Sunday, December 21, 2008

Happy Hanukkah!

Hanukkah begins today at sundown. I'm planning a nice quiet evening with my family. We will light the menorrah, eat yummy potato latkes for dinner, play dreidel and open the first gift.

There were quite a few different Hanukkah books to choose from at our library. I chose A Picture Book of Hanukkah by David A. Adler because of the wonderful illustrations.

Most of this book is like a history lesson. It tells a very accurate story behind the holiday, about the thousands of people who were killed before and after the Maccabeen war. It celebrates the small band of Jewish soldiers who fought and won the right to worship freely. Because of the war, death and detail, I think it's best read to the 5 and over age group. The last three pages tell more about the holiday traditions; the lighting of the candles, potato latkes, gelt and dreidel games.

When I first saw these illustrations by Linda Heller, I immediately thought this was a vintage 60's era book, mostly because of the sepia tones, but it was actually published in 1982 by Holiday House. Linda's illustrations fill more than half of the book and her beautiful shapes and fine pointilist ink detail have me wondering if she is also a printmaker. I wish I could find a website for her so I could gaze at more of her work. Click on the library book image for a closer look.

4 comments:

  1. i would really like to read that book! Thank you!

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  2. Hi Ladies

    My sister and I left you an award over at our blog. Thanks for the review on this picture book. I am looking for some good Hanukkah books and this sounds like a good one.

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  3. Thank you Scribbler, I LOVE your Vintage Books Blog!!!
    Yes, Lindsay, This is a really good factual read of the Hanukkah story with wonderful illustrations. I hope that you will get your hands on a copy.
    Thank you so much for the award Caribookscoops :) It's funny that we have so much in common as sisters who blog about books! Your childhood photos are so fun and sweet.
    Happy Holidays Everyone!

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