridor near our secret closet. She was still
wearing the necklace.
“Carolina, we want to talk to you,” I called, and she
turned round.
“That’s my necklace,” I said. “You stole it from me,
didn’t you?”

“That’s my necklace,” I said.

30 Ellis Island

“That isn’t true!” she replied, and her face went red.
“Yes, it is,” I said. “I always keep the necklace under
my pillow at night. You took it from there.”
“Are you calling me a thief?” shouted Carolina angrily.
Then she tried to push me hard. Vincenzo moved in
front of me, but Carolina pushed him, and he fell onto
the closet door, hitting his face.
We all went to help him, but he stood up with his
hand over his eye, and walked away quickly. Angelina
ran after him, and Carolina and I were suddenly alone
together.
She looked at me, afraid. “I didn’t steal the necklace,”
she said. “I found it on the deck yesterday afternoon. I
wanted to give it back, but I didn’t know that it was your
necklace. I asked lots of the women in the cabin, but no
one knew anything about it.
“Here, take it,” she said, and she took off the
necklace and put it in my hand angrily. “I’m not a thief,
you know!”
I understood my mistake, and I felt terrible. I turned
and ran to my cabin. Then I got into bed, put the
blanket over my head, and began to cry.
“Why did I say those terrible things to Carolina?” I
thought. “Why didn’t I think carefully first?”
That evening at dinner, I felt very unhappy. I could
not find Angelina, and I thought that maybe she and
Vincenzo were angry with me, too.
 The Necklace oul

But after dinner, Angelina came to talk to me. She and

Vincenzo were not angry, she said. Poor Vincenzo’s left
eye was hurt, so they had to go with their mother to see
the ship’s doctor. That was why they were not at dinner.
So they were still my friends — and at last, I felt a little
better. “I'll go and see Vincenzo!” I said. “But first, I
must find Carolina, and say sorry to her.”
Carolina was sitting on her bed. “I’m so sorry,” I said.
“T was wrong about you. You aren’t a thief.”
“I wanted to give the necklace back,” she said. “But
I enjoyed wearing it. ’ve never had anything beautiful
like that before.”
“Well, thank you for finding it,” I said, and to my
surprise, she gave me a little smile.
“You don’t smile a lot, do you?” I said.
“T don’t like meeting new people,” she replied. “It’s
difficult for me.”
“T understand,” I said, then I stopped and thought.
“Would you like to come up on the open deck with us
tomorrow?” I asked.
“Yes, I'd like that very much,” she smiled.
I knew that I needed to go and find Vincenzo now, so
I said goodbye to Carolina and went to look for him.
He was in our secret closet, sitting on the floor with
Angelina.
His left eye was shut, and dark purple.
“Oh no!” I said. “It will get better soon, won’t it?”
32. Ellis Island

Vincenzo’s left eye was shut, and dark purple.

“Yes, of course,” said Vincenzo. “One of the sailors

put some cold meat on it. That’s good for a bad eye, he
Said
But Angelina looked worried. “Our mother is very
afraid,” she whispered to me later, when we walked back
to the cabin.
“lime Vmivery sory, 1 said:
“Oh, it isn’t your fault,” said Angelina. But in my
head, a voice was saying, “Yes, it is.”
 33

CHAPTER SIX

The Atlantic
he next morning, we were just leaving the tables
after breakfast when we heard screaming from the
other side of the cabin. Mother told me to wait with
Arturo and Sebastiano. Then she and Angelina’s mother
went to see what was happening.
Angelina came and sat on my bed with me and my
brothers. “Why was that woman screaming?” she asked.
“T don’t know,” I said.
A few minutes later, some sailors came into the cabin.
There was a lot of talking, and then they left. They were
carrying something heavy in a blanket.
“What is it?” I whispered to Angelina.
When my mother came back to our bed, she did not
want to talk about the thing in the blanket. “Not in front
of Arturo,” she whispered to me. But when I walked
around the cabin a little later, everyone was talking
about it, and I soon knew what was in the blanket. It
was the body of a woman who was dead.
“My mother knew the woman,” Angelina told me.
“She was on the ship with her sister, and my mother met
them when we were waiting at the docks in Naples. My
mother said that the woman got sick on the ship, and
every day, she was worse and worse. When her sister
went to see her after breakfast this morning, she was
34 Ellis Island

dead. It was the sister who was screaming.”

“That’s terrible,” I said. It was the first death in our
cabin, and we talked about it all day. Angelina and I did
not want anyone from our families to get sick and die.
But soon, we were worrying about other things, too.
“The ship is going to start the voyage across the Atlantic
later,” one of the other passengers told my mother at
breakfast the next day. “And the sailors say that the
ocean is very bad right now.”
It was true: by the evening, the ship was beginning to
crash from side to side, shaking. I saw one of the sailors
from the soccer game in the corridor, and he said that
we were sailing into a big storm.
“You and your family must go to your beds and stay
there,” he told me.
That night, the ship moved heavily from side to side
for hour after hour. It made the most terrible noises, and
in our cabin, tables and chairs crashed across the floor.
I felt very afraid. “Is the ship going to go down, and are
we all going to die in the Atlantic?” I asked myself.
No one slept that night. Many of the women and
children were crying, and a lot of people were very sick.
The smell in the cabin was worse than ever.
When morning came at last, we all hoped for a
change in the weather, but the storm still pushed the
ship around wildly. We stayed on our beds, afraid and
sick. Once or twice, when the ocean was quieter for an
 The Atlantic 35

hour or two, I went to talk to Angelina. She was worried

about Vincenzo, in the men’s cabin without her and her
mother.
Carolina came to see me, too, and she said that her
older brother Roberto was very sick. “My mother is so
worried about him.”
“He'll be OK when the ship comes out of the storm,
I’m sure,” I said to her.
But Carolina looked very afraid. “I hope so,” she said.
For three days, the storm did not stop, but on the
fourth morning, the wind and rain were suddenly
quieter. Mother, Arturo, and I began to walk around
again. We were all happy to be alive.
When I saw Vincenzo, we talked about the terrible
storm. His eye was still big and purple, and now the
corner of it was a yellow color, too.
“Mother thinks that he has an eye infection,” Angelina
whispered to me when we were in the cabin later. “And
we arrive in New York in four days!”
In the cabin, everyone began to talk about New York,
and we were all very excited. Mother got our bags ready,
cut our hair, and washed our clothes. “We must look our
best for the doctors at Ellis Island,” she explained.
“And for Father! I can’t wait to see him!” I said.
I wanted to ask her, “Do you think that Father has
found an apartment for us?” But I knew that it was
best not to say anything. I sometimes heard her when
36 Ellis Island

she talked about it in a worried voice to Angelina and

Vincenzo’s mother.
For these last days of the voyage, Vincenzo, Angelina,
Arturo, and I went to the secret closet every morning.
Carolina was friends with Vincenzo and Angelina now,
too, so she also came, and she sometimes brought
her younger brother, Alessandro. Her other brother,
Roberto, was still sick, and she and her mother were
very worried about him.
“He never gets out of bed,” she told us. “My mother
was crying last night, because she thinks that the doctors
at Ellis Island will send him back to Italy.”
We told her not to worry. But poor Carolina often had
to go back to the cabin before us, to be with Roberto
and her mother, and sometimes she had to stay with
them all day.
Vincenzo brought his English book to the secret
closet, and he taught me new words every day.
“You're getting good at English, Rosalia,” said
Angelina. “And Vincenzo, your eye is beginning to look
better!”
But when I looked at Vincenzo, I was not sure.
 a7,

CHAPTER SEVEN

Ellis Island
he last day of our voyage came at last. The
passengers packed their suitcases and talked about
Ellis Island.
Angelina, Carolina, and I went out to our secret closet
for the last time, and we met one of the sailors in the
corridor.
“We can see land from the top deck!” he said excitedly.
“Can you see the Statue of Liberty?” Angelina asked.
“Not yet,” he said. “The Statue of Liberty is in Upper
New York Bay, but we’ll come into Lower New York Bay
first, and stop there for an hour or two.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Officials come on the ship in Lower New York Bay
and speak to the first-class passengers,” he replied.
“They don’t have to go through Ellis Island like you.”
“Oh, I want to be a first-class passenger!” said
Angelina. “They have those nice cabins at the top of the
ship for the voyage — and they don’t have to go through
Ellis Island!”
The sailor was right: the ship stopped a little
later. After it began moving again, we went back to the
cabin to help our mothers with the suitcases. But the
cabin was nearly empty when we got there.
38 Ellis Island

“There you are!” my mother said. “The sailors have

said that we can go up onto the open deck. We’re
arriving in New York!”
We all hurried up to the open deck. There were lots
of people at one side of the ship, and we went and stood
with them. They were looking up at something, and
over their heads, I could just see it: it was the Statue
of Liberty. It was so big — and just like in Angelina’s
picture, the statue held her arm high in the sky, and
looked tall and strong.
Many people had tears in their eyes. We were tired,
excited, and worried: what kind of life was waiting for
us here in New York? Then one of the passengers near
us shouted, “She’s welcoming us to our new home!”
“A new life in the free world!” shouted another — and
suddenly everyone was cheering, crying, and laughing.
I quickly took out my sketchbook, and began to draw.
The sailors sent us back down into the cabin after
a while, but soon we heard a loud noise and the ship
shook. Everyone cheered: we knew that we were coming
into the docks.
I felt so happy when I left the dark cabin for the last
time and climbed the stairs. At the top, a sailor was
standing, smiling. He took our suitcases, then carried
them to the gangplank. “Thank you,” Mother said. We
all looked down: we could see land at last!
“She's welcoming us
to our new home!”
40 Ellis Island

“Go across the gangplank and wait down below,” the

sailor said kindly. “Soon, a boat will take you across to
Ellis Island over there. Goodbye and good luck!”
We walked off the gangplank, and for the first time
in three weeks, we were on dry land! It was so strange.
My head was telling me that I was still on the water, and
moving from side to side.

“Go across the gangplank and wait down below.”

 Ellis Island 41

Poor Vincenzo could not stop touching his eye. “Don’t

do that, Vincenzo!” said his mother, and she turned to
”

my mother and whispered, “I’m so worried about him.”

An official pointed to a small boat and told some
of us to go up onto the top deck. Our suitcases went
underneath on the lower deck. We could see Carolina
and her family on a boat next to us.
The boat began to move slowly across the water
to Ellis Island, and we could see the tall apartment
buildings on Manhattan Island in front of us.
We stopped at Ellis Island by a big building with large
windows. Outside, an American flag was moving in the
wind, and some people were waiting.
“They’re called the Watchmen,” said Vincenzo. “One
of the sailors told me about them. They’ll take us for
our health checks and questions.”
We each had a label on our coat or hat — a small piece
of paper with our name, the ship’s name, and a number.
The Watchmen looked at our labels and then put us in
groups.
Then each group followed the Watchmen into the
building with large windows, and we came to the
bottom of some stairs and made a line.
“The sailor told me about this, too,” Vincenzo said in a
whisper. “When you walk up the stairs, the doctors watch
you. They’re looking for people who can’t walk well.”
 “When you walk up the stairs, the doctors watch you.”

“Walk quickly,” said Mother to Arturo and me. “And

hold your heads up high.” Then she began the long
climb up the stairs with Sebastiano in her arms, while
Vincenzo waited for Angelina and his mother, who were
behind us in the line.
Arturo and I followed our mother, and I felt very
afraid. “Are the doctors going to stop us?” I thought.
But when we got to the top, and walked in front of them,
they did not say a word.
In the line of people in front of us, one of the doctors
was talking to Carolina’s family. He was standing next
to Carolina’s older brother, Roberto, and he was looking
 Ellis Island 43

carefully at Roberto’s head, neck, and hands. While we

watched, the doctor then wrote something on Roberto’s
back and sent him to one side. Carolina’s mother began
crying loudly, and her father shouted angrily at the
doctor in Italian.
“What’s going to happen to Roberto?” I whispered to
Mother. “Will he have to go back to Italy?”
“T don’t know,” she answered. But she put her arm
around Arturo and me, and held Sebastiano nearer. One
of the doctors looked at me next, but he quickly waved
me past. Then he looked at Mother, Sebastiano, and
Arturo, and they were fine, too.
We were through the first health check, and now we
followed the other people to some big doors.
“This is the Registry Room,” said Mother. “It’s the
most important place on Ellis Island. Your father told
me about it.”
We went through the doors, and I looked up in
surprise. We were in a very, very big room, and it was
full of people who were all talking at once in many
different languages.
We got into a line of passengers, and I could see more
doctors in front of them.
“Oh no!” I said. “It’s the doctors with hooks 1”

“Don’t worry,” said Mother. “Just stand very still

while they look at your eyes.”
For a very long time, we watched and waited while the
44 Ellis Island

doctors looked at other passengers. I began to feel hot

and uncomfortable. Behind me, I could see Vincenzo,
Angelina, and their mother. They had worried looks on
their faces, and I felt afraid for them, too.
Then, I saw Carolina, her mother, and her brother
Alessandro far behind in the crowd. But I could not
see her father, or her older brother Roberto. Carolina’s
mother was still crying, and Carolina and Alessandro
looked afraid.
“Poor Carolina!” I thought. I wanted to talk to her,
but she was too far away.
We were at the front of the line now, and a doctor
pointed at me. I went and stood in front of him, and
before I could say anything, he quickly opened my right
eye and then my left with the hook.
After that, he looked at Mother and Sebastiano, and
Arturo. “You’re all fine,” he said.
“It was all so quick!” I whispered to Mother.
But when I turned back, Vincenzo was not far behind
us, and three doctors were looking worriedly at his
left eye. They whispered together, and then one of the
doctors held Vincenzo by the arm and took him away.
“Oh no!” I said. “What’s going to happen to Vincenzo,
Mother?” She turned and looked. “I don’t know,” she
answered quietly, but there were tears in her eyes.
I touched my necklace. “They’re going to send
Vincenzo home,” I thought, “and it’s all my fault.”
 45

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Registry Room

\W Je had to go to the far end of the Registry
Room next. Here, officials sat behind high desks
while passengers stood in front of them. Many more
passengers sat in the middle of the room. They watched
and waited, and when someone called them, they went
to see an Official.
“How long will we wait?” I asked Mother.
“Three or four hours, maybe,” she said. “Father said
that it’s often very slow.”
Sebastiano was crying, and I could not stop thinking
about Vincenzo. “Is he all right?” I asked myself again
and again.
Every few minutes, I looked around, but I could not
see him anywhere. The Registry Room was very noisy,
and we were tired and hungry. We sat for a long time and
watched while the other passengers went one by one, or
with their families, to the end of the room. They stood
and answered questions for a few minutes, and then they
walked across the Registry Room to some stairs.
“Did they answer all the questions right?” I thought,
when the passengers went down the stairs. “And when
will they call our name?”
But at last, after three hours, an official shouted,
“Family Lorino from Sicily!”
46 Ellis Island

Mother stood up quickly with Sebastiano in her

arms, and Arturo and I followed her to the official at his
high desk. Another man was standing by the desk. The
official looked at some papers in front of him. Then he
began to ask us questions. He spoke in English, but the
man by the desk listened to the questions and then said
them for us in Italian.

The official began to ask us questions.

 The Registry Room 47

“Where were you born?” the official asked Mother,

his face cold and unsmiling. It was the same questions
again — the questions from the beginning of our voyage,
when we first got on the ship in Sicily.
“Spadafora, Sicily,” Mother answered.
“And you?” he asked in English, pointing at me.
~Me? I.cl:was born ini Spadafora, too,” I<said in
Italian, and the man by the desk then said my words in
English.
“No,” whispered Mother. “You were born in the next
village — that’s Rometta.”
“Sorry, Rometta,” I said loudly.
“Are you sure?” the official asked, and he looked at me
for a few seconds.
“Yes,” I answered. There was question after question,
but at last, the official looked down at us and said, “Go
now.”
We turned and walked away from the official’s desk.
“Is that it?” I said to Mother. “Can we live in New
York?”
“Yes!” said Mother. “We did it!” She put her arm
around me and Arturo, and we laughed happily.
We went across to the stairs, and walked down on the
left side, which was the side for anyone who was staying
in New York.
Before we left the Registry Room, I looked for
Vincenzo and Angelina one last time. “Maybe I will
48 Ellis Island

never see them again,” I thought.

But I did see someone: Carolina was walking out
of the Registry Room, too, with her mother and her
brother Alessandro. Her mother was talking to another
woman and crying, and Carolina was crying, too. But
when she saw me, she hurried across.
“Roberto has to go back to Italy,” she said. “Father is
going to take him. So Mother, Alessandro, and I will be
all alone in New York!”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Carolina,” I said, and held her
hand. “We’ll meet again, I hope.”
“Yes, I'd like that,” she answered, and she tried to
smile. “You were a good friend to me on the ship. Thank
you.”
Her mother and brother were looking around for her,
so she said goodbye, and then hurried back to them. I
felt very sorry for her.
We walked down the stairs, and came to a post office,
a ticket office, and a place that was selling American
dollars. I began to feel excited. After so many months,
I could not wait to see Father. We followed all the other
people, and came to a place with another large crowd.
“How are we going to find Father, with all these
people here?” I thought. But then we heard a loud shout.
“Piera! Rosalia! Arturo! Sebastiano!” It was my
father, and he was running across the room.
When he stood in front of us, he could not speak at
 The Registry Room

first. He put his arms around us all and pulled us to him.

“We're together again!” he said.
I was so excited to see him after all this time, but it
was strange, too. He looked older, and tired, and his
eyes were full of tears. He took Sebastiano from Mother.
“Look at you, baby Sebastiano! You’re a big boy
now!” he said, and he began to cry.
“But he isn’t as big as me!” said Arturo.

“We're rogether again! ee c

Father said.
50 Ellis Island

“That’s true,” replied Father, laughing through his

tears.
“Now,” he said at last, “I have some good news. I
found a very small apartment. It isn’t wonderful, but it’s
astanta:
“That’s good!” said Mother.
“T have a different job, too,” said Father. “I’m helping
a shoemaker at the back of a store on Third Avenue. The
money isn’t good, but I like the work. And maybe one
day, I'll have a store again myself.
“T want to hear about the voyage,” he went on. “And
all your news. But let’s go somewhere quieter.”
So, we were leaving Ellis Island, and I knew that I
would never see Angelina and Vincenzo again. Maybe
Vincenzo was getting on the boat back to Italy now —
and it was all my fault. I began to cry.
“What’s the matter, Rosalia?” asked my father kindly.
I tried to tell him about my friends, the twins, but I
could not stop crying.
“Speak more slowly, Rosalia. I don’t understand.”
My mother began to explain, but then she suddenly
stopped and said, “Look, Rosalia!”
We all turned around in surprise. There was Vincenzo.
He was walking up to us with Angelina and their
mother. I closed my eyes, then opened them, and he was
still there.
I smiled, then tried to speak, but no words came out.
 S1

CHAPTER NINE

Brooklyn, New York, 1925 (Part 2)

c¢ hat feels like a very long time ago,” | think, when
| sit and look again at the last pictures of my
voyage to New York in my sketchbook.
| laugh when I see my picture of the soccer game
on the open deck, and | smile when | come to the last
drawing — the Statue of Liberty.
“That isn’t my best picture!” | think. “I couldn't draw
very well because | was so cold, worried, and excited —
all at the same time!”
| hear the sound of a key in the front door of our
apartment.
“Daddy is home!” says Matteo excitedly.
The children run to the front door. “Hello, Daddy!”
they call.
“Hello,” he says. “Have you had a good day?
Did Angelina and Carolina come and visit our new
apartment?”
“Carolina came this morning,” | say. “But Angelina
was busy. She’s going to come tomorrow.”
“Mommy found her old sketchbook,” says Matteo, and
he points at the book in my hand.
“Can | have a look at it?” he asks.
“Of course,” | smile. “Come and sit down, Vincenzo. |
think that youre going to enjoy looking at this!”
oo
 GLOSSARY 53

apartment (7) a group of rooms to live in, on one floor of a

larger building
blanket (x) a warm cover for a bed
bunk bed (1) a bed that is usually above another bed
cabin (1) a room for sleeping on a ship
cards (n) a group of 52 small pieces of heavy paper, with
numbers on; you use them to play games
cheer (v) to give a loud shout because you are happy or think
that something is good
city (x) a big and important town
corridor (7) along, narrow walkway that takes you from one
room to another
deck (1) one of the floors of a ship or airplane
dock (n) Ata dock, a ship stops and passengers get on or off.
draw (v) to make a picture with a pen or a pencil; drawing (7)
earthquake (7) a sudden strong shaking of the ground
fault (x) a mistake; something bad that happens because of you
first-class (adj) having a ticket that means you can travel in the
best or most expensive part of a ship, train, or airplane
flag (x) a piece of cloth or paper on a stick with special colors or
pictures for a country
game (1) something you play, like soccer or cards
gangplank (1) a kind of bridge that goes from the side of a boat
to the ground
health check (x) when a doctor or nursé looks at someone’s
body because they want to know that the person is not ill
hook (m) a thin stick with a rounded end like a “C”
horn (1) a thing, for example ona ship or a car, that makes a
loud sound when you push it
infection (1) when you have an illness in one part of your body
kick (v) to hit somebody or something with your foot
54 GLOSSARY

land (m) the part of the Earth that is not water; a piece
of ground
line (1) a group of people who are standing one behind the
other, waiting to do something
lower (adj) below one or more things
necklace (n) a long, thin thing (often expensive) that you wear
round your neck because it looks nice
oatmeal (1) a soft, hot food for breakfast
official (x) a person who does important work, often for an
important group of people or a country
on board (adv) on or onto a ship, train, bus, or airplane
parent (7) a mother or father
pillow (7) a soft thing that you put your head on when you are
in bed
point (v) to hold up your finger or a stick to show something
sketch (n) a picture that you make quickly with a pencil
soup (1) food that is like a thick drink; to make it, you cook
things like vegetables or meat in water
statue (7) a stone or metal model of a person or animal
tear (1) a drop of water that comes from your eye when you cry
twin (n) a brother and sister or two brothers/sisters who were
born at the same time
voyage (7) along journey by boat or ship
wave (uv) to move your hand from side to side or up and down to
say hello or goodbye to someone
welcome (v) to show someone that you are happy to see them
when they arrive at a place
whisper (v C1) to say something very quietly
 STORY NOTES 55

Atlantic a large ocean between America and Europe

Brooklyn a place in New York City, south of Manhattan Island
Castellabate a town in southwest Italy
Ellis Island a small island near New York City; many
immigrants came here when they first arrived in America
Lower New York Bay a place in the sea below Upper New York
Bay and east of Brooklyn
Manhattan Island the most important and busiest place in New
York City
Messina a city on the island of Sicily
Naples a large city in the south of Italy
Palermo the most important city in Sicily
Registry Room a large room on Ellis Island; immigrants (people
who came to live in America from other countries) had to
answer questions here when they first arrived
Sicily a big island in the Mediterranean, near Italy
Spadafora a village near Messina in Sicily
Statue of Liberty a famous 93-meter statue of a woman that
stands on an island very near New York City
Third Avenue a long street on Manhattan Island, New York
Upper New York Bay a place in the sea around Ellis Island, near
New York City
Watchmen people who worked on Ellis Island and helped the
officials there
56 BEYOND THE STORY

Ellis Island

Ellis Island is a small island near New York City in the

USA. It is famous because, from 1892 to 1954, more than
12 million immigrants stopped there during their journey
to America. Many of the people who stopped at Ellis Island
came from Europe. Often, they were leaving dangerous or
very poor places and they wanted to start a new, better life
in America. Immigrants to America also traveled by ship
from Europe to different cities — like Boston, Baltimore,
Miami, and New Orleans — but most of them went to Ellis
Island and New York City.
When the ships arrived in New York, passengers
who had first-class tickets could travel immediately into
the city. Passengers with cheaper, steerage tickets got
off at Ellis Island. Officials on the island then gave the
passengers health checks and questioned them. Most of
the immigrants who arrived on Ellis Island stayed for three
to five hours and could then go into America. But others
spent many days or weeks on the island, and around 2%
 BEYOND THE STORY a7

of the people who arrived at Ellis Island could not go into

America, and had to go home.
After they traveled through Ellis Island, the new
immigrants often stayed to live and work in New York, or
took trains from the stations in Hoboken or Jersey City to
cities and towns across America.
Today, there is a museum on Ellis Island and around
two million visitors go there every year. Visitors can look
over the water from the island and see many of New
York’s famous places, like the Statue of Liberty and the tall
buildings on Manhattan Island. They can also learn the
stories of some of the people who came to America. They
hear about people like Annie Moore, the first immigrant
who went through Ellis Island. She left Ireland with her two
brothers on a ship called Nevada and met her parents in
New York on January 1, 1892. She was seventeen years old
when she arrived in America.

ESI Read ‘Beyond the Story’ and research

the answers to these questions.

1 When was the busiest year for Ellis Island?

2 Who was the last immigrant to go through Ellis Island?
3 Sigmund Freud, Harry Houdini, and Albert Einstein all
came to America through Ellis Island. What countries
did they come from and why are they famous?

immigrant (1) a person who comes to live in a country from

another country
museum (1) In a museum, you can look at old and
interesting things.
 58 PHOTOS OF ELLIS ISLAND

pice
ai

An official asks questions

The Registry Room
 ACTIVITIES 59

Think Ahead

1 Read the back cover and the contents page. How much do
you know about the story? Check (/) the true sentences.

1 Rosalia moves to America. Lael

2 Rosalia was born in 1910. L]
3 Rosalia travels across the Atlantic ona ship. []
4 Rosalia makes friends on the ship. LJ

Imagine it is the year 1910 and you are moving to the USA
from another country. Answer the questions.

1 You will never go back to your old country. Who are the
people that you will never see again?
2 You can only take two suitcases. What will you pack to
remember your old life?
3 You do not speak English and have never seen a city
before. How will you feel when you arrive in New
York City?

Find answers to these questions about

Ellis Island.

1 Where is Ellis Island?

2 Why is Ellis Island famous?
3 What can you see if you visit Ellis Island today?
60 ACTIVITIES

Chapter Check

aia Are the sentences true or false?

1 Rosalia is looking in the boxes because she has moved

to a new apartment.
Rosalia often looks at her old red sketchbook.
The sketchbook was from Rosalia’s friend, Nicoletta.
Rosalia knows that Nicoletta is in Italy.
Rosalia looks through the sketchbook with her children.
FP
nA
WN
W
N Fifteen years ago, Rosalia left Italy and traveled to
America by ship.

oa ENatsi’3 Complete the sentences with the correct words.

1908 inwinter November2 OctoberS three weeks

1 is Rosalia’s birthday.
Jk The ship from Sicily to New York took about

3 People in Sicily were poorer after the earthquake of

4 Traveling across the Atlantic in a ship was more

dangerous
5) On , Rosalia got two presents: one from
her grandmother and one from her friend.
 ACTIVITIES 61

Eee Put sentences a—f in the correct order.

a More passengers got onto the ship.

b The family had breakfast.
c Rosalia went to the cabin for the first time.
d Rosalia and Arturo found a closet.
e The ship left Palermo.
f Rosalia changed her clothes behind a blanket.

Nase Check (/) the four correct sentences.

1 Rosalia was soon friends with Carolina. (a

2 Rosalia showed Vincenzo and Angelina the closet. []
3. Angelina’s and Rosalia’s fathers thought that they
could make more money in America than in Italy. [_]
4 Rosalia was excited about seeing America. hei
5 Rosalia’s favorite time of day was when she
played cards. LJ
6 Rosalia drew a group of people playing soccer. LJ
62 ACTIVITIES

CN Atae Match the sentence halves.

In the morning, Rosalia woke up...

Carolina was wearing the necklace, ...
Carolina pushed Vincenzo...
Rosalia took the necklace...
After dinner, Angelina talked to Rosalia, ...
NH
Ww
BP
nA
Oo Rosalia went to the closet...

and he hit his face on a door.

and saw Vincenzo’s badly hurt eye.
and couldn’t find her necklace.
and Rosalia thought that she was a thief.
i)
fey
Qe
tS
lon and Rosalia decided to say sorry to Carolina.
lau and went to her bed to cry.

aise Put sentences a—-f in the correct order.

a Rosalia’s family got ready to arrive in New York.

b Some sailors carried away a woman’s body.
c After breakfast, Rosalia heard someone screaming.
d Rosalia saw Vincenzo’s eye, and the corner of it
was yellow.
The friends went to the secret closet and talked about
Carolina’s brother.
During the terrible storm, Rosalia stayed in bed.
 ACTIVITIES 63

asiwe Choose the correct words.

1 The first-class / steerage passengers got off before

Ellis Island.
The small boat took Rosalia and her family to
Ellis Island / Manhattan Island.
The people who took everyone for their health checks
on Ellis Island were called Watchmen / officials.
Each passenger from the ship wore a label / hat.
5 Doctors with hooks looked at people’s eyes / hands.

aaa: Are the sentences true or false?

1 Rosalia could see Vincenzo from the far end of the

Registry Room.
Rosalia was born in Spadafora.
Carolina cried because some of her family could not go
to New York.
Rosalia’s father had a new apartment and a new job.
Vincenzo had to go back to Italy.

NE) Complete the text with the names.

Angelina Carolina Matteo Rosalia Vincenzo
Rosalia and ! married and now live with their
children, Giovanna and ” . When 3
looks at her sketchbook, she thinks that the journey to
New York feels like a very long time ago. She often sees
her friends from the ship: * visited the new
apartment today and ° will visit tomorrow.
 64 ACTIVITIES

Focus on Vocabulary

— Complete the sentences with the words.

bunk bed cabin deck flag gangplank pillow

i tie on the bed was old and dirty, so

Rosalia didn’t want it to touch her head.
2 Rosalia only saw the sun when she went to the open

3 The new passengers walked onto the ship along the

4 Their on the ship was dark and full

of people.
5 Rosalia got into the above Arturo and
tried to go to sleep.
6 At Ellis Island, they saw an American
moving in the wind.

Replace the underlined words with the words below.

cheered drew kicked waved whispered

1 “Maybe someone took your necklace!” she said quietly.

2 When they arrived in New York, they shouted happily.
3 [took out my pencil and made a picture of Ellis Island.
4 “Goodbye!” I said, and moved my hand from side to side.
5 The ball came to him and he hit it with his foot.
 ACTIVITIES 65

Focus on Language

Complete the sentences with looked, sounded, or felt.

My father told me about the doctors’ hooks. They

sounded _ terrible.

— There were lots of people in the cabin, but I

lonely without any friends.
2 “Pm OK,” my mother said. But I saw her face, and she
very tired.
3 I lay on the bed. It hard and
uncomfortable.
4 The Statue of Liberty tall and strong.
5 I could hear people shouting on the open deck — they
happy.
) Read this text from the story and underline the
words her, his, and him.

Mother stood up quickly with Sebastiano in her arms, and

Arturo and I followed her to the official at his high desk.
Another man was standing by the desk. The official looked
at some papers in front of him.

Match the underlined words from exercise 2 to the

meanings below.

1 my mother 3 the official

2 my mother’s 4 the official’s
66 ACTIVITIES

Discussion

l ® Read the discussion. Who do you agree

ert most, Speaker A or Speaker B?

A: think that the most difficult time in Rosalia’s journey

was when she left Sicily.
B: Why’s that?
A: She left her grandparents and knew that she wouldn’t
see them again.
B: Oh, I don’t agree. I think that the most difficult time
was when she went through Ellis Island.
A: Why do you think that?
B: Because her family had to have lots of health checks,
and she was worried about her friend Vincenzo.

Look at the conversation in exercise 1 again. Which two

questions are used to get more information?

Think about Rosalia’s journey. Put these things in order,

from hardest to easiest.

saying goodbye to Sicily seeing the cabin for the first time
losing her necklace the storm in the Atlantic
going through Ellis Island worrying about Vincenzo

Discuss the most difficult time in Rosalia’s

journey with a partner. Use the questions in exercise 2 to
ask for more information.
 PROJECT 67

1 Read this short profile of Charlie Chaplin.

CRD C7? —=
One of the people who traveled
through Ellis Island was Charlie
Chaplin. He was born in England
in 1889, and he wanted to go to
America to work at some of the
theaters there. Later, Chaplin
lived in Los Angeles and was in
many of the world’s most famous
silent movies. One of his movies
was called The Immigrant, and it
told the story of a poor man who
moved to New York City.
LQ) OW

2 Answer the questions about Charlie Chaplin.

1 Where was this person born?

2 Why did this person go to America?
3 Where in America did this person live?
4 Why was this person famous?

Now answer the questions in exercise 2 about

another famous person who traveled through Ellis Island.

4 @JZVBD Use your answers from exercise 3 to write a short

profile like the one about Charlie Chaplin.
If you liked this Bookworm, why not try...

Amelia Earhart
STAGE 2
Janet Hardy-Gould

“| want to learn to fly,” Amelia Earhart

tells her family one evening. But it is 1920.
Flying is expensive and dangerous, and
most people think it is for men, not women.
But nothing can stop Amelia, and she
works hard to be a pilot. Soon, she is breaking records for flying
further and higher than anyone before. She shows the world
that anything is possible - for women and not just men.
Life is always exciting for Amelia. At 41, she is nearly ready
to slow down, but she wants to make one last important flight...

New Yorkers -
Short Stories
New Yorkers
STAGE 2
O. Henry
Retold by Diane Mowat

A housewife, a tramp, a lawyer, a waitress,

an actress - ordinary people living ordinary |
lives in New York at the beginning of the |
twentieth century. The city has changed greatly since that time, _
but its people are much the same. Some are rich, some are
poor; some are happy, some are sad; some have found love,
some are looking for love.
O. Henry's famous short stories give a vivid picture of the
everyday lives of these New Yorkers.
 Ellis Island:
Rosalia’s Stor
New York, 1925. While her children play,
Rosalia unpacks boxes in the family’s
new apartment. In one of them, she finds
her old sketchbook, and when she looks
at the pictures, they take her back to her
journey to America from Italy by sea in 1910, as a fourteen-
year-old girl.

It was a very important time for Rosalia. Like so many

other people, she was leaving her home and country, and
people who she loved, and crossing the Atlantic to start
a new life. On that journey, she was at times afraid and
lonely — but she also found adventure, new friends... and
something more, too. {Wordcount 8,707}

« STAGE 6 BAY aADVENTURE AVAILABLE

« STAGE 5
< STAGE 4 For apps, e-books, audio downloads,
and free resources go to
< STAGE 3 www.oup.com/elt/gradedreaders
« STAGE 2
«STAGE 1
< STARTER
700 Headwords
Ly
Cover image courtesy of Getty madeeeneniaes Shutterstock/Boumen Japet/
art of ipeme!lok/jcwait/ADragan/VladisChern.

OXFORD Core iilj

<a
UNIVERSITY PRESS
96-
VANCOUVER I lI
i

~ www.oup.com/elt DUNBAR
BRANCH