A visually enticing testament to the diversity of Jewish life.
A grandmother tells her granddaughter about their ancestors, who fled Israel for India nearly 2,000 years ago.
In 175 BCE, as Nani Penkar explains to young Maya, many Jews fought back against the Greek tyrant Antiochus, who ruled over Israel. Others—who became known as the Bene Israel—fled by ship. Their vessel was destroyed by a storm at sea; nearly everyone was killed, except for seven men and seven women who were rescued by Eliyahu HaNavi (the Old Testament prophet Elijah) and founded a community in their new home. Nani Penkar adds that Eliyahu HaNavi later appeared on a “flaming chariot” to tell the Bene Israel that they would one day return home. To mark the anniversary of this day, the Bene Israel prepare malida, a dish consisting of flattened rice, coconut, and fruit, and gather at Elijah Rock, where Eliyahu HaNavi is said to have come down from the heavens. Paired with matter-of-fact text, the intensely colored multimedia illustrations vividly highlight the stories of the past and the people who maintained their religious traditions while incorporating Indian customs into their daily lives (for example, speaking the Marathi language). A helpful author’s note explains that most Bene Israel have left India for other countries; Lyons also discusses other Jewish communities in India.
A visually enticing testament to the diversity of Jewish life. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781646144341
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A succinct, edifying read, but don’t buy it for the pictures.
Abraham Lincoln’s ascent to the presidency is recounted in a fluid, easy-to-read biography for early readers.
Simple, direct sentences stress Lincoln’s humble upbringing, his honesty, and his devotion to acting with moral conviction. “Lincoln didn’t seem like a man who would be president one day. But he studied hard and became a lawyer. He cared about people and about justice.” Slavery and Lincoln’s signature achievement of emancipation are explained in broad yet defined, understandable analogies. “At that time, in the South, the law let white people own black people, just as they owned a house or a horse.” Readers are clearly given the president’s perspective through some documented memorable quotes from his own letters. “Lincoln did not like slavery. ‘If slavery is not wrong,’ he wrote to a friend ‘nothing is wrong.’ ” (The text does not clarify that this letter was written in 1865 and not before he ascended to the presidency, as implied by the book.) As the war goes on and Lincoln makes his decision to free the slaves in the “Southern states”—“a bold move”—Lincoln’s own words describe his thinking: “ ‘If my name ever goes into history,’ Lincoln said, ‘it will be for this act.’ ” A very basic timeline, which mentions the assassination unaddressed in the text, is followed by backmatter providing photographs, slightly more detailed historical information, and legacy. It’s a pity that the text is accompanied by unremarkable, rudimentary opaque paintings.
A succinct, edifying read, but don’t buy it for the pictures. (Informational early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-243256-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
The legions of fans who over the years have enjoyed dePaola’s autobiographical picture books will welcome this longer gathering of reminiscences. Writing in an authentically childlike voice, he describes watching the new house his father was building go up despite a succession of disasters, from a brush fire to the hurricane of 1938. Meanwhile, he also introduces family, friends, and neighbors, adds Nana Fall River to his already well-known Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, remembers his first day of school (“ ‘ When do we learn to read?’ I asked. ‘Oh, we don’t learn how to read in kindergarten. We learn to read next year, in first grade.’ ‘Fine,’ I said. ‘I’ll be back next year.’ And I walked right out of school.”), recalls holidays, and explains his indignation when the plot of Disney’s “Snow White” doesn’t match the story he knows. Generously illustrated with vignettes and larger scenes, this cheery, well-knit narrative proves that an old dog can learn new tricks, and learn them surpassingly well. (Autobiography. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-399-23246-X
Page Count: 58
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1999
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