The Ugly Menorah [Paperback]

Marissa Moss (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2000 | Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

A Hanukkah story that emphasizes the importance of remembering

On the first Hanukkah since Rachel's grandpa died, Rachel is keeping her grandma company. "Where is your menorah, Grandma?" Rachel asks. When Grandma points to a plain wooden board with tin cylinders, Rachel can't help crying, "It's so ugly!" Then Rachel listens as Grandma tells the menorah's history, and Grandpa seems to fill the house again. That night, when Grandma lights the candles, the experience is intensified -- and the menorah is transformed. In gentle words and pictures that weave together past and present, Marissa Moss creates a warm family story with a timeless theme.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This wan effort uses the holiday setting to drive home familiar lessons from the beauty-is-in-the-eyes-of-the-beholder school. Spending Hanukkah with her recently widowed grandmother, Rachel thinks her grandmother's menorah is ugly, even after she is told how her grandfather lovingly fashioned it from scraps years ago when he could not afford to buy a fancy one. But after it's lit, Rachel has an (unconvincing) epiphany: "For the first time since Grandpa died, she felt he was with her again." As if to underscore the point about appearances, Moss's illustrations are almost aggressively plain, with stiff, almost gauche figures peopling ill-lit settings. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"When Rachel goes to spend Hanukkah with her grandma, she feels sad since it is the first year since grandpa died. She is also a little unhappy because instead of the beautiful silver menorah her parents use, her grandmother has 'a plain wooden board with tin cylinders to hold the candles.' In a story-within-a-story format...readers hear Rachel's grandmother's story of why the menorah is so precious to her; her husband made it when they were very young and poor." --School Library Journal

"[A] warmhearted family tale." --School Library Journal

"Moss stays true to the perspective of the young Rachel with such an unerring eye that the feeling that this is a true family story is very strong." - The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) (October 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374480478
• ISBN-13: 978-0374480479
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 8.6 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,725,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marissa Moss has been telling stories and drawing pictures to go with them for as long as she can remember. She sent her first book to publishers when she was nine, but it wasn't very good and it never got published. She didn't try again until she was a grown-up, but since then she hasn't stopped.

The idea for the first Amelia's Notebook came from the notebook Moss kept when she was a kid. Amelia is a lot like her and the things that happen to Amelia really happened to Marissa (mostly).

Along with Amelia, Moss has created many characters and is especially drawn to history. Historical books allows her to imagine what it's like to be alive in a different place at a completely different time. And then there are the Max Disaster books which allow her to play with scientific experiments, inventions, and comic strips.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THIS WILL LIGHT UP YOUR HOLIDAY, December 13, 2000

By 

BeatleBangs1964 (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Ugly Menorah (Hardcover)

This gently written Hannukah story is a lesson in what is really beautiful. Rachel visits her grandmother and comments on an old, obviously hand made menorah made of odds and ends. She thinks it is ugly and tells her grandmother that.

Rachel's grandmother, a wise and articulate woman tells Rachel that she just needs to understand the story behind that menorah. She described her life as a young wife during the Depression Years when money was hard to come by. She saw a beautiful, very ornate menorah in a shop window and wanted it. Unable to afford it, her husband went into his shop, and, using assorted scraps around the place built a makeshift menorah. That way, they could celebrate the ancient, wonderful traditions together with something he had made.

Rachel is understandably moved by the menorah's history. She decides it is beautiful because it was made by love. When her mother comes to pick her up and comments on how ugly she thinks the menorah is, Rachel tells her it is NOT ugly, it is beautiful!

Rachel was right. It really was beautiful, just like this story.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars my favorite hanukkah tale, September 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Ugly Menorah (Hardcover)

Over the eight days of Hanukkah, there's ample time to sneak this book into your child's bedtime readings. It is lovely tale that teaches that beauty can be found in the most simple things. Reinforcing the idea of Hanukkah, that spiritual items, though they may look mundane, have greater power and beauty than a more Hellenistic idea of artistic beauty.