A Chanukah Noel: A True Story

annette — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:00:00 +0000

A Chanukah Noel is a welcome addition to the limited but much-needed canon of interfaith children’s books, and it has the particular additional benefit of being entirely secular. This combination of qualities already sets it apart from most Christmas picture books. The story is about a young Jewish girl named Charlotte who moves to rural France and struggles to fit in. She is held back several grades until she learns French, she’s called ‘the foreigner’ by a classmate, she’s afraid she’ll be left out of the Christmas grab bag gift swap, and her parents tell her she has to study French while everyone else is enjoying their Christmas vacation. She finds Chanukah a poor substitute for what she sees going on around her–decorations, lights, a traditional travelling Christmas market, shops full of gifts and rich foods. It’s not entirely altruism-driven when she hits upon a great way to support a poorer classmate who celebrates, but can’t afford all the trappings. She convinces her parents to let her experience Christmas by proxy: they do all the usual holiday preparations and then donate the food, gifts and decorations to her classmate’s family.

The protagonist is flawed, but in touch with her emotions. Parents of children in Charlotte’s position will find this story valuable for modelling emotional literacy. Envy is named and owned, distinctions are made between religious and national customs, and the word miracle, which is nearly always used in religious Christmas and Chanukah stories, is applied very specifically to human generosity in this one.

It’s a very matter-of-fact take on a real experience of a child whose family doesn’t celebrate Christmas, and it acknowledges the benefits of sharing cultural traditions. The portrayal of class is glossed over more than some may like–a very brief conversation, where Charlotte insists that the family who receives the Christmas goose and decorations would be doing her a favour–sums up the exchange in a way that makes sense from the point of view of the young main character, and may oversimplify the complex hierarchy of charitable giving, but an event at the end of the story equalizes the exchange. This is a true story, and I appreciated it in the sense that it was a snippet of a real event retold to the author and illustrator. From that perspective, it stands alone well. However, after the story ended, I wanted to know more: why did they have to move to France? Was it during the war? A little more recently? Did it take Charlotte a long time to learn French? Unfortunately, these questions aren’t answered, but the rich honesty of the story–despite its deceptively simple narrative–makes me want to hear from this author and illustrator again.

Speaking of the illustrations, the expressiveness in each picture combined with the slightly muted color palate gives the impression of old film footage. The Christmas market actually looked just like the local ones that visit Yorkshire every year, to my surprise and delight. People, landscapes and kitchen utensils are afforded the same attention to detail and fit well with the story.

Half my family is Jewish and the other half is Catholic, and we do a bit of both holidays every December. I missed out on secular interfaith holiday books as a kid, and really appreciated this story personally. More, please.

Written by: Chella Quint, December 21st 2010

Home Free

admin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:43:00 +0000

By Sharon Jennings

Second Story Press

Books with young female characters who love books make my heart smile. Home Free by Sharon Jennings made my heart shine with a full-faced grin.

Meet Leanna Mets. She loves books, aspires to be a writer, and is trying to figure out what life means. This alone is no easy task, but it’s especially hard as she’s trying to navigate her blossoming life under the strict and watchful eye of her conservative mother. Leanna just wants to feel free. Some of her classmates tease her and make life hard, so she escapes into the world of fiction—specifically stories about orphans, her favorite being Anne of Green Gables.

In Leanna’s mind, and with her own experience with harsh maternal unit who thinks that girls should be quiet and submissive, she wonders who wouldn’t want to be an orphan? For an aspiring writer like eleven-year-old Leanna, it’s hard to find the words to describe your desires when your mother thinks writing is pointless and she practically forbids you to do it. Being parentless just might be the answer to her happiness.

When an orphan named Cassandra moves in next door to Leanna, her perspective shifts through their friendship. Our word-loving narrator starts to find her own voice as she begins to sort through her conflicting emotions toward her mother. The two girls become friends and eventually find their way to personal freedom—but not without some heartache, fights, emotional growth, and learned life lessons along the way.

Told in Leanna’s voice (the whole book is her attempt to write a memoir), we learn along with her the definition of words that will eventually start to set Leanna’s spirit free—from the sanctuary she goes to in her backyard to escape her mother and gaze up at the stars, to understanding that rebirth doesn’t mean you’re born again, but that your personality changes to make you a better person. This eleven-year-old girl is striving for and finding the elements of life that I’m doing now at twenty-six.

What ultimately what makes Sharon Jennings’s young adult novel so great is that women of all ages can be inspired by Leanna’s desire for freedom. Her struggles to find her way and feel free are life-long struggles. But Home Free reminds us all that books and words can be saviors, and that life struggles can be manageable (and sometimes even fun) with the help of words, friends, and a place to sit back and look up at the stars.

Written by: Chelsey Clammer, October 26th 2009