A few brave souls in a Nazi camp are determined to gather nine spoons to make a menorah for Chanukah.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2?As her grandchildren cluster around Oma on the last night of Chanukah, she tells them about a long-ago celebration when she was a young woman in a Nazi concentration camp. Her bunkmate, an artist named Raizel, declared that she could make a menorah for the children in the barracks if only she had nine spoons. Such utensils were a rare and precious commodity, but the interned women took risks and made sacrifices to obtain them. By twisting and bending the spoons together, Raizel fashioned a menorah, and the children experienced their own Chanukah miracle. This moving story, based on a real incident, is told in a simple and straightforward manner. The horrors of the camp are not graphically depicted, but even young children will gain an understanding of the deprivations faced by the inmates. However, some aspects of the narrative are vague, such as how Raizel managed to twist those spoons in one night, and how Oma ended up with the menorah. The illustrations are rendered in muted tones of blue, gray, and green; the prisoners are depicted as being gaunt but not emaciated.?EM
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
Top Picks The Poignant picture book is almost unbelievable, and absolutely true: Women in a Nazi slave labor camp risk their lives when they beg, borrow, and steal spoons to twist into a menorah for the holiday of lights. The Association of Jewish Libraries honored the title this year. --US News and World report, December 6 1999
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I recommend this book very highly as an addition to anyone's bookshelf of children's Chanukah literature. As a teacher and youth director, I have read the story to children grades 2-5. Every child is spell-bound by the story. The fact that it is based on real-life events makes it even more meaningful to them. This book is not to introduce the concepts/practices of the holiday. Rather it provides a mature dimension to the holiday. Though set during the Holocaust, the themes of deprivation and loss are softened by the fact that a the narrator, a grandmother, in either voice or image appears on many pages. It is helpful if the children have some prior knowledge of what the holocaust was, but the book's text gently explains all the necessary ideas without delving into traumatic loss or death. The illustrations are not as finely drawn as I would have wished. Others might find the drawings complementary to the book's stark setting. Bottom line, the illustrations don't in any way detract from the impact of the story. This is a special book to take out yearly during the holiday season.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This story is a really well written and illustrated age appropriate introduction to the Holocaust. Should be in every home and Library. Won the Sydney Taylor Award for best book.
Format:Hardcover
I like this story for third grade and up. It reveals some scary information for the youngest readers. However, it firmly reassures children that Judaism will continue into the future at the end of the story. Also, it introduces the concept of spiritual resistance, which I think is essential to an understanding of how many religious Jews reacted to the Shoah. My only concern about this story is that it is fiction, and because so many people have unfortunately tried to deny the Holocuast, children should be introduced to first-hand accounts of the events as soon as they are emotionally capable of handling them.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Beautiful Chanukah Story
This is one of the best Chanukah books I've read in a long time. Beautifully illustrated. A great work that introduces the difficult story of the Holocaust and the beautiful story... Read more
Published on April 23, 2008 by stevie speaks
Terrific Book on Hannukah During the Holocaust
This is a wonderful moving story of a woman who was able to fashion a menorrah for Hannukah out of spoons. Read more
Published on February 28, 2008 by Lynn Ellingwood
A charming important story by a great Palm Springs author
The talented Marci Stillerman infuses this remarkable matzo-ball-soup concoction with the sense of wonder requisite in children's writing, the sense of history that we all need... Read more
Published on April 23, 2005 by Kristin J. Johnson
Children shoul learn about holocaust
Children should learn about greatest tragedy, that happened to the humankind. It is tough, but they should know. Read more
Published on July 4, 2001
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