Page 26-THE NEWS-November, 1988
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Children’s Books on Hanukkah
Festival of Lights: The Story
of Hanukkah. Retold by Maida
Silverman; illustrated by
Carolyn S. Ewing. Wanderer/
Simon & Schuster, 1231
A venue of the Americas, New
York, NY 10020. 1987. 24
pages. $7.95 (cloth); $2.25
(paper). Ages 6-10.
Miracle Meals: Eight Nights
of Food ‘n’ Fun for Chanukah.
Madeline Wikler and Judyth
Groner; illustrated by Chari
Radin. Kar-Ben Copies, 6800
Tildenwood Lane, Rockville,
MD 20852. 1987. 64 pages.
$6.95 spiralbound. Ages 4 and
up.
Just Enough Is Plenty: A
Hanukkah Tale. Barbara Dia
mond Golden; illustrated by
Seymour Chwast. Viking Kes
trel, 40 West 23 Street, New
York, NY 10010. 1988. 32
pages. $12.95 cloth. Ages 3-8.
My Hanukkah Book: Ques
tions, Answers, Activities.
Kimberly Colen; illustrated by
Richard Rosenblum. Scholas
tic, 730 Broadway, New York,
NY 10003. 1987. 48 pages.
$3.95 paper. Ages 5 and up.
The Last Candle. Doris
Pylkas; illustrated by Barbara
Knutson. R. Smyth Associ
ates, 812 Hilltop Road, Men-
dota, MN 55118. 1987. 18
pages. $2.95 spiralbound on
vellum stock; $4.95 spiral
bound on glossy stock; $12.98
cloth special order for libraries
only. Ages 3-5.
Treasures of Chanukah. Il
lustrated by Greg Hilde-
brandt. Unicorn Publishing
House, Inc., 1148 Parsippany
Boulevard, Parsippany, NJ
07054. 1987. 48 pages. $14.95
cloth. All ages.
Reviewed by Naomi Kleinberg
It seems that every year
there’s a whole new crop of
Hanukkah books available
(almost as many as the varia
tions and misspellings of the
holiday name!) for learning
about and celebrating this
winter festival. Some are more
attractive or better made,
more useful or more engaging
than others; the value of these
volumes may well be in the
judgment of the individual
user/reader. Below are a few
worthy of mention.
Festival of Lights is a retell
ing of the Hanukkah story for
younger children but it is more
than just a rehash of a familiar
tale. With short, simple
declarative sentences, Maida
Silverman brings history to
life in the present, drawing the
reader or listener in through
the immediacy of language
and the use of telling detail.
She concludes with short sec
tions on the legend of the
menorah and the miracle of
the oil and on the possible
genesis of the dreidel game (as
camouflage for forbidden Bi
ble study) plus instructions for
lighting candles and playing
dreidel.
What’s noteworthy about
this small book is the active
participation of children
throughout the drama of the
story and in all the iUus-
trations (except the battle
scenes). This will interest and
involve youngsters who can
identify with their historical
counterparts instead of hear
ing about remote events pop
ulated and acted out only by
adults. This is a useful, very
attractive and engaging vol
ume.
Miracle Meals is a nifty
Chanukah (authors’ spelling)
cookbook for kids. It’s spiral-
bound for easy kitchen use
and offers clear, uncompli
cated recipes for soups, meat
and dairy dishes, “lotsa
latkes,” desserts and fun
foods, beverages.
A dreidel-symbol coding
system indicates level of
preparation difficulty and
whether the recipe is meat,
dairy or pareve. Each recipe
lists ingredients and utensils
needed. Also included are a
visual guide to utensils, metric
conversion and other equiva
lency charts, the story of
Chanukah, suggestions for
parties, instructions for
Chanukah games, zmd whim
sical black-and-white illustra
tions on every page. This book
promises lots of fun in the kit
chen at any time of the year.
Just Enough Is Plenty is em
original folktale about a
Hanukkah visit from the pro
phet Elijah to a poor Jewish
family in Poland. The kopeks
are scarcer them usual for
Malka’s family; papa can’t
buy enough cloth to keep the
tailor shop busy and mama’s
not sure she can afford a pro
per celebration of the holiday.
Then an old peddler stops by...
A spare text offers just
enough detail for children to
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FESTIVAL
LIGHTS
get a picture of Jewish life and
holiday tradition in the old
country while dishing up a
sweet, hopeful story at the
same time.
Two-dimensional, semi-im
pressionistic oil paintings by
renowned graphic artist Sey
mour Chwast flesh out the
story and, in spite of their
static quality, add a remark
able degree of warmth to the
whole. This is a nice addition
to the Hanukkah bookshelf.
My Hanukkah Book is a col
orful activity and workbook —
rather a mixed bag of informa
tion about the holiday along
with suggestions and
materials for things to make
and do for the celebration.
A question-and-answer sec
tion about the holiday and its
genesis is followed by drawing
games; a punch-out menoreih
with instructions for comple
tion, use and appropriate
blessings; a punch-out dreidle
with game instructions; 30
full-color stickers; punch-out
cards and gifts; recipes and
questions and answers about
traditional foods. As remarked
before, quite a grab bag of
things to do and leam, but this
could be lots of fun for kids at
home or in Hebrew school.
The Last Candle is a very
brief story about one family
celebrating Chanukah. It is so
linear and spare that it is near
ly flawed in its lack of elabora
tion or explanation of terms
such as gelt, latkes, shammas,
hora — and there are plenty of
people (even Jews) to whom
these are foreign words. When
a toy elephant is given as a
gift, there’s no explanation of
how the animal might be tied
Happy
Chanukah
to the holiday (the Greeks sup
posedly invaded Judea on ele
phants).
Still, there is a melancholy
sweetness in this little book
and the illustrations are a real
treat. Evocative pen-and-ink
drawings and watercolor
washes make this, for all its
bare-bones feel, something to
look at. While this small offer
ing might make a nice gift for
one of the eight nights of can
dle lighting, it is supplemental
reading only; anyone wanting
basic holiday information will
have to go elsewhere first.
Finally, Treasures of
Chanukah is a lush, expensive
ly produced family-album type
of book, chock-a-block with
double-page spreads of full-
color paintings and numerous
pages printed in gold ink, all
on heavy stock (the $14.95
cover price is remarkably low
for the production standards
used here).
The story of the Maccabees
and the origins of Chanukah
are told in somewhat elegant
language, followed by “The
Festival of Lights,” a poem in
corporating holiday history
and modem celebration; and
then a section of songs with
words and music, blessings
and poetry.
The major selling point of
this book is the work of artist
Greg Hildebrandt, renowned
for his children’s book illustra
tions. His color work here is at
once realistic and dreamlike:
the faces and details are very
real while his use of light is
surreal.
This is the quintessential
Chsuiukah gift book and will
undoubtedly find its way into
many a school and family
library.
•
Naomi Kleinberg, an editor
at a New York trade pub
lishers, is a frequent book
reviewer.
2^1 Jewish Books
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