A flying goat, buttons the size of sleds, and a castle on Hester Street are some of the widely imaginative stories Julie's grandpa tells her about his journey from Russia to New York many years ago. But Grandma's no-nonsense memories are far different from Grandpa's tall tales.
This classic story, which reveals the immigrant experience with wit and warmth, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award when it was originally published with Linda Heller's own illustrations. Now, on its twenty-fifth anniversary, The Castle on Hester Street is given new life with Boris Kulikov's vibrant paintings.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Castle on Hester Street:
A comparison review between the old version and the new:
The Castle on Hester Street by Linda Heller, a Sydney Taylor Book Award winner, was originally published in 1982 with illustrations by the author. Typical of the era, it features a limited palette of muted colors, used effectively within black and white line drawings. Now, a newly illustrated version by Boris Kulikov offers an expansive full color visual interpretation of the original text. Young Julie is visiting her grandparents, and is... more info
Enough is enough:
It's sad that great children's books go out of print of so often.
This one is about a grandfather's tall tales. He joshed his granddaughter Julie about Hershel the famous astronomer, who discovered the moon is a matzah ball. And Bessie, who used her exceedingly long braids as jumping rope.
And Moishe, the goat from his village in Russia, who pulled his wagon all the way to America--9,092 miles, singing a certain famous song all the way.
But grandpa's best tale was about his real trip on packed... more info
A clever way to introduce the immigrant experience.:
A grandfather tells his grandaughter tall tales about each stage in his immigration to the U.S. and his early life in New York. Then the grandmother deflates each tale and explains how things really were back then. I find this two-step process to be a clever way to teach children about the experience which their grandparents went through, first hooking them with a silly story, and then hitting them with the facts. The book is especially useful for reading aloud to children whose grandparents can no longer... more info
