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Summary
Summary
From an imaginative team come a new larger-than-life holiday hero who brings Hanukkah wonder and generosity to anyone in need!
Nate Gadol is a great big spirit with eyes as shiny as golden coins and a smile that is lantern bright. He can make anything last as long as it is needed, like a tiny bit of oil that must stretch for eight nights, a flower that needs to stay fresh to cheer up someone ailing, or a small lump of chocolate that grows to allow the Glasers to treat their children over the holiday and, during a harsh winter when medicine is needed more than sweets, spurs them to share what little they have with the O'Malleys. In this charming holiday hybrid story, well-known children's author and editor Arthur A. Levine pairs with award-winning illustrator Kevin Hawkes to offer a mythical, magical take on the way Jewish families came to give and receive gifts over Hanukkah, just as their Christian neighbors do at Christmas, thanks to a loving spirit named Nate Gadol working behind the scenes--together with a certain jolly old soul.
Author Notes
Arthur A. Levine has been a children's book editor for more than thirty years. He is also the author of many acclaimed picture books for children, including What a Beautiful Morning , illustrated by Katie Kath, and The Very Beary Tooth Fairy , illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen. He had his own eponymous imprint at Scholastic Press and has published many of the most exceptional children's titles of all time, including J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass, Shaun Tan's The Arrival, and Peggy Rathmann's Officer Buckle and Gloria.
Kevin Hawkes is the illustrator of many books for children, including the best-selling Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen and Weslandia by Paul Fleischman. Kevin Hawkes lives with his family in southern Maine.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Hanukkah isn't Jewish Christmas, so why do some American Jewish kids get presents for the holiday? Levine answers by creating a new mythic character, "great big spirit" Nate Gadol, whose name recalls the first half of the sentence symbolized by the letters on the dreidel: nes gadol hayah sham ("a great miracle happened there"). Drawn by Hawkes as radiantly dashing in a Revolutionary War--era waistcoat, Nate has a special talent: as an answer to prayer, "He made things last as long as they needed to." He created the miracle of the oil lasting for eight nights in ancient times, and he's suited to "making butter stretch for an important cake or keeping a dam strong in a storm." Nate is also buddies with Santa, so when hard times hit a hard-working immigrant neighborhood in 1881, the two collaborate to ensure that neither holiday is shortchanged. In fact, Nate is able to stretch Santa's gifts for the Irish O'Malley family so there's enough chocolate--and presents--for the Jewish Glaser family, too. Some readers will take issue with this nod to consumer culture, but for those who do practice present giving, this visually stunning "supplementary mythology," as Levine writes in an author's note, seeks to "enhance our experience without changing the religious observance and meaning of Jewish holidays." Ages 5--8. (Sept.)
Horn Book Review
Levine's appended note reveals the story's inspiration -- "I have often wished that we could build up a bit more [Hanukkah] mythology" -- and to that end, he invents Nate Gadol, a larger-than-life, Paul Bunyan-esque figure who "in answer to people's prayers...made things last as long as they needed to." We follow Nate's relationship with the Glaser family, eighteenth-century European emigres. As the Glasers struggle to make a new life in America, provide for their children, and assist their neighbors, the O'Malleys, Nate watches over them, and even helps invent the concept of Hanukkah gift-giving (Santa makes a cameo appearance; he and Nate go "way, way back"). Hawkes's painterly acrylic illustrations help deliver a setting both realistic and wondrous. Elissa Gershowitz November/December 2020 p.38(c) Copyright 2020. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A mysterious gift-giver brings holiday cheer in the form of presents for all. With a nod to the late-19th-century immigration of Jews to America, Levine creates a pourquoi tale for the exchange of gifts on Hanukkah. The larger-than-life titular character floats above and around the action wearing a smartly styled blue overcoat and ornate leather boots with a matching leather satchel. His name is taken from the acronym for the four letters on a dreidel, Nes Gadol Hayah and Sham, which translates to "A Great Miracle Happened There" and is the very essence of the great Nate. "He made things last as long as they needed to." His powers were evident a long time ago, "like that little amount of oil," and continue as he makes a small amount of chocolate become more than enough for Mrs. Glaser and her children, a Jewish family in steerage, bound for America. Nate helps her son help their Irish neighbors, the O'Malleys, during the terrible winter of 1881. He also helps his old friend Santa in a rooftop encounter. Now, both the O'Malleys and the Glasers have piles of presents for their holiday celebrations, a tradition for the former and something new for the latter. Hawkes uses richly textured acrylic paints and eye-popping swirls of gold to create illustrations that are at once grounded and otherworldly. All characters have pale skin, Nate's a tad more olive than the others'. A new, entertaining, and thoughtful addition to the Hanukkah canon. (author's note) (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The giant spirit Nate Gadol is larger than life in every sense of the word; his last name even means big! His name is also a playful take on the phrase associated with the Hanukkah spinning top, or dreidel. Nate Gadol's mission is to "make things last as long as they needed to," including making "a tiny bit of oil last eight days and nights," one of the holiday's main miracles. Levine's story brings together the late-nineteenth-century American Jewish experience, in the form of Nate Gadol helping the immigrant Glaser family, and the origin of Hanukkah presents, which are largely borrowed from Christmas; in this telling, they're literally borrowed from Santa Claus. Some readers may object to the presence of Santa Claus in a Jewish book, and the promise that "Nate Gadol is never far away if a family is . . . short of a magical holiday" rings a bit hollow in today's world. Nevertheless, many readers will be charmed by the book's mythological feeling, which is enhanced by Hawkes' painterly illustrations.
