Nine-year-old Rebecca Rubin eagerly helps her cousin Ana, newly arrived from Russia, to adjust to life in New York City, but when their teacher says the two must sing together at a school assembly, Rebecca worries that her big moment will be ruined

In these six stories from the uplifting American Girl series, a young girl living in 1914 New York learns what it's like to grow up in the big city. Rebecca Rubin has big dreams of becoming an actress, but her parents don't think girls are cut out for performing. As Rebecca searches for alternatives, she finds new ways to fulfill dreams that she never thought possible

"What if you, as a girl battling stage fright before a dance recital, suddenly found yourself in Rebecca's world in 1914? Join Rebecca on adventures where the two of you can try out for a vaudeville show, put on a musical, or even sneak into a factory to deliver an important message. Your journey back in time can take whatever twists and turns you choose, as you select from a variety of options in this multiple-ending story"--

While Rebecca Rubin helps her building's ailing superintendent take care of his homing pigeons, she puzzles over what to do with the Christmas centerpiece her teacher insisted she make but which has no place in her Jewish home

When Rebecca attends summer camp in the country because of the spreading polio epidemic in New York City, she is troubled by a bully in her tent and another fellow camper who is strangely secretive

Volunteering at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in the early 1900s, Jewish cousins Rebecca and Ana must find the real culprit when they are unfairly blamed for a series of mishaps in the Japanese garden

Symphony conductor Don Fernando longs to hear the sounds of the shofar. Like other conversos during the Spanish Inquisition, he has to hide his Jewish religion and pretend to follow the teachings of the church. But when he is asked to perform a concert celebrating the new world, he and his son Rafael devise a clever plan to usher in the Jewish New Year in plain sight of the Spanish nobility.

Rebecca Rubin is growing up in the bustling city of New York in 1914. She dreams of being a star on the silver screen, but her performance this year is on the stage at school. She has to share the spotlight with her cousin Ana, though, and Rebecca fears the audience will laugh instead of applaud. Will Ana hurt or help the performance? Then, being included in a special plan fills Rebecca with joy. But what act of kindness teaches her the true meaning...