THE STORY OF HANUKKAH

The origin of the Festival of Lights, retold in clear, well-cadenced, biblically formal language. Rather than reconstructing historical events in specific detail, Ehrlich focuses on the holiday's importance and meaning for Jews. As in The Four Questions (p. 300/C-50), Sherman's heavy, stylized gouaches have strong visual impact (sometimes at the expense of consistency: the cruse of purified oil found in the desecrated temple looks different on different pages), though these do not have quite the rich beauty of the companion volume. Still, this makes another good showcase for a memorable artist whose decorative illustrations emphasize the story's heroic dimension. For the human side, see Adler's A Picture Book of Hanukkah (1985) and Greenfield's Chanukah (1976).