Runaway Dreidel! - Hardcover

Newman, Lesléa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805062378 ISBN 13: 9780805062373

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2002

Synopsis

A fantastical Chanukah journey

"'Twas the first night of Chanukah and on the fifth floor,
There was holiday hustling and bustling galore . . .
Grandma was slicing up two chocolate babkas,
Grandpa was grating potatoes for latkes."

On the first night of Chanukah a lucky boy receives a shiny new dreidel, but once it starts spinning it just won’t stop! With a mind of its own, the dreidel spins quickly across the floor, out the door, and on down the street, with its excited owner and family in hot pursuit. Soon the whole city joins the chase to catch the runaway toy. Where is that dreidel heading, and will it ever stop spinning? This is one journey worth pursuing right up to its magical conclusion!

About this title

About the Author:

Leslea Newman is the author of many popular books for children, including Matzo Ball Moon and Cats, Cats, Cats! Her fond memories of the sights, smells, and tastes of her family’s Chanukah celebrations inspired her to write this story. Ms. Newman lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Kyrsten Brooker has illustrated several acclaimed picture books for young readers, including They Saw the Future and Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street. Ms. Brooker lives with her husband in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* PreS-Gr. 2. With a mix of fun and fantasy, Newman offers the story of a Hanukkah dreidel with a mind of its own. The young narrator spins his holiday gift, and the dreidel takes off: through the living room, out the door, across the street past the shops, and into the country where it flies up to the sky and becomes a star. Early on, the rhyming text uses the rhythms of the "The Night Before Christmas," but then it wheels off into amusing couplets. Yet the words alone might border on the repetitive without Brooker's fantastical illustrations taking them to new heights--literally. The medium is collage and oil paint, but the style evokes magic realism as time and place spin together. The characters are in Orthodox garb, and throughout there is an air of modern life and history melding. Sometimes the action seems like a dream, as the dancing dreidel moves chickens and Hebrew letters out of its way, and children suddenly gallop on horseback to a place where old-fashioned sailing ships glide on sapphire seas. A wild, evocative adventure. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0805062378
• ISBN 13: 9780805062373
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Brooker Kyrsten