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BRs: When Jessie Came Across the Sea, Hest; One Fine Day, Hogrogian; Asher and the Capmakers, Kimmel
Title: When Jessie Came Across the Sea
Author: Amy Hest
Illustrator: P.J. Lynch
Published: Candlewick, 1997
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 515,140
Text Number: 1866
Read Because: little free library find (someone in my neighborhood has been offloading a bunch of Jewish picture books and I am Here for It)
Review: I'm glad that explicitly Jewish picture books exist; the more explicitly [demographic] [medium] out there, the better the odds that there will be great ones. But I don't know that this is one of the great ones: It's a relatively straightforward, earnest but sanitized, immigration narrative. Including "rest in peace" is weird—this might be a different story if written today, when it could be even more Jewish. I recognize Lynch's art from The Haunted Lake, and it's exquisite and richly detailed and classical. All perfectly nice but not especially memorable.
Title: One Fine Day
Author: Nonny Hogrogian
Published: Aladdin, 1974
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 515,170
Text Number: 1867
Read Because: little free library find
Review: A reversed for want of a nail slash cumulative song narrative apparently based on an Armenian folktale, this has a lot of structural repetition while eschewing literal repetition—not a combination I often see, and I like it! It does a picture book a distinct disadvantage to introduce a fox into a vaguely autumnal setting & palette and then not draw his most distinctive feature; still, lovely rich texture and golden colors, with slightly janky art. Interesting, atmospheric, not a keeper.
Title: Asher and the Capmakers
Author: Eric A. Kimmel
Illustrator: Will Hillenbrand
Published: Holiday House, 1993
Rating: 4.5 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 515,200
Text Number: 1868
Read Because: little free library find
Review: While seeking an egg for Hanukkah latke, Asher is instead swept up by capmaking fairies in a journey to Jerusalem. The illustrations resemble colored woodcuts with dark, slanting linework, dynamic and twisting; that magic and borderline-spooky edge is in the writing, too, which borrowed from Celtic mythology to whisk its protagonist away. Kimmel also wrote Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, so, dude loves a spooky Jewish story and, guess what, me too. (Tablet offers a few more spooky suggestions from his catalog.) Atmospheric, weird, and one I'm keeping for a winter reread.
Author: Amy Hest
Illustrator: P.J. Lynch
Published: Candlewick, 1997
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 515,140
Text Number: 1866
Read Because: little free library find (someone in my neighborhood has been offloading a bunch of Jewish picture books and I am Here for It)
Review: I'm glad that explicitly Jewish picture books exist; the more explicitly [demographic] [medium] out there, the better the odds that there will be great ones. But I don't know that this is one of the great ones: It's a relatively straightforward, earnest but sanitized, immigration narrative. Including "rest in peace" is weird—this might be a different story if written today, when it could be even more Jewish. I recognize Lynch's art from The Haunted Lake, and it's exquisite and richly detailed and classical. All perfectly nice but not especially memorable.
Title: One Fine Day
Author: Nonny Hogrogian
Published: Aladdin, 1974
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 515,170
Text Number: 1867
Read Because: little free library find
Review: A reversed for want of a nail slash cumulative song narrative apparently based on an Armenian folktale, this has a lot of structural repetition while eschewing literal repetition—not a combination I often see, and I like it! It does a picture book a distinct disadvantage to introduce a fox into a vaguely autumnal setting & palette and then not draw his most distinctive feature; still, lovely rich texture and golden colors, with slightly janky art. Interesting, atmospheric, not a keeper.
Title: Asher and the Capmakers
Author: Eric A. Kimmel
Illustrator: Will Hillenbrand
Published: Holiday House, 1993
Rating: 4.5 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 515,200
Text Number: 1868
Read Because: little free library find
Review: While seeking an egg for Hanukkah latke, Asher is instead swept up by capmaking fairies in a journey to Jerusalem. The illustrations resemble colored woodcuts with dark, slanting linework, dynamic and twisting; that magic and borderline-spooky edge is in the writing, too, which borrowed from Celtic mythology to whisk its protagonist away. Kimmel also wrote Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, so, dude loves a spooky Jewish story and, guess what, me too. (Tablet offers a few more spooky suggestions from his catalog.) Atmospheric, weird, and one I'm keeping for a winter reread.