My Grandmother's Stories - Hardcover

Geras, Adele

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679809104 ISBN 13: 9780679809104

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1990

Synopsis

A little girl goes to visit her grandmother, who tells her stories from a long tradition of Jewish storytelling, including tales of fools and wise men, of domestic dilemmas and faraway places.

About this title

Review

Inspired by the everyday trinkets and treasures in her apartment, a grandmother tells her curious granddaughter stories based on their Russian Jewish heritage. An old tin button box reminds Grandmother about the poor farmer who outwitted a Czar. While cutting up apples for a strudel, Grandmother recalls the tale of a very rich, very greedy merchant who learned a lesson at the table of King Solomon. Choosing among carnations, gladioli, and roses in Moshe’s flower shop makes Grandmother think of a garden of talking--and bickering--flowers.

This collection of 10 traditional Jewish folk tales, first published in 1990, is now gorgeously illustrated by Caldecott Honor Book recipient Anita Lobel (On Market Street). Author Adele Geras, who also penned the critically acclaimed young adult novel Troy, has captured the rhythm and cozy warmth of a loving grandmother’s storytelling. Readers of all ages will love to curl up with the granddaughter for an afternoon of magical, wondrous shared lore. (Ages 8 and older) --Emilie Coulter

From the Inside Flap

?Like all good stories in the Yiddish tradition, the pleasure of Geras? collection comes as much from the telling as from what happens. These are stories within stories: the narrator remembers herself as a young child hearing them from her grandmother, as they cooked, hung up laundry, prepared for the Sabbath, or cleaned house for Passover. This framing of the stories emphasizes their continuing pleasure across generations; and customs, idioms, traditions, even recipes that the Jews brought with them from Eastern Europe are an unobtrusive part of the telling.?
?Booklist, Starred

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0679809104
• ISBN 13: 9780679809104
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 96