Kimmel, Eric. Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins. New York: Holiday House, 1985.
In this unique and exhilarating Hanukkah tale, Hershel must try and save Hanukkah from the goblins and bring back the excitement and celebration of the festival of lights to the village. Hershel has to spend the eight nights of Hanukkah in the synagogue outwitting the goblins to keep the menorah burning each night. This book has been recognized as a Caldecott Honor Book.
Through this fictional story of Hanukkah, Kimmel incorporates traditional themes that relate to Hanukkah and uses them in ways that if you were not Jewish might confuse you. For example, when Hershel uses the dreidel game to trick the goblin he explains it with a twist which is not consistent with the way the game is actually played. The overall story is exciting and unique which is different than the majority of the Hanukkah literature out there for kids. It doesn’t persuade to teach about the holiday but uses the holiday to share a fictional, entertaining story. At the end of the book there is an explanation of the holiday and how it came about. It also explains the dreidel game clarifying that the game in the book is created by Hershel himself which helps outsiders prevent inaccurate information about the holiday and things that may relate to it. The explanation at the end also explains the word “Shammes” which is used through the text as well as the term Latkes which are also discussed and not explained in the story. By providing this information at the end of the book, it gives readers a chance to learn about the holiday if they would like without taking away from the actually story and leading it to be repetitive for many insiders.
A review of this book and explanation from the author, Eric Kimmel can be found in the article titled “Joy on Beale Street” which was published in The lion and the Unicorn, Volume 27, issue 3 on page 410.
In this unique and exhilarating Hanukkah tale, Hershel must try and save Hanukkah from the goblins and bring back the excitement and celebration of the festival of lights to the village. Hershel has to spend the eight nights of Hanukkah in the synagogue outwitting the goblins to keep the menorah burning each night. This book has been recognized as a Caldecott Honor Book.
Through this fictional story of Hanukkah, Kimmel incorporates traditional themes that relate to Hanukkah and uses them in ways that if you were not Jewish might confuse you. For example, when Hershel uses the dreidel game to trick the goblin he explains it with a twist which is not consistent with the way the game is actually played. The overall story is exciting and unique which is different than the majority of the Hanukkah literature out there for kids. It doesn’t persuade to teach about the holiday but uses the holiday to share a fictional, entertaining story. At the end of the book there is an explanation of the holiday and how it came about. It also explains the dreidel game clarifying that the game in the book is created by Hershel himself which helps outsiders prevent inaccurate information about the holiday and things that may relate to it. The explanation at the end also explains the word “Shammes” which is used through the text as well as the term Latkes which are also discussed and not explained in the story. By providing this information at the end of the book, it gives readers a chance to learn about the holiday if they would like without taking away from the actually story and leading it to be repetitive for many insiders.
A review of this book and explanation from the author, Eric Kimmel can be found in the article titled “Joy on Beale Street” which was published in The lion and the Unicorn, Volume 27, issue 3 on page 410.
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