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Searching... Stillwater Public Library | J 296.431 HEI ROSH HASHANAH | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur examines how these Jewish High Holy Days are celebrated worldwide. Rosh Hashanah, known as the Jewish New Year, is a time for reflection and resolution. On Yom Kippur, also called the Day of Atonement, Jews fast, pray, and ask God's forgiveness for their sins. Deborah Heiligman's lively first-person text introduces readers to the sounding of the shofar, the holidays' greeting cards, prayers, and special foods. Rabbi Shira Stern's informative note puts the High Holy Days into wider historical and cultural context for parents and teachers.
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Author Notes
Deborah Heiligman is an award-winning author of numerous children's books. She specializes in simplifying complex subjects for young people, particularly in the areas of science and social studies. Heiligman writes fiction as well as nonfiction for both early readers and middle-grade students. Some of her titles include Babies: All You Need to Know , High Hopes: A Photobiography of John F. Kennedy , and From Caterpillar to Butterfly . She lives in New York City.
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-Lush color photographs show the diversity of the celebrants and bring an immediacy to these observances. Clear, simple texts provide history and background information, descriptions of customs, and basic analyses of each celebration's deeper meaning. The author does not assume uniformity, sensitively noting that some Native Americans mark Independence Day by protesting the loss of Native lands, and by beginning with "Some of us..." when describing various High Holiday customs. Exemplary back matter includes quick facts and extra information to provide context. There is even a map showing where all of the fascinating photos were taken. The use of the first-person plural voice makes the books feel inclusive and welcoming to all readers, whether or not they observe the holidays described. These titles make excellent introductions to the holidays and provide enough background to interest those already familiar with them.-Heidi Estrin, Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
This beautiful explanation of the Jewish High Holy Days depicts the celebration and observance from a global perspective in a colorful, clean photographic design. Jews around the world incorporate the universal symbols of honey, prayers and the Shofar with similar significance. A montage shows multicultural faces of families and children attending services in Zimbabwe, Peru, Portugal and India, and eating slightly different meals. Yet all understand the meaning of a hopeful new beginning symbolized by sweet honey, the atonement everyone feels through prayer and fasting and the blowing of the Shofar to signal the end of a long day of reflection and the start of a new year. The text design is especially well thought-out as key sentences are highlighted in large print that reads as one simple text for preschoolers, while a slightly longer explanation is presented in a smaller font for older children. An appendix of basics regarding the holidays offers facts, explanations of the Torah and the Shofar, the important "Al Het" prayer said as a community and an easy-to-follow recipe for the traditional honey cake. Glossary, bibliography, websites and a map noting the sites of each photograph complete this handsome Holidays Around the World edition. (Nonfiction. 4-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
