The year is 1920 and the setting is a shtetl, a small village in northern Poland, where Fivel and his family live in fear of the ruthless Cossacks and unpredictable pogroms. As he and his mother, brother, and sisters struggle to stay alive, nine-year-old Fivel is hungry, is cold, is a rascal, is goodhearted, longs for his father, and is afraid for their lives. Will the money from America ever come? Has their father forgotten about them, perhaps even...