Chanukah Tales From Oykvetchnik - Softcover

Davis, Scott Hilton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0997533412 ISBN 13: 9780997533415

Publisher: Jewish Storyteller Press, 2017

Synopsis

Winner of a 2018 Silver Ben Franklin Award from the Independent Book Publishers Association and a 2018 Bronze IPPY Medal from the Independent Publisher Awards!

Celebrate the holiday of Chanukah with eight original short stories by Jewish storyteller Scott Hilton Davis. Enjoy a fun-filled journey to Oykvetchnik, the tiny shtetl town in Eastern Europe where people complain a lot.

Meet Chaim the Chanukiyah, the nine-branched menorah, who feels out of place in his new home, Myzeleh the Mouse who helps a poor orphan boy find his true calling, Pinchas ben Mordechai who survives twenty-five years in the Tsar's army, Reb Shimon the Shammes who has lost the synagogue's big menorah, Channele the Rabbi's daughter who finally meets her besherter (her soul mate), and the kind-hearted Dovidl who fears the town's beggar may be the rightful owner of his family's new pawnshop menorah.

One for each night of the holiday, these sweet and heartwarming Chanukah stories will fill your heart with the light of Jewish history, culture, and values. As the candles burn low, spend a few minutes remembering the lives of our ancestors and how they joyfully celebrated their Jewish traditions.

Chanukah Tales from Oykvetchnik is a storybook to be read each year as the chanukiyah comes off the shelf, dreidels start spinning, and the smells of freshly fried latkes waft through the house.

About this title

About the Author

Scott Hilton Davis is a lifelong storyteller, filmmaker, award-winning author, and collector of Jewish short stories written in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Scott began his acting career as a child performing in Jewish skits and plays in Los Angeles, California, and now offers his stories and talks to synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, cultural clubs, and religious school audiences across the country. Scott is the author of a collection of eight original short stories entitled "Chanukah Tales from Oykvetchnik" and "Souls Are Flying! A Celebration of Jewish Stories." Convinced of the historical, cultural, and ethical significance of stories by Sholem Aleichem, I. L. Peretz, Sholem Abramovitsh, and Jacob Dinezon, Scott began using storytelling to bring the works of these beloved Jewish writers to new audiences. As part of this effort, he published the first English translation of Jacob Dinezon's autobiographical short stories, "Memories and Scenes: Shtetl, Childhood, Writers," and established a website to honor the life and career of this important Yiddish writer. Scott is also an Emmy Award-winning producer of documentaries and dramas for public television. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Review

"From the moment I started reading, I was hooked by the stories and the history I was learning about this special holiday, as well as the culture and lifestyle found in the shtetls. Davis's stories are grand fun for reading aloud, and Amy Levine's black and white drawings work perfectly with each tale . . . Chanukah Tales from Oykvetchnik is most highly recommended." --JACK MAGNUS, Readers' Favorite.com

"Chanukah Tales from Oykvetchnik is a book of an enchanted past. . . . These are tiny journeys, short in length, yet, deep in the stuff of the soul, journeys into what it means to be a Jew and what it means to be human." --MARK K. SPANO, Goodreads

Edition details

• Publisher: Jewish Storyteller Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0997533412
• ISBN 13: 9780997533415
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 118
• Illustrator: Levine Amy F.