Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

Camp Chai started today. The theme for this week is Israel. Every day, after their lunch I will be reading a story for the campers. (Except one day, when we will be watching a Sesame Street episode about Tel-Aviv.) Here are the books I plan to introduce them to.

Jim Haskins: Count your way through Israel

This book helps to learn the numbers from one to ten in Hebrew. On each page there is a story or relevant fact about Israel that is connected to one of the numbers. These themes are also shown with images, water-paintings. The list includes 1-the land of Israel, 2-David and Goliath, 3-religions (Judaism, Islam, Christianity), 4-questions asked at Pesach, 5-agricultural products of Israel for export (citrus fruits, vegetables, nuts, cotton, flowers, 6-six-pointed Star of David, 7-branches of the menorah, 8-animals that got reintroduced to the desert in modern Israel (Judean Desert leopard, ibex, Mesopotamian fallow deer, striped hyena, hyrax, Asiatic wild ass, white oryx, ostrich), 9-Israeli export products (polished diamonds, military equipment, x-ray machines, clothing, leather goods, computers, chemicals, solar-energy technology, irrigation system), and 10- lost tribes.

I was surprised that the “One” did not refer to G-d. Also the focus on the export goods was a bit forced. Finally I think for the target audience (young children) it would have been beneficial if the Hebrew words/numbers were pointed, including the vowels. Despite these observations the book and its drawing was fun enough.

Sheila Segal: Joshua’s dream

A mother tells her young son (both living in the Diaspora, presumably in the US) about his Great-Aunt Rivka, who was a Zionist in the early 20th century. The boy, inspired by Aunt Rivka’s heroic work to make the desert bloom, plants a tree himself there the first time the family visits Israel. The book is illustrated with pencil sketches. Except on the last page; that has a black-and-white photograph showing a young boy planting a tree. This makes me believe that the story is based on the author and her son. It teaches about family connections/values, and the importance of making the world (in this case the desert) a better place. What’s not to like?

Samuel Grand: The children of Israel

As the title suggest this book shows the lives of the children in Israel. It does so by providing two-four photographs on each page and two-four paragraphs of texts as well. There are two details that I appreciated about this book. One of them is that the text boldfaced keywords on each page, making it easier to scan and remember. The other is that key words and phrases are introduced in fully pointed Hebrew (and transliteration as well), making it easier to learn those words. The result of observing the pictures, having the words emphasized and seeing them in Hebrew is effective learning. The book is divided into ten chapters, each focusing on one of these themes: the children, school, play, kibbutz, nature, diversity, arab children, Jerusalem, holidays, and finally how to keep in touch with children in Israel. The book was published in 1972, so it might feel dated, but the photos are great, making the children and the land alive. The text is informative enough too.

Ephraim Sidon, Hanan Kaminski and Gil Elkabetz: The animated Israel – a homecoming

I already blogged about this book here.