Festivals Books

The Fall Gathering is an informative tool for young children. The text coupled with wonderfully illustrated pages, make this a colorful,fun book for anyone with or without children. The illustrator captured the essence of the text, and I for one felt compelled to open it due to the cover artwork alone

This is a wonderful multi-purpose book. Used for counting, Thanskgiving, or Native studies. It closes with lots of great receipes and more specific information on fall gatherings.

this book is a wonderful example of winter fun. I really love it a lot. I hope that people of al faiths will be able to enjoy this craft and fun kind of book.

This wonderful book takes the reader through the days of the Christmas season with an activity for each day. My family and I looked forward to each day's activity and found we treasured the time spent together . . . without the television set on! We plan to make it a yearly tradition.

This was a wonderful book that our family enjoyed sharing during this past Lent. We read a story each night either at dinner or later in the evening. The stories of Jesus's life are told from the view point of a child growing up in His time. They were easy to understand and thoroughly engaged my children. If you are seeking a way to bring your child a little closer to Christ this book will help, and the stories can be read any time of year.

I enjoyed the stories that teach about Jesus and the time he lived. They can be enjiyed by the entire family.

As a Teacher and Professional Storyteller, I am always looking for new stories and outstanding re-tellings of classics. This Beautifully illustrated book is the best I have ever seen in my yearly Nov. search for new Christmas stories! I am already working on mastering 9 of its stories to tell and 3 poems that will be read aloud! In the other 17 books I have read, I only found 7 other stories to tell!

Christmas is a very magical time in our home, and this book will be a special part of each Christmas holiday sesaon. It is full of wonderful stories to read to children of all ages! I am very particular about the types of stories that I read to my kids and the themes that I want them exposed to, given their young and impressionable ages; I couldn't recommend this book any higher!

Yes, also for Christians, this book is very informative. There's not mere therory but a marvelous mix of a holiday's meaning in life, biblical and other stories about it, backery etc. I find Christian and Jewish holidays are not too far away different in what really they want to express.

This wonderful book is divided into 11 sections for 11 holidays, each section with several delicious entries.

The book begins at the beginning, with 12 entries on Rosh Hashanah (the birthday of the world) and Yom Kippur. Like all the sections, this one opens with a description of the holidays and their spiritual significance. Next comes a biblical story of Moshe's mistake, whose epigraph explains that there is no Hebrew word for sin. "Het" (pronounced with a guttural "ch") actually means "to miss the mark."

One of these is the tale of Zuzya, adapted from the Yiddish genius, I.L. Peretz. When Zuzya missed prayers, the villagers claimed he was speaking to God. A stranger laughed. The next day, he followed Zuzya as he dressed as a peasant, walked to the woods, gave an old widow wood and lit her hearth comforting her with the assurance that God would provide her funds to pay him later. The section also gives recipes for honey cake and challah, explains the Shofar blasts, and recounts the Torah portion from Yom Kippur afternoon--the story of Jonah and the great fish.

The Sukkot section explains significance of the harvest festival, the booth (open to the sky) that must be built to mark it and the 4 plant species that help to celebrate the feast. Readers are treated to a story for Sukkot from Chelm, the realm of fools; one on invisible guests and the importance of hospitality; and a short David Adler tale of a city family whose landlord objects to their hut on the apartment building roof. Two entries on Simchat Torah follow a recipe for stuffed pumpkin.

For Chanukah, readers will find the music and words to Maoz Tzur (Rock of Ages), a recipe for potato pancakes (latkes), the rules for a game of dreidel--and a delightful Isaac Bashevis Singer tale, Zlateh the Goat.

The remaining sections are each as rich as the first three. The Tu B'Sh'vat (birthday of trees) section includes a Midrashic tale, Honi and the Carob Tree and a story by Janice May Udry. Purim features a play and a story from Sadie Rose Weilerstein on K'tonton, the Jewish Tom Thumb. Pesach (Passover) includes stories about Moses, the Jewish flight from slavery in Egypt and its significance for every Jew today, and Barbara Cohen's modern-day classic, The Carp in the Bathtub.

Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust remembrance day, features the most famous entry from Anne Frank's diary and the famous Hannah Senesh poem, Eili, Eili. It is followed by a moving section on Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israel Independence Day, including Brothers, a story on Jewish flight from the Nazis by Shalom Hetkin.

The book closes with a delightful section on most important Jewish holiday of all, Shabbat. Here we find several prayers and traditions, along with Mrs. Markowitz and the Sabbath Candlesticks by Amy Schwartz.

This book is a treasure chest. Alyssa A. Lappen

This story reflects the way a birthday boy growing up on a farm in the late 1800's might celebrate his birthday. The editor has done an excellent job of taking a short story from within Laura Ingalls Wilder's original book FARMER BOY and making it a short story for youngsters. The pictures are appealing and the story stays focused. I wish the publishers would print another edition of the book. All the stories we have read from the "My First Little House Books" have been thoroughly enjoyed by my family. We often give copies as gifts to other children and we borrow the copies we can't get from the library.

This is another great story in the Little House series. This one is about Almanzo and his life on the farm when he was a young boy. The day begins like any other but ends with a special gift towards "man-hood" for his birthday. My pre-school children love all the Little House books, but this one is particularly loved and read over and over again. The story also teaches selflessness with a surprise at the end.

This book is good for a general introduction of
Muslim holidays to kids. My son was able to read
this book to his first grade class. As a Muslim
Mom I want to be able to use story books to bring
knowledge about our religion to the kids in a fun way.

Most Ramadan books are too difficult to read to my young students and I was missing that perfect book about this holiday. Now I can read them a book the students can enjoy and 1st and 2nd graders can read it on their own too! Thanks for the book, if only it had arrived sooner.

A beautiful book of children's poems, translated from Japanese to English. The poems present a delightful children's perspective on the world. My 8 year old really enjoys reading these poems becuase he can tell that they come from the mind of other children. The book is filled with handsome color and black and white Japanese water colors. The layout leaves plenty of open space, so the book conveys a quiet peacefulness, like a Japanese tea garden. The publisher is Abrams, a first-rate art house, and it shows. The paper stock is thick and rich, the binding is solid. This is one that the kids will enjoy and the parents will appreciate. Highly recommended.

children have always had a refreshing view of the world that adults seem to loose- but now some has been captured and all are free to return again and again to majestical snapshots of our existence. long time poets will salivate with jelousy at the primal beauty of these children's works, read it all and savour the effects it has on your perception of language.

This book is about an old holiday presented in a new way. If you want a book that really reminds us what Hanukkah is about, then this is the one. The illustrations are really appealing and unexpected. Nobody should pass this book up if they celebrate Hanukkah or really want to know what the holiday is about. An extra special addition for adults and older kids is the history of the period.

Dont' miss it!

This book is a Haggadah for Hanukkah --- a service to be used year in and year out, which stresses the idea of religious freedom and the historical context of the holiday. Decorated with original, hand silk-screened illustrations, it is a book to be saved and treasured.Included are the blessings, the story and 16 ways to spell Hanukkah. A special addition is a history of the period in which Hanukkah originated and a history of the artistic development of the menorrah. The book is a limited, numbered edition and fills a special niche in the genre and unlike many, is not a story book nor a how to book.

I love this book. I read it to my preschoolers all month before Halloween and they never tire of it. The illustrations are just beautiful and very enjoyable for the children. The finger play rhyme in the book is very familiar to most of the children and they like to read along. They also enjoy voting for their favorite of the 5 little pumpkins. Very well done.

You remember the little song from grade school about the five little pumpkins! This absolutely charming book uses the lyrics of that Halloween song and combines them with full double page illustrations in bright water-colors. The fun and excitement of trick or treat night is captured so well in this book. Join the neighborhood witches, devils, ghosts and a cute black cat on a visit to the skeleton's haunted house! The five little jack-o-lanterns roll along for some good high-spirited fun with nothing scary that might trouble little ones. Make some great memories when you share this book with children. Happy Halloween!