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“Moving is never easy, and arriving from Ethiopia, Gebyanesh feels the full weight of her new school in Israel on the very first day. While she shares her Jewish heritage with the other students, everything else about her seems to be different, from her food to her name…While this story takes place in Israel, it is a familiar experience for many people who have had to leave one country for another…Colorful illustrations capture the attention as the longer narrative is read aloud, and youth all over the world are sure to recognize this story, no matter which side of it they happen to be on.”

– School Library Journal

Call Me Gebyanesh

Written by Arlene Rosenfeld Schenker and Gebyanesh Addisu
Illustrated by Chiara Fedele
Published by Apples & Honey Press

Gebyanesh Addisu teams up with co-author Arlene Schenker to turn her experiences as a young immigrant struggling in a new and strange place into a universal story about the importance of name to identity and being true to yourself and your culture.

Will I ever belong here? Gebyanesh asked herself that very question on her first day in her new school in her new country. Her family had just moved to Jerusalem from Ethiopia, and already she was feeling unsettled by how different everything was. This was only made worse when her teacher could not pronounce her name—and wouldn’t really even try. “We will call you Rakhel,” the teacher said. That isn’t my name, Gebyanesh thought. But she said nothing.

From then on, she was Rakhel at school and Gebyanesh at home. She didn’t want to tell her parents about her struggles, but when they saw her Israeli name on some of her schoolwork, she couldn’t hold her frustrations back anymore. She would need their help to learn more about her heritage, her name, and how to stand up for herself.

Primary ISBN: 9781681156606
Publication Date: April 2025
Available As: Hardcover
Picture Book, Age 04 or older

Community Represented:

Themes: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Setting: Israel (Jerusalem)

Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Immigrant

Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience

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