Dave at Night
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| Author | Gail Carson Levine |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult historical fiction |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
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Publication date
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1999 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 281 pp |
| ISBN | |
Dave at Night is a young adult, historical fiction novel written by award-winning author Gail Carson Levine in 1999. This book was inspired by leading figures in the arts during the Harlem Renaissance and her father, David Carson, whose childhood was spent in an orphanage.
Levine bases the setting of her book in the Lower East Side of New York City in the Hebrew community. This gives her the opportunity to include the Yiddish language which is spoken by the character, Solomon Gruber.
Dave Caros, a teenager troublemaker, lost his mother during his birth. More recently, his father dies after falling off a roof of a house he was helping to build. Always having lived under the shadow of his older brother Gideon, he is abandoned by his stepmother Ida while Gideon goes to live with his uncle. Ida sends Dave to a Hebrew orphanage, the Hebrew Home For Boys.
When Dave first arrives at the orphanage, he absolutely hates it. The bedrooms are cold, the food is awful (and is often stolen by bullies) and the superintendent, Mr. Bloom (nicknamed Mr. Doom) is abusive and hits the boys with a yardstick. Mr. Doom takes the only thing Dave has left from his father, a wood carving of his family boarding Noah's Ark. However, Dave enjoys the art lessons and explores his talented, creative side.
Sick of the austere lifestyle, Dave sneaks out of the orphanage in the middle of the night and roams the streets of Harlem. He finds a nearby party and bumps into Solly, an old man who 'reads cards' to get money. He enters the party with Solly and discovers a whole new world of jazz music, money and glamour—the Harlem Renaissance. Dave even meets Irma Lee, a girl whom he is quickly attracted to. However, Dave needs to return to the orphanage every morning, but this new lifestyle isn't always what it seems.
A twelve-year-old girl that Dave meets during his first rent party, she is home schooled and lives in a reddish stone, three stories tall house which has well-known leisure class parties. She has a cousin named Emmie, whose rent party is the first ever that Dave attends.
Boychik- a little boy
Landsman- a fellow Jew
Mazel Tov- good luck
Gonif- somebody who fools people out of their money
Shayneh shvartzeh maidel- pretty black girl
Meshuggeneh- a crazy person
Alrightnik- someone who forgets that he wasn't born a doctor, a judge, or a businessman; he forgets that a lot of people made it possible for him to get so high-and-mighty
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