bat mitzvah

As her bat mitzvah approaches, Stacy Adelaide Friedman of White Plains, New York, has a lot on her mind--her parents have separated, her mother dresses her like an American Girldoll, her younger brother is embarrassing, and she is totally in love with Andy Goldfarb.

Tara Feinstein, proud of both her East Indian and Jewish heritage, questions what it means to have a bat mitzvah and deals with her own doubts about her faith.

Laura, a young girl preparing for her Bat Mitzvah, is given the diary of Sara Gittler, who was imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II; but as Laura researches Sara's life in order to honor her at the ceremony, she discovers secrets that will ultimately change her life.