Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

The subtitle of Sadie Rose Weilerstein’s K’Tonton in the Circus, a Hanukkah Adventure is slightly misleading. Only 8 of the book’s 85 pages are centered on Hanukkah. But that section is well integrated into the rest of the story that details Ktonton’s, a 4 inch tall boy’s adventures, when he was taken to a traveling circus. If you haven’t read any K’tonton book you are in for a treat. Weilerstein teaches Judaism, by intertwining Torah, haggadah, midrash, and even halakhah with other subjects, in this case the life of a circus. The reader learns about both, through the perspective of the boy who keeps kosher, says his prayers and even manages to celeberate Hanukkah with his newfound friends as the first Jewish person amongst them. There is even a reasonable (and Jewish) explanation why he seems so content and not missing his parents terribly. For a while.

A small line drawing of a circus animal by Marilyn Hirsh’s starts off the chapters and she did a half or full page illustration for each of the 15 chapters. The book is not just educational in both areas (Judaism and circus life), but also a great and fun read. Enlightened readers might object to the living conditions and exploitation of the circus animals (and performers for that matter), but you might view the subject matter differently if you remember that it was written almost 30 years ago.