Hannukah book presentation

Yesterday was the Hannukah books presentation at Porter Square Books that Rabbi Eliana was part of, and I took notes when I was there, so, here they are.

Penny Schwartz moderated; Jaqueline Dembar Greene was invited to talk about her books, and Rabbi Eliana spoke about some of her favorite Hannukah books.

Greene is the author of the AMERICAN GIRL: REBECCA series, about a Jewish girl in 1914 New York. In CANDLELIGHT FOR REBECCA, Rebecca tries to negotiate being Jewish at Christmastime, an issue which was relevant in 1914, and continues to be relevant today. Is Christmas an American holiday that immigrants should celebrate as part of their new culture? Is it a Christian holiday that Jews don't celebrate?

The other book she talked about was a picture book called NATHAN'S HANNUKAH BARGAIN. Nathan has saved five dollars from his allowance, and has decided that he wants a menorah of his own -- but he has a very specific image in his mind of what he wants. But the ones at the Judaica stores are far, far out of his price range, and they're not what he wants, anyway. His grandfather tells him about what it was like to haggle for prices . . . and then, as they're walking along the street, he sees exactly the menorah he wants in the window of an antique shop. The proprietor wants $12 . . . can Nathan get the price down to what he can afford?

Rabbi Eliana started with HERSCHEL AND THE HANNUKAH GOBLINS by Eric A. Kimmel -- a slightly-scary book about a clever hero who manages to defeat the Hannukah-hating goblins in the village he visits.

She then went on to point out that there are is almost an overabundance of great Hannukah books out there. That morning, she'd chatted with kids in the school, asking them about their favorites, and she never got the same answer twice -- and she'd herself only heard about half of the books. But, she'd noticed, that with all these great Hannukah stories out there -- one that was under-represented was the actual Hannukah story itself. A lot of the kids knew plenty of great books about Hannukah -- but weren't real clear on the whole story with the Maccabees, the re-dedication of the Temple, the miracle of the oil.

Fortunately, this year, there is a new picture book out that covers that story, as well as having fun extras -- THE STORY OF HANUKKAH by David Adler, illustrated by Jill Weber. As an aside, Jill Weber has an exhibition at the Danforth Museum in Framingham going on right now, of the illustrations from this book. Besides the story, it's also got a latke recipe, and the rules of dreidel. Just to make sure you've got them.

The third book Rabbi Eliana mentioned was Hanukkah Around the World, by Tami Lehman-Wilzig -- a picture book of eight stories about Hanukkah traditions in eight different countries, with an appropriate recipe to go along with each story. So, if you get tired of latkes, you've got seven other dishes, as well.

Penny Schwartz finished off the presentation. She's a book reviewer, and spoke on some of her favorite recent Hannukah books, too.

She started off with another picture book by Lehman-Wilzig is NATHAN BLOWS OUT THE HANUKKAH CANDLES, about what it's like when your older brother is autistic. She then went on to another book by Eric A. Kimmel -- a Hannukah take on the Sorcerer's Apprentice called THE GOLEM'S LATKES.

Then she showed us an absolutely breathtaking book called Channukah Lights, by Michael J. Rosen, and Robert Sabudah. It's a pop-up book. But by "pop-up", I mean that every page is absolutely stunning papercut artwork. I don't really see it as a children's book, because, well, I HAD pop-up books when I was a kid, and they didn't really survive long. It'd be a pity to see this book get shredded the way all of my pop-up books did.

Of course, she also gave a shout-out to ellen_kushner's THE GOLDEN DREYDL. At this point, the story exists as a book, as well as the original musical.

I just realized that there might be people out there who AREN'T familiar with this, so I probably should explain. Shirim is Boston's best klezmer ensemble. They arranged a klezmer version of The Nutcracker Suite. Kushner heard this, loved it, and wrote a Jewish version of the story of the Nutcracker ballet, and then Shirim and Kushner recorded it as a holiday special for Kushner's radio show. Kushner's now done a book version of it, as well.

Anyway, the final thing that Schwartz mentioned was a series of books about Rabbi Rocketpower, written by Rabbi Susan Abramson, about a superpowered rabbi. Because, y'know, why not? They're apparently a lot of fun.

To finish off, let me just throw in my own suggestion of a Hannukah kids' book: The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming, by Lemony Snicket.

Okay, I hope some of these are helpful for some of you!

Alan Moore snarking about Frank Miller. . .

If you all recall, Frank Miller recently wrote an incredibly stupid rant against Occupy Wall Street. And, since then, more intelligent folks (i.e., most of them) have been responding. For instance, John Kovalic turned it into a Mad Libs.

Anyway, I thought one of Alan Moore's comments was worth reposting:

[Occupy Wall Street]'s a completely justified howl of moral outrage and it seems to be handled in a very intelligent, non-violent way, which is probably another reason why Frank Miller would be less than pleased with it. I’m sure if it had been a bunch of young, sociopathic vigilantes with Batman make-up on their faces, he’d be more in favour of it.