"In brief board-book form Newman revisits the familiar Hanukkah traditions she successfully introduced in Eight Nights of Chanukah, illustrated by Elivia Savadier (2005), and Here Is the World, illustrated by Susan Gal (2014). Here the holiday stands on its own without parodying a Christmas tune or being lost in a compendium of the Jewish year. Of course, a board book has space for much less information. The essential ingredients of the celebration―candles, blessings, latkes, dreidels, and gelt―are mentioned in nine lines of text that all rhyme with 'delight.' The finer points of theology, including the miracle Hanukkah commemorates, are left for older children to learn from experience, their own reading, or stories told round the holiday table. The fun is in the detailed pictures. Husband uses cheerful, well-dressed bunnies to depict a family as they celebrate the Jewish holiday American gentiles know best. Some subtle stereotypes still creep in. The family consists of papa, mama, big sister, and baby. A crocodile in a tie and a portly and bespectacled owl are among the friends. The males all wear yarmulkes, and the females all wear dresses. Otherwise they are just like anyone else who can be depicted as talking animals. Useful for both Jewish families and others seeking to give children a head start on religious pluralism.
In lines with simple meter that all rhyme with the second word in the title,
this board book runs through the high points of Hanukkah ('Dreidels spinning
through the night / Chocolate gelt―come take a bite') during a friendly
eighth-night gathering at a rabbit family’s house. The pastel-toned mixed-media
illustrations show the visiting 'friends and neighbors' as a congenial assortment of
animals, and they include accurate holiday details such as a row of dreidels with
correctly ordered Hebrew letters. A very first introduction to blessings, candles,
and latkes as well as holiday joy: 'Hanukkah―a wondrous sight!'
About the Author
Lesléa Newman is the author of more than sixty books for readers of all ages, including the children s classic Heather Has Two Mommies, as well as the young adult novel Jailbait, the middle-grade novel Hachiko Waits, and the adult poetry collection Still Life with Buddy. Her award-winning short story A Letter to Harvey Milk has been adapted for the stage. She has been awarded poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation and is on the faculty of Spalding University s MFA brief-residency in writing program. She is also a former poet laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts. In addition, she works closely with the Matthew Shepard Foundation as a member of their speakers bureau. She has visited schools all over the country giving her presentation He Continues to Make a Difference: The Story of Matthew Shepard. Lesléa Newman lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
No comments:
Post a Comment