By
– September 1, 2011
The laws of parody probably allow this book to be published, but the authors owe the entire structure and plot of this Hanukkah book to Dr. Seuss and this fact is only mentioned mildly on the front flap. Action packed, quirky, humorous illustrations and a superb definition of a kvetch are not enough to distract from a heavy handed moral tale delivered in painfully stretched rhymes. The children in Oyville awake to find all their menorahs are gone; the reader knows the kvetch stole them and took them to the “top of the hill”. Oyville’s children, deeper into menorahs and holiday history than gifts or gelt, understand after just one incident that the kvetch hates Hanukkah because of an inner fear: “Maybe you’d rather see things as bleak because somewhere inside, you feel frightened and weak.” Psychologically primed, the youngsters right his problem with platitudes on social justice, charity and hope. Everyone and everything beams at the end: children, parents,kvetch and especially all the menorahs heaped on an Oyville hill with the presents. Clearly the authors are trying for a Jewish take on The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, but regretfully, they took on the master of the genre and missed the mark. For ages 4 – 8.
Ellen G. Cole, a retired librarian of the Levine Library of Temple Isaiah in Los Angeles, is a past judge of the Sydney Taylor Book Awards and a past chairperson of that committee. She is a co-author of the AJL guide, Excellence in Jewish Children’s Literature. Ellen is the recipient of two major awards for contribution to Judaic Librarianship, the Fanny Goldstein Merit Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries and the Dorothy Schroeder Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries of Southern California. She is on the board of AJLSC.
