Drawing on traditional Jewish folklore, these Hanukkah stories relate the antics of the people of Chelm, thought--perhaps incorrectly--to be a town of fools.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Fun Book for Hanukkah:
This is a wonderful book with 8 stories for Hanukkah. Chelm is a town in Poland where God apparently accidentally spilled an entire jar of fools. The irony is that while the people are all fools and almost always wrong, they all have a form of wisdom that can't be denied no matter how hard you try. That foolishness is also the people's charm. How can you deny them? It's fun and there is a lot of humor in this book. I love it and I think my students will too.
We love it:
My daughters love this book. The stories are fun, smart, and wonderful.
Wisdom for sale:
As Eric Kimmel explains in the afterword of another book, he hails from a long line of storytellers. That may be why he is particularly adept at telling these eight delights from Chelm, one for each night of the Festival of Lights.
Now Chelm, as you may know, is the mythical town of fools somewhere in Eastern Europe. And every book of Chelm stories offers a different explanation of how they got there, usually involving God, angels--and a giant slip-up. Kimmel's variation ascends to the level of Isaac... more info
Marvelous stories, good lessons:
This is one of those books that is really fun to read to your kids. The stories, one for each of the eight nights of Hanukkah, are cleverly told. Although the fine people of Chelm are often foolish, the lessons learned are always relayed in a wry, humorous way.
Kimmel has a way with words and the collection of wisdom represented within this book brings a new meaning to the holiday spirit. Our kids love these stories. Like Kimmel's book Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins and others, they like to hear these... more info
