First of what promises to be a highly selective but at least not humorless set of introductions to biblical events.
An ancient scroll transports two modern children and a dog back to witness the biblical Creation.
Great-Uncle Solomon says he has a jarful of scrolls that “prove the Bible is true.” A midnight venture into his library leaves white Peter, 9, his adopted, Chinese 10-year-old sister, Mary, and their unusually smart dog, Hank, floating in a dark but not airless void until a big voice calls out “LET THERE BE LIGHT.” As similar all-cap commands bring day, night, water, and the rest, white-robed Michael arrives in a boat, warns that Satan lurks nearby (“I have a feeling that he is going to try to mess things up here”), and tells them that they have seven days to guess the meaning of the scroll’s secret Hebrew message or they’ll be stuck. When the great serpent shows up he gets a karate kick to the face from Mary, after which the children watch the “first man” (white, in the drawing) rise and name the animals (Hank gets to be “dog”). Peter translates the scroll’s message (“GOD CREATED EVERYTHING”) just in time and brings the travelers back to hear from their great-uncle how God kicked the first man and woman out of Eden but will “fix everything someday.” How? Repeated oblique mention of a lion (the only remotely subtle thing about the tale) might furnish a hint. Book 2, Race to the Ark, publishes simultaneously. Howells’ cartoon illustrations (many not seen) are as straightforward and artless as the text.
First of what promises to be a highly selective but at least not humorless set of introductions to biblical events. (Religion/fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8249-5684-4
Page Count: 112
Publisher: WorthyKids/Ideals
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
A different take on a difficult subject.
A young Jewish girl and her family must flee when the Nazis march into Paris.
Before the Nazis came, life was good. But when the “bad men came / in their brown shirts, guns in hands,” everything changed. All Jews must wear yellow stars, Papa can no longer work, the family is forced from their home, and they are cursed in the streets. They leave the city to live in the woods, enduring hunger, cold and fear of capture. They embark on a long, arduous journey over the mountains to Spain and then across to England and loving relatives. The little girl is aware of the dangers and her parents’ courage, and she remains steadfastly sure that a guardian angel is watching over them. When they return to Paris at the end of the war, there is a beautiful, monumental angel, surely the very one who had kept them safe, holding up the roof of their new apartment building. The girl narrates in an oddly dispassionate free-verse voice, so sure is she of the happy outcome for her family. Though an author’s note provides additional information about the war and the Holocaust and the staggering number of deaths, it will be difficult for young readers to make the connection between the narrator’s experience and the grim reality of the millions who perished. Green’s mixed-media illustrations are appropriately dark and menacing.
A different take on a difficult subject. (Picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: March 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-399-16741-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
This exciting retelling of the Hanukkah story should appeal to both Jewish and non-Jewish children.
Devorah and her younger brother, Benjamin, anxiously await their Hanukkah presents.
They are disappointed when their grandparents give them only a very old, misshapen dreidel to share, but Mom knows that this dreidel has magical properties that once helped her reach a true understanding of Hanukkah. The children’s first spin lands on Shin, meaning they have lost something. They have also somehow landed (with the dreidel) in ancient Modi’in, where Jews are in conflict with the Syrian king. The children find that they are speaking and understanding Hebrew and quickly become caught up in the fight between the Maccabees and the Syrian army. After the next spin, Nun, meaning neither gain nor loss, two years have passed and the battles continue. Hey, or halfway, leads to “a great miracle happened here”: one night’s oil burning for eight nights. Finally they spin Gimmel, or everything, and at last return home with a better understanding of their holiday traditions. These modern children are not only witnesses; they use historical information to guide the Maccabees’ leaders and to participate bravely in the events—to the extent that the author seems to imply that these ancients might not have been able to succeed without them. Castro’s black-and-white cartoon illustrations provide readers with visual context, depicting both historical and modern characters with pale skin.
This exciting retelling of the Hanukkah story should appeal to both Jewish and non-Jewish children. (Historical fiction/fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5415-4672-1
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
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