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HANUKKAH MOON

Name: HANUKKAH MOON
Author: Deborah da Costa
ISBN: 978-1-58013-244-2

by Deborah da Costa & illustrated by Gosia Mosz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2007

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This Hanukkah, Isobel stays with her Mexican Aunt Luisa and discovers a new way to celebrate the festival of the lights. In addition to lighting the hanukkiah (menorah) and eating the traditional latkes and jelly doughnuts, she learns some of the Sephardic or Spanish Jewish customs for the holiday. Aunt Luisa teaches Isobel to say “Feliz Januca” and to sing the dreidel song in Spanish. When Aunt Luisa’s three girlfriends arrive, it is the promise of celebrating the Hanukkah moon with the breaking of a dreidel-shaped piñata that intrigues Isobel. Together they combine the welcoming of Rosh Hodesh, the first day of the new month, with the appearance of “la luna nueve” (the new moon). Rosh Hodesh is traditionally celebrated by girls and women each month, and the new moon that appears during the Hanukkah week is especially commemorated by Jews in Latin America. Mosz’s whimsical Chagall-style paintings of elongated figures with large expressive almond-shaped eyes in combinations of purple and gold hues add a Latino flavor to this gentle and warmhearted story offering a new perspective on an age-old Jewish holiday. (author’s note, glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007

ISBN: 978-1-58013-244-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Kar-Ben

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
SNOW IN JERUSALEM
by Deborah da Costa & illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright & Ying-Hwa Hu

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MARY POPPINS

by P.L. Travers ; adapted by Amy Novesky ; illustrated by Geneviève Godbout ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 23, 2018

Lovely and evocative, just the thing to spark an interest in the original and its sequels—and the upcoming film sequel, Mary...

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Refined, spit-spot–tidy illustrations infuse a spare adaptation of the 1934 classic with proper senses of decorum and wonder.

Novesky leaves out much—the Bird Woman, Adm. Boom, that ethnically problematic world tour, even Mr. and Mrs. Banks—but there’s still plenty going on. Mary Poppins introduces Jane and Michael (their twin younger sibs are mentioned but seem to be left at home throughout) to the Match-Man and the buoyant Mr. Wigg, lets them watch Mrs. Corry and her daughters climb tall ladders to spangle the night sky with gilt stars, and takes them to meet the zoo animals (“Bird and beast, star and stone—we are all one,” says the philosophical bear). At last, when the wind changes, she leaves them with an “Au revoir!” (“Which means, Dear Reader, ‘to meet again.’ ”) Slender and correct, though with dangling forelocks that echo and suggest the sweeping curls of wind that bring her in and carry her away, Mary Poppins takes the role of impresario in Godbout’s theatrically composed scenes, bearing an enigmatic smile throughout but sharing with Jane and Michael (and even the parrot-headed umbrella) an expression of wide-eyed, alert interest as she shepherds them from one marvelous encounter to the next. The Corrys have brown skin; the rest of the cast presents white.

Lovely and evocative, just the thing to spark an interest in the original and its sequels—and the upcoming film sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, which opens in December 2018. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-328-91677-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: HMH Books

Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

- BOOK REVIEW
MARY POPPINS
by P.L. Travers ; illustrated by Júlia Sardà

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FLUBBY DOES NOT LIKE VALENTINE'S DAY

From the Flubby series

by J.E. Morris ; illustrated by J.E. Morris ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 26, 2023

A holiday title worthy of even the most reticent feline companion.

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Having survived snow and sleep, Flubby faces his most dire opponent yet: heart-shaped holidays.

Right from the start, Flubby’s owner, a brown-haired child with brown skin, declares that since today is Valentine’s Day, they intend to show Flubby some love. Flubby, a stubby-legged white cat with gray markings, reacts as any cat would—which is to say, he couldn’t care less. Cards, fruit baskets, and flowers all prove insufficient gifts for an insufficiently interested cat—he can’t read, he doesn’t like to eat fruit, and the flowers make him sneeze. Fortunately, where gifts fail, good old-fashioned hugs are always a welcome choice. Any cat-owning kid reading this story may instantly recognize Flubby’s very catlike instincts to curl up in an empty heart-shaped box or try to sit in the fruit basket. Humor is conveyed in Flubby’s complete lack of facial expressions, more than anything else. The simple text, ideal for new readers, shines through, illuminating the heart within the story. As holiday titles go, this one sticks to the rudimentary basics of what it truly means to love your pet. Child readers may also find that they identify sometimes with the child owner, and sometimes with the preternaturally self-possessed Flubby.

A holiday title worthy of even the most reticent feline companion. (Early reader. 5-8)