Hanukkah traditions from several countries are outlined in this compilation of lesser-known commemorative customs. A generic history of the holiday is followed by eight fictional short stories related to a specific city around the world. From a torch relay in Modi’in, Israel, where the Maccabees’ struggle began, to a concert in Istanbul sung in the Sephardic language of Ladino, to a summery outdoor celebration in Sydney, to a Samarkand, Uzbekistan, custom of dancing for eight nights in different homes, the stories relate unique practices. Sidebars include each city’s past and present Judaic presence and influence as well as recipes. Wehrman’s soft muted paintings, which sketch out maps, traditional dress and foods, add a further instructional element to the fictional prose. A “Hanukkah Potpourri” offers one-paragraph descriptions of ten additional observances. (glossary) (Picture book. 8-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8225-8761-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2009
A celebration of progressive Judaism and an inclusive primer on Jews making a difference in the world.
This wide-ranging collection of short biographies highlights 36 Jewish figures from around the globe and across centuries.
Explicitly pushing back against homogenous depictions of Jewish people, the authors demonstrate the ethnic, racial, and gender diversity of Jews. Each spread includes a brief biography paired with a stylized portrait reminiscent of those in Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo’s Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls (2016). A pull quote or sidebar accompanies each subject; sidebars include “Highlighting Jewish Paralympic Athletes,” “Jewish Stringed Music,” and “Ethiopian Jews in Israel.” Kleinrock and Pritchard’s roster of subjects makes a compelling case for the vastness and variety of Jewish experience—from a contemporary Ethiopian American teen to a 16th-century Portuguese philanthropist—while still allowing them to acknowledge better-known figures. The entry on Raquel Montoya-Lewis, an associate justice of the Washington Supreme Court and an enrolled member of the Pueblo Isleta Indian tribe, discusses her mission to reimagine criminal justice for Indigenous people; the sidebar name-checks Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan. The bios are organized around themes of Jewish principles such as Pikuach Nefesh (translated from the Hebrew as “to save a life”) and Adam Yachid (translated as the “unique value of every person”); each section includes an introduction to an organization that centers diverse Jewish experiences.
A celebration of progressive Judaism and an inclusive primer on Jews making a difference in the world. (resources) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9780063285712
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sparkly minidrama with an ending that’s suitably merry and bright.
With help from an apprentice angel, a budding writer saves Christmas from being edited out of existence by a Grinchy grown-up.
Dishing up a lighter-than-air confection replete with homages to classic holiday tales, Grabenstein pits bookish 12-year-old Eloise Dobyns against spiteful failed author Roger Scobeenzee—who, having gained access to the source code for all the Christmas stories in existence, aims to overwrite them with his own dour vision of a Christmas Eve Martian invasion. Fortunately, Eloise has on her side an odd but helpful new schoolmate named (with shades of a certain well-known Christmas film) Clarence. She’s also helped by giddy bazillionaire Luigi L. Lemoncello, whose awesometastic library includes a Fictionasium where stories come to life (and where most of this one is set). The author tucks in nods to Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Dongzhi Festival, Yalda Night, Chawmos, and Bodhi Day, but (the presence of Clarence notwithstanding) sticks to a secular version of the meaning of Christmas that doesn’t go beyond the wondermous rewards of exchanging gifts. And, of course, saving all the Christmas stories—even sad ones like The Little Match Girl—while solving a Yuletide rebus and bringing Scobeenzee around to a change of heart and a jolly “God bless us every one!” Characters largely read white. Sparse stock art is scattered through the interior.
A sparkly minidrama with an ending that’s suitably merry and bright. (Holiday adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9798217117895
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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