The Key from Spain

Flory Jagoda and Her Music

  • Interest Level: Preschool - Grade 2
  • Reading Level: Grade 1

When Flory’s ancestors are forced to leave Spain during the time of the Spanish Inquisition, they take with them their two most precious possessions—the key to their old house and the Ladino language. When Flory flees Europe during World War II to begin a new life in the United States, she carries Ladino with her, along with her other precious possessions—her harmoniku and her music. But what of the key?
Discover the story of Ladino singer Flory Jagoda.

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Interest Level Preschool - Grade 2
Reading Level Grade 1
Genre Picture Books, Social Studies
Category Biography, Diverse Books: Race & Ethnicity, Diversity, SEL: A Self-Awareness, SEL: B Self-Management, SEL: C Social Awareness, SEL: D Relationship Skills, SEL: E Responsible Decision-Making, Social Emotional Learning
Copyright 2019
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Kar-Ben Publishing ®
Language English
Number of Pages 32
Publication Date 2019-08-01
Text Type Fiction
BISACS JUV033020, JUV031040, JUV009130
Dewey [E]
Graphics Full-color illustrations
Dimensions 9.25 x 11
Lexile 840
ATOS Reading Level 4.6
Accelerated Reader® Quiz 503380
Accelerated Reader® Points 0.5
Features Author/Illustrator biography, Awards, Page Plus™, Reviewed, and Starred Reviews

Author: Debbie Levy

Debbie Levy is the author of more than 25 books of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry for young people, including New York Times best-selling I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark, winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award and National Jewish Book Award. Debbie is a former lawyer and newspaper editor, and lives in Maryland with her husband.

Illustrator: Sonja Wimmer

Sonja Wimmer loves painting pictures and telling stories. After studying and working some years as a designer in her hometown Munich and Brussels, she decided to pack her suitcase and move to Barcelona to study Illustration at the “Llotja” Arts and Crafts School. Since then she lives between brushes and all kinds of wonderful tales, working as freelance illustrator for publishing houses and other clients around the world.

Awards

  • Sydney Taylor Honor Book, Runner-up, 2020
  • Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2020

Reviews

Jewish Book Council

The Key from Spain is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed both for chil­dren and adults inter­est­ed in learn­ing about Sephardic cul­ture and history."―Jewish Book Council

School Library Journal

“This work is a must-purchase for library collections.”—starred, School Library Journal

Booklist

“…this is a worthy (though fictionalized) homage to a language and its fervent promoter.”— Kay Weisman, Booklist

Kirkus Reviews

“Immigrant musician Flory Jagoda preserved a repertoire of Ladino and Sephardic songs learned from her Bosnian Jewish family. A descendant of the Altaras family forced to leave Spain during the Inquisition, Flory and her family must now escape from the Balkans during World War II. Crucial to the story of the Altaras’ 16th-century exodus are the two symbols of their heritage: a key for their original home in Spain and Ladino, the traditional language of Spanish Jews. In the 20th century, Flory’s childhood is filled with the stories Nona tells about their ancestors and the music played and sung in Ladino by her talented family. Living in peace and harmony among Jews, Christians, and Muslims, their happy life is threatened as the perils of World War II approach. Fortunate to escape the death the rest of her family suffers, Flory eventually sails to the U.S. without the important key but with her own three significant symbols: her accordion, her Ladino, and her music. Levy gently weaves the history of the Sephardim into the story of Flory’s specific Balkan Jewish life, also blending in some italicized Ladino phrases and words (unfortunately, rendering “grandfather” as “Nonu” rather than the traditional “Nono”). Lovely mixed-media illustrations limn several scenes across the centuries, adding perspective to an element of Sephardic culture that is mostly unknown today in American Jewish circles. Based on a true story, an inspirational reclamation of history."―Kirkus Reviews