Hanukkah At Valley Forge
By Stephen Krensky, illustrated by Greg Harlin
With the arrival of the celebration of Hanukkah, I wanted to revisit a special book I have spoken about before; Hanukkah at Valley Forge. In 2007 this book received The Sydney Taylor Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries given in recognition of picture books and also those for teens that authentically reflect the Jewish experience. Here, the book’s vivid watercolor illustrations coupled with Mr. Krensky’s fictionalized retelling of a historically researched anecdote come together for what I think is a powerful picture book.
Stephen Krensky’s book, Hanukkah at Valley Forge, combines history and holiday in an interesting way. The parallels of American and Jewish history intertwine on a bitterly cold winter evening at Valley Forge. Faced with increasing uncertainty and mounting odds, General George Washington meets a Polish immigrant observing the first night of Hanukkah with the lighting of the candles there amidst the fading hope of Washington’s ragtag colonial army.
Common themes of man’s need to hope in the face of increasing despair and the price of liberty’s cause, echo in the meeting of these two men at a pivotal point in our nation’s early history. Some historical accuracy was apparently discovered in the research of the book, and it is left to the reader to wonder if chance meetings sometimes turn the tides of men and war.
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Hi Andrea and Mark,
Thank you so much for the kind kind words of support. Part of who we are comes from the company we keep, and I always know I’m in good company with the two of you. :-)
What a treat it was, to come home to a new episode of JOMB after a few days visiting family in Toronto.
Almost at 100..how time has flown! Before we know it we’ll be celebrating your 1000th!
Big hugs
vivian
www.clippodcast.com
Vivian,
You are very welcome. We look forward to meeting you by phone in February — and meeting you in person in June!
We’ll do a crossover show with CLIP for our 1000th episode, ok?
Andrea
Hello Andrea and Mark,
Thank you for all the kind words and for playing our review.
Fantastic Job!
Oh, by the way I’m available for an interview for JOMB 101…just in case you were wondering…
;-)
Andy Bilodeau
Dear Andrea & Mark,
Thanks so much for including my review on your podcast! In listening to it again I can hear that my stuffy nose had not cleared up completely, so I apologize to listeners for that.
Keep up the great work!
Heidi from The Book of Life
Andy, Heidi,
Thank you both for sharing your enthusiasm for these great books and for your kind words.
We’ll definitely check out these two books,
Andrea
I think we should do our 1000th crossover show in person…road trip! Sounds like a solid plan to me ;-)
vivian
Me too!
Andrea