Nonfiction Monday: Celebrate Hanukkah

Celebrate Hanukkah by Deborah Heiligman. National Geographic, 2008 (1-4263-0293-0) $6.95 pb

Aside from a short mention of how astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman spun the dreidel in zero gravity -- "it spins forever!" -- the most notable feature of this nonfiction book is the color photographs, which show Jewish children and Hanukkah celebrations all over the world. How fascinating to see Jews celebrating in India, Uganda and Rome. The text is simple and a little dull; surprisingly, the most interesting sections are in the collected information at the end, which includes a map of where the photos were taken, a glossary of terms, insights into the holiday from a Rabbi, a bibliography for further reading and a photo of Hoffman with his space traveling dreidel. A good basic introduction. (3-6)


(© 2011 Wendy E. Betts

FTC disclosure: Review copy provided by the publisher. This blog is completely independent, but I receive a small percentage if books are purchased from Powells Boks via this site.

review: The Yankee at the Seder

The Yankee at the Seder by Elka Weber. Illustrated by Adam Gustavson. Tricycle, 2009 (978-1-58246-431-2) $16.99

It’s the day before Passover, 1865, and ten-year-old Jacob is disappointed at the end of “the War of Northern Aggression”: “I was never going to be a Rebel general. I’d never capture a whole unit of Yankees single-handed.” He’s also scared at what the future holds: “No one knew whether the Union would treat us well, now that they’d beaten us.” So when he sees a real live Yankee soldier come walking down the street, his first reaction is not friendly. Then, much to Jacob’s amazement, he realizes the Yankee is a fellow Jew.

When he runs in to tell his mother, she invites “that Yankee” to their seder, telling Jacob: “Jacob, every year we being the seder the same way. We say, ‘All who are hungry, let them come and eat; all who are in need, let them join us for the Passover meal.’ A hungry man needing a seder has come to our home. Would you send him away for wearing a blue coat?”

“Maybe,” thinks Jacob.

The seder progresses as usual, with one little hiccup. Jacob’s father pointedly speaks up in favor of rebellion. The Yankee responds, “Sir, it is one thing to rebel against an unjust government. But Passover isn’t about people rebelling against a government, sir. It’s about how no man wants to be a slave and about how wonderful it is to be free.”

Although it seems to have a specific readership, this book has a surprisingly broad and pertinent message, at a time when so many people in the United States are very divided against one another. Corporal Levy doesn’t exactly convert Jacob to his way of thinking, but he does show him the value of finding common ground.

Warm paintings illustrate this unusual and thoughtful tale, based on a true story which is described in end notes. * (5 & up)



© 2011 Wendy E. Betts

FTC disclosure: Review copy provided by the publisher. This blog is completely independent, but I receive a small percentage if you order books from Powell's via this site.

review: The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah

The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah by Leslie Kimmelman. Illustrated by Paul Meisel. Holiday House, 2010 (978-0-8234-1952-4) $16.95

Learning about Passover can be entertaining -- who knew? I smiled all the way through this story, in which the Little Red Hen, who sounds quite a bit like my Jewish grandmother, learns that she has to make all her matzoh preparations herself -- to say nothing of cleaning the house of bread and preparing the Seder dinner. Despite her friends' uncooperative -- even rude! -- attitude when she asks for help, at the end the Little Red Hen remembers the words of the Haggadah, "Let all who are hungry come and eat." Deciding that a good mensch forgives, she lets them join in the Seder -- but justice is satisfied, since she gives them a good scold first and makes them wash the dishes.

This reads aloud delightfully, and all the yiddishism give it even more of a lilt, as well as make it funnier. "Friends, schmends," the Little Red Hen mutters, and, "So I should starve?" The pen & ink and water color illustrations nicely capture the bustling hen's cozy home and the hangdog expressions of her friends when she scolds them. Plus, if you've ever wanted to see a horse wearing a yarmulke, here's your chance. * (3 & up)



© 2011 Wendy E. Betts

FTC disclosure: Review copy from the public library. This blog is completely independent, but I receive a small percentage if you order books from Powell's via this site.

Review: When Mindy Saved Hanukkah

For more Hanukkah book recommendations (or not, as the case may be) see our bibliography.)




When Mindy Saved Hanukkah by Eric A. Kimmel. Illustrated by Barbara McClintock. Scholastic, 1998 (0-439-7690-6) $5.99 pb

Tired of Hanukkah stories featuring old-fashioned Jewish families? For once, I wasn't. This particular family lives behind the walls of the Eldridge Street Synagogue, where they use thimbles as vases and play with dreidels half their size. But they have a problem: they need a Hanukkah candle (to melt into lots of tiny candles) and the synagogue has acquired "a fierce Antiochus of a cat!" who almost ate Papa! So brave little Mindy, who can "climb better and run faster than anyone!" sets out to make sure the family has candles for Hanukkah.

Using a paper clip as a grappling hook and a leftover palm branch from Sukkot, Mindy climbs to the shelf where her father had seen a lost candle. Then suddenly the cat appears! Thankfully, Zayde has followed, dressed like a Macabee of old, and he "drives" this new Antiochus from the temple with some pickled herring, while Mindy quickly rolls the candle home. Just in time.

Hanukkah themes and bits of Jewish culture are mixed seamlessly into this entertaining story. (There are a few jokes too: the Kleins share Hanukkah with several other families, including the Littles, the Katans and the Pequenos.) The ink and watercolor illustrations range from majestic scenes of the temple to cozy domesticity behind the walls; the kid in me most loved the postage stamp artwork, bottle cap serving dishes, and pocket watch kitchen clock, though some of it is more decorative than logical. (I read a claim online that McClintock's illustrations were actually used as models to restore the historic Eldridge Street Synagogue but unfortunately can't find any verification. It's one of those stories that you wish were true, though.)

Overall, this one of the best Hanukkah books for kids I've seen, especially for those who love tiny worlds. * (5-10)

© 2009 Wendy E. Betts

FTC disclaimer: Reviewed from a copy that was given to my son. This blog is completely independent, but I receive a small percentage if you order books from Powell's via this site.

Other blog reviews: Becca Reads

review: Number the Stars

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. Houghton Mifflin, 1989 (0-395-51060-0) $13.45; Laurel-Leaf, 1998 (0-440-22753-3) $6.99 pb

One of the best uses of children's literature is to make complex subjects and concepts more immediate and personal, "sizing them down," as it were, to their most basic level. For a subject as complex and staggering as the Holocaust, good children's books are vitally necessary--books that don't try to tell the whole story, but make the situation come alive through one situation, one character. In Number the Stars, Lois Lowry found a story to tell that reveals a lesser known aspect of that evil period: the courage and humanity of ordinary, good people who fought against it. The result is a poignant, life-affirming novel that richly deserved its 1990 Newbery Medal.

It is 1943 in Denmark, but for ten-year-old Annemarie and her best friend Ellen Rosen, life is fairly ordinary, despite the privations of war and the often frightening presence of German soldiers. Then suddenly the danger becomes acute for the Danish Jews and Ellen's family must go into hiding, leaving her behind as Annemarie's "sister." That night the Nazis come and Annemarie just barely manages to break Ellen's Star of David off of her neck in time.

The next day, Annemarie's family goes to visit Uncle Henrik, a fisherman who lives right on the water. "You can stand on the edge of the meadow and look across to Sweden," she tells Ellen, not realizing then the significance of her own words. But when the time has come to say goodbye to her friend, Annemarie understands without being told where she is going--and when it's discovered that a vitally important package has been left behind by the refugees, Annemarie knows that somehow she must get it to the boat. Then she is stopped by German soldiers. She is only a timid little girl: can she possibly find the wits and courage to deceive them?

As told in the afterword of Number the Stars, "almost the entire Jewish population of Denmark--nearly seven thousand people--was smuggled across the sea to Sweden," right before their "relocation" was to begin. This is the kind of story epics can be made of, but Lowry's simply-written book focuses on the small, personal aspects of the drama--just good, caring people doing what they can, sometimes at the cost of their lives--and thereby gives even more meaning to the history. Annemarie doesn't go looking to be a hero--at the beginning of the book she is "glad to be an ordinary person who would never be called upon for courage." But she is called upon, and discovers that even the most frightened person can be brave when she needs to be. Reading her fictional story gives a new understanding to the facts that are told in the afterword: for every Jewish family that made it to Sweden, there is an untold story of goodness and sacrifice. * (8 & up)

review: To Every Season

To Every Season: a Family Holiday Cookbook written and illustrated by Jane Breskin Zalben. Simon & Schuster, 1999 (0-689-81797-5) $19.95 (OP, but easy to find)

This collection of holiday-inspired recipes features suggestions for sixteen popular American holidays, including five recipes for Passover. Some are traditional: mulled apple cider for Christmas, corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day, black-eyed pea cutlets and collard greens for Kwanzaa. Others are a little more imaginative, such as black and orange pasta for Halloween and "laid-back" banana bread for labor day. Each holiday is given a basic introduction, and there's also information about the traditions, if any, behind the recipes; I was particularly pleased that Zalben goes into some of the variations in Jewish traditions, including both an apple-and-walnut haroset, eaten by Askenazi Jews, and a date-and-almond haroset, eaten by Sephardic Jews. There are a number of vegetarian versions of traditionally meaty foods-- vegetable kabobs and "virtual" burgers--and also a few "lightened" recipes.

This doesn't strike me as a cookbook kids will much want to try: the type is on the small side and the recipes aren't specifically written for beginners. But younger children might enjoy looking at the illustrations and helping to choose recipes. Small pen & ink and watercolor pictures decorate practically every page; they have a playful nursery-rhyme feel to them, showing lots of animal-people--including Pearl the lamb, whom children might recognize from Zalben's other books. A pleasant book to share.

Don't Let It Go

I don't think I've ever been chewed out for one of my reviews before. Though admittedly, it's fairly rare for me to write one in which I say absolutely nothing positive about a book. That was not really intentional, and I should probably go back and try to correct it at some point.

Ilene Richards proudly informs me that Let My People Go has sold out. This surprises me not at all. The stuff parents will do and buy in in an attempt to make Judaism "fun" for their kids... well, I can't judge them for it, because I know myself how difficult it is to maintain interest in Judaism in a largely Christian-oriented world. But no matter how well meaning the motivation is, it doesn't make things like stuffed Torahs any less bizarre or tacky.

Nonfiction Monday: Let My People Go

Let My People Go! by Tilda Balsey. Illustrated by Ilene Richard. Kar-Ben, 2008 (978-0-8225-7241-1) $7.95

Every time I look at this book, I flash on Gene Wilder in "The Producers," reading the title Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp With Eva and Adolf at Berchtesgaden and ending with "Wow!" Really, what else is there to say about a rollicking rhyming romp with Moses and Pharaoh in Egypt? For sheer bad taste in approach to the subject matter the book is hard to beat, but add in jocular illustrations and ear-painful rhymes and it almost inspires admiration for its awfulness:

Then Moses spoke to mean Pharaoh,
"Our God says, 'Let my people go!"
Pharaoh shouted, "NO, NO, NO!"

A plague! A plague! A Plague!
Egyptians moaned and cried with dread.
To see their skin turn purply red
And nasty boils begin to spread.
But Pharaoh was an old hardhead.

The text and dialog is printed in different colored inks for use as Readers Theater and can't you just hear that read by halting, rhythm-impaired children's voices?

For those who might actually be interested in using this in a classroom, I should mention that it ends with Pharaoh letting the Jews leave, so the parting of the Red Sea and so forth isn't covered. Teachers who aren't familiar with the story will also want some supplementary material to explain the sections that might be obscure, such as the burning bush at the beginning. This is assuming you can bring yourself to get past the image of a distraught cartoon-style Egyptian waving a rattle over an empty cartoon-style Egyptian crib to illustrate the plague that brings death to every first-born son. I could not. (6-10)

Other blog reviews:
A Patchwork of Books

Nonfiction Mondays: Jewish Holidays All Year Round

Jewish Holidays All Year Round by Ilene Cooper. Illustrated by Elivia Savadier. Harry N. Abrams, 2002 (0-8109-0550-7) $18.95

I started out liking this book for its fresh and lively cover illustration of a multicultural Passover gathering, and I continued liking it for its fresh and lively text. The stories of the Jewish holidays have been retold so many times, it's a pleasure to hear them in a distinctive voice, as well as to see portrayals of less conventional Jewish families. In addition to the bright pen & ink and watercolor illustrations, the book also contains photographs of artwork from the Jewish Museum in New York City, offering many different expressions of Jewish life and art: four different menorahs, for example, range from a delicately wrought metal lamp from North Africa to a modern interpretation using eight small Statues of Liberty and the American flag.

The Jewish calendar has a number of holy days which are difficult to explain to children, like Yom Ha-Shoah, Holocaust Rememberance Day. Jewish Holidays All Year Round includes those emotionally charged holidays, but its descriptions are pretty minimal (also a little confused: "six million Jews and other people died during the Holocaust"), leaving parents or teachers to decide how much of the story to tell. A short bibliography of Holocaust fiction for children and young adults is included.

The least successful portion of this book is the activities contained in each chapter: most are recipes requiring a lot of adult help, and the illustrations of items like an elaborate mechanized purim noisemaker from Russia will not satisfy children making groggers out of empty coffee cans.

Overall, this is an excellent resource for Jewish families; it's enjoyable to read, and the range of illustrations from the joyfully simple to the intriguingly sophisticated gives it visual appeal for a wide age range. (4-12)

press release: 2008 Sydney Taylor Book Awards

(Chicago - January 7, 2008) - Sarah Gershman and Kristina Swarner, author and illustrator of The Bedtime Sh'ma: A Good Night Book, Sid Fleischman, author of The Entertainer and the Dybbuk, and Sonia Levitin, author of Strange Relations, are the 2008 winners of the prestigious Sydney Taylor Book Award.

The Sydney Taylor Book Award of the Association of Jewish Libraries honors new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience. The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series. The winners will receive their awards at the Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Cleveland, Ohio this June at a special ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the award.

The Bedtime Sh'ma: Gershman and Swarner will receive the 2008 gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book Award's Younger Readers Category for The Bedtime Sh'ma: A Good Night Book, published by EKS Publishing. With accessible language, this book helps young children understand the meaning and concepts of the Sh'ma prayers. The stunning artwork matches the mood of the text, and the words of the prayer (in Hebrew, English, and transliteration) are beautifully integrated into double spread illustrations. "The soothing and soulful voice of Rabbi Julia Andelman on the included CD will lull the listener to sleep with sweet dreams," adds Kathy Bloomfield a member of the Award Committee. The book is recommended for children up to grade 2.

Fleischman will receive the 2008 The Entertainer and the Dybbukgold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book Award's Older Readers Category for The Entertainer and the Dybbuk, published by HarperCollins Children's Books. When the spirit of a 12-year old Jewish boy, murdered by the Nazis, possesses the body of an American GI traveling through Europe as a second-rate ventriloquist, the pair is able to unmask the Nazi responsible. "Fleischman's knowledge of ventriloquism and senses of humor and humanity craft an imaginative and haunting story, and although all the action takes place after the war, the sense of loss and tragedy echo through the book," comments Kathe Pinchuck, incoming Chair of the Award Committee. "Wry humor adds dimension to the characters and suspense accelerates the pace." The book is recommended for grades 6-8.

Strange Relations: Levitin will receive the 2008 gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book Award's Teen Readers Category for Strange Relations, published by Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books. Fifteen-year-old Marne decides to spend the summer with her Aunt Carole in Hawaii. But, Aunt Carole is now Aunt Chaya, married to a Chabad Rabbi with seven children. What Marne anticipates will be a relaxing summer of jogging on the beach, surfing, sun tanning, and shopping turns out to be a summer of exploration, spirituality, and growth. "Levitin skillfully writes from the perspective of a contemporary teenager and realistically deals with issues such as drinking, drugs, sexuality, and peer pressure," notes Rachel Kamin, Chair of the Award Committee. Levitin also won the 1987 Sydney Taylor Book Award for The Return and two honor awards for The Singing Mountain (1998) and Silver Days (1989).

Six Sydney Taylor Honor Books were named for 2008. For Younger Readers, Honor Books are: The Castle on Hester Street by Linda Heller with illustrations by Boris Kulikov (Simon & Schuster), Letter on the Wind by Sarah Lamstein with illustrations by Neil Waldman (Boyds Mills Press), and Light written and illustrated by Jane Breskin Zalben (Dutton Children's Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group). For Older Readers, the Honor Books are: Holocaust: The Events and Their Impacton Real People by Angela Gluck Wood with consulting by Dan Stone (DK Publishing in association with USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education) and The Secret of Preist's Grotto by Peter Lane Taylor and Christos Nicola (Kar-Ben). For Teen Readers, the Honor Book is Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Mirjam Pressler, translated from the German by Erik J. Macki (Front Street). It should be noted that The Castle on Hester Street won the Sydney Taylor Book Award when it was first published in 1982 by the Jewish Publication Society, and its Honor Award this year is due to Boris Kulikov's new illustrations.

In addition to the medal-winners, the Award Committee designated twenty-three Notable Books of Jewish Content for 2008: eleven in the Younger Readers Category, eight in the Older Readers Category, and four for Teens. Notable titles, and more information about the Sydney Taylor Book Award, may be found online at www.SydneyTaylorBookAward.org. A special video announcement of the awards can also be accessed at www.youtube.com/SydneyTaylorAward.

small AJL logo About the Association of Jewish Libraries
The Association of Jewish Libraries promotes Jewish literacy through enhancement of libraries and leadership within Judaica librarianship. Visit our website at www.jewishlibraries.org.
For more information, please contact:

Rachel Kamin, Chair
Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee
Association of Jewish Libraries
847/376-2797
rachel@sydneytaylorbookaward.org

review: A Confused Hanukkah

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. Have you hung your dreidels by the chimney with care?




A Confused Hanukkah by Jon Koons. Illustrated by S.D. Schindler. Dutton, 2004 (0-525-46969-9)$16.99

I'm thrilled to be seeing some children's literature backlash against the Christmasfication of Hanukkah in books like The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming. This "original folktale" makes similar points, with gentler irony and perhaps more accessibility to younger readers.

Set in the traditional Jewish town-of-fools, Chelm, the story begins with the villagers unable to remember how to celebrate Hanukkah while their Rabbi is away. A man named Yossel sets out for a nearby town "to find out what must be done," but naturally, being from Chelm, he goes the wrong way and winds up in the Big City, where he gets some very odd information about "the coming holiday." His fellow villagers are a bit surprised--"Trees? Fat men? I don't remember any of that!"--but conclude these must be the latest modern customs, so they proceed to chop down a tree, decorate it with matzo balls, wooden dreidels and shiny menorahs, and dress the fattest man in town in a fancy suit, calling him "Hanukkah Hershel."

Yet somehow, nothing seems right. "They had never seen Hanukkah Hershel before. And surely, if they had decorated a tree like this in the past, someone would have remembered. But Yossel had told them that other people did these things. And why shouldn't they celebrate the way others did? Still, now it seemed like this wasn't Hanukkah at all."

Luckily, just then the Rabbi arrives home, to tell them the story of Hanukkah and remind them of their true traditions. And "From that day forward it was said that the people of Chelm always remembered how to keep Hanukkah."

Koons doesn't hit us in the face with his point, leaving the silliness of the story to speak for itself about the ridiculousness of mixing up two things that have very little relationship to each other. I would like to have seen a note on the history of Chelm in Jewish folklore and humor, and it would also have strengthened the the book to say more about the significance of the Hanukkah customs--eating foods fried in oil in memory of the oil lamp, for example.

This should go over well at storytimes, especially with a reader who's good with dialogue, which is lively and plentiful. Pen & ink and watercolor illustrations in a slightly caricatured style highlight both the foolishness and the generally goodhearted nature of the people of Chelm, adding to the humor and warmth of the story. (4 & up)

review: Chanukah Lights Everywhere

Chanukah Lights Everywhere by Michael J. Rosen. Illustrated by Melissa Iwai. 2001; Voyager, 2006 (0-15-205675-0) $6.00 pb

On each of the eight nights of Chanukah, a little boy counts lights for the number of candles his family lights. On the first night, "the skinny moon beams like a proud candle flame against the dark sky." On the sixth night, he counts six other menorahs in windows during a walk. On the seventh night, he visits a friend who celebrates Christmas and counts seven lights burning in his windows. And on the eighth night, he finds "all seven stars in the Big Dipper, plus the famous North Star above us, as though God, too, were lighting his own menorah in the sky. Even when Chanukah is over, he sees lights that remind him of their menorah and "I think about Chanukah and about being Jewish in such a wide world of so many other lights."

A sincere, earnest book with sincere, earnest illustrations, Chanukah Lights Everywhere explores themes also seen in Rosen's previous books like Elijah's Angel: respect and appreciation amongst people of different religions. This time it comes across as more messagey than heartwarming, however. There are some playful moments, with lots of cats popping up--one peers out between the narrator's legs in a busy family scene--and the glow of bright lights amid sparkling blue skies in the many night illustrations is warm and satisfying.

and if Christmas is coming...

A note of warning: Hanukkah comes really early this year! December 5th by my calendar, which may or may not have it right.

I haven't yet seen Lemony Snicket's new book, The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming, but from what Evan tells me, it is both hysterically funny and a book whose time has more than come. Check it out.

And a few reviews of more traditional Hanukkah books. (Okay, there are some odd ones too.)

lest we forget

book, book, book has some interesting notes on her class's observance of Holocaust Memorial Day. My reading in this area is clearly out of date, but some more titles can be found in my bibliography here.

recent picture books for Passover

More passover titles here.




Passover! by Roni Schotter. Illustrated by Erin Eitter Kono. Little, Brown (2006 (0-316-93991-9) $12.99

When the first signs of Spring appear, Grandma and Grandpa arrive to celebrate Passover with their family, including toddler Moe and puppy Izzy. But what could be a likeable enough rhyming story about their family seder is sadly marred by a lack of attention to rhythm and scansion: "Our house looks 'Passover perfect--even Grandma says so. Everything is sparkly clean, even wiggly Moe!" "In the kitchen, Mama warms our favorite dish--Matzoh ball soup! Papa fixes gefilte fish." Some of the rhymes work--I like a throwaway line outside of the regular text, "That bone is not your own, Izzy!"--but too much of the text is uncomfortable to read. There's nothing special in the familiar, conventional images of the watercolor illustrations to compensate for the failings of the text, and even the extra page of information at the end is somewhat misleading, describing one set of seder customs as if it applied to all Jews, everywhere. (2-6)



Had Gadya illustrated by Seymour Chwast. Roaring Brook, 2005 (1-59643-033-8) $16.95; 2007 (978-1-59643-298-7) $7.95 pb

Starting with a goat being eaten by a cat and ending with God striking down the Angel of Death, the traditional cumulative song "Had Gadya" is a deliberately curious combination of whimsy and darkness. Both elements are seen in this picture book rendition. Acrylic paintings use chunky patches of color to create busy scenes full of people preparing for Passover; at the top of each spread, the characters of each verse are shown as they appear--first the goat, then the goat and the cat--to make it easy to keep track of the story. (Sometimes the characters glance curiously at each other above, as if puzzled by their odd behavior below.) The Angel of Death is a menacing blue figure; God is portrayed as a bolt of light from clouds. In the end, as the family we've seen in the pictures begins their Passover Seder, we see the father bringing home... the goat.

An afterward by Rabbi Michael Strassfeld discusses possible meanings the song and its darker images, which may help parents interpret it for troubled children. The sheet music, and verses in the original Aramaic are also included. (3-8)