One Building. Five Stories. Infinite Possibilities.

Ellen Weinstein’s new place-driven children’s picture book, Five Stories, reads like a slice-of-life, but contains a richly layered look at the power of culture, community, and caring. Grounded in her family’s Lower East Side history, the stories in its pages expand, taking readers on a journey across diverse cultures and distinct time-periods — all within the structure of a single building and the sidewalks that surround it.

We meet the author-illustrator’s grandmother, Jenny Epstein, as a young girl. She is the child of Jewish immigrants from Minsk who, in 1914, escaping persecution, came to call the Lower East Side home. 

This is just the first of five stories — five diverse families who, in confronting adversity and pursuing dreams, wind up living in this special New York community — all in the same tenement building, each on a different floor, each arriving in a different decade, ultimately over a century apart. We meet the Cozzis, from Italy, The Martes, from the Dominican Republic, the Toresses from Puerto Rico, and the Yes from China. Weinstein captures the magic of the Lower East Side experience and uses its unique cultural mélange (currently being showcased in Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur series) to underscore how very different people, from very different places and perspectives, can share so much in common. 

Five Stories is also a visual feast. The artwork is as vibrant and densely populated as the neighborhood itself. From stoop, to roof, to fire escape, to bricks, to storefronts, Weinstein celebrates the importance of the iconic Lower East Side tenement in immigrant life. The building is a character in its own right. Just outside, the streets are alive with skateboards, stick ball, jump rope, open fire hydrants, pickle barrels, yesterday’s pushcarts, today’s food carts, and more. Dynamic and detailed illustrations capture life on the Lower East Side across languages, traditions, and generations. 

For those who have never been to New York’s Lower East Side, Five Stories is a heartwarming visit to a part of the city, even a part of the world, that is synonymous with the power of the American dream realized. As a third generation Lower East Sider myself, I was particularly moved by the way Weinstein weaves the five stories together, moving the reader from the early 1900’s to present day, underscoring how each family’s story intersects, their progress celebrating individual and collective achievement as they all contribute to the greater good.

I was also delighted to see a number of beloved Lower East Side storefronts like Yonah Shimmel’s Knishes, Katz’s Deli, Moscot’s Glasses, Russ & Daughters and more, all a vital part of the neighborhood for over 100 years. 

Weinstein doesn’t rest on her own Lower East Side legacy to tell these inspiring stories. She has conducted research across cultural segments and with influential community leaders to ensure authenticity and accuracy. She leans in on specifics and nuance, avoiding the kind of stereotyping and generalizing all too often found in multicultural narratives. In doing so, she demonstrates how specifics become universal and how five stories are threads running through a much bigger tapestry of lives past, present, and future. It is a moving reminder of how our differences come together in community, strengthening the foundation and the fabric of the places we call home.

In my conversation with Ellen Weinstein, I got to learn more about the making of Five Stories:

ROCHELLE: You introduce us to five families from distinct backgrounds, and yet there are strong elements connecting their journeys. How did you find that balance?

ELLEN: One thing I came upon with doing different interviews and oral histories was finding the commonalities between different cultures and time-periods. But also, I wanted to create the experience of what it would be like to be a child during this time. What would your day look like? Where would you sleep? What would your street potentially look like? All those things that shape who we are. What was in the news? What’s happening in music? What games are you playing on the street? 

I thought of the street scenes as being like a chorus in a song. A place you come back to and then you move on to the next verse – you come back to that, and it sets up the structure for the following story.

R: Your five main families are Russian, Italian, Dominican, Puerto Rican and Chinese. But the scenes outside of their apartments reflect even more local diversity, don’t they?

E: Yes. As New Yorkers, we don’t spend the majority of our time in our apartments. We’re outside. And those communal spaces of being on a block — sitting on a stoop, a fire escape, rooftop, in a bodega, a restaurant — those are all places where you get to know your neighbors and you foster a sense of community. 

R: Tell us about the role research played in the authenticity of Five Stories. 

E: I found Oral Histories to be extremely helpful. I went through archival photos – but there are things you don’t get from them. Like sleeping head to foot — I forgot the Yiddish word for that — but my mother would refer to that in terms of my grandparents. That’s something that comes up in an oral history. I will say I didn’t use 70 percent of my research — I went down so many rabbit holes — but I do think that it all informed where I went with the story. 

R: You bring us into five different decades — from 1914 to Present. But there’s a nod to the future too, isn’t there?

E: I had the beginning and the end — I knew I wanted to begin with my grandmother and continue with a family in the present — but I really wanted the end to be this truck with a family moving in. And we don’t see the family — because I think it’s important for the Lower East Side, and for the US, to have a continuum of immigration and to appreciate the rich culture we have because of it. That should be a continuing story. 

R: I couldn’t agree more. Did that idea drive any of your storytelling?   

E: Because of my history and the history of the neighborhood I felt like I could address that in an organic way. Not like, ‘I’m going to teach you a lesson,’ or ‘Today we’re going to learn about…’ I didn’t want to be pedantic or preachy. You just present these stories and hopefully people will come away with the same feelings. 

Rochelle Newman-Carrasco credits her New York Lower East Side childhood with her love of language, culture, and storytelling. She is an award-winning playwright, published poet, essayist, and children’s book author.