KidLit TV is honored to feature
• GINGERBREAD DREIDELS •
Written by Jane Breskin Zalben
Illustrated by Thai My Phuong
A Note to our readers from Jane Breslin Zalben:
Years ago I wrote, “A Moon for Moe & Mo.” Two boys meet in a Brooklyn food market, become friends, celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Ramadan together. I learned that every 30 years those two holidays occur at the same time as they do in the story. It went on to win a Sydney Taylor Silver medal so I became curious if Chanukah and Christmas ever occurred on the same day. Yes. 2024.
This inspired me to write Gingerbread Dreidels. Also, one of my grandsons – part of an interfaith family – is being raised Jewish. Another factor was when I visit the Middle East I’m struck by
how layered it is – three religions coming together. These layers are also evident in Africa.
In 1995, I was asked to speak in Addis Ababa. I had said to my husband, “Weren’t all the
Jews air-lifted from there?” He replied, “Yes, to Israel.” That memory inspired me to make Grandma Gold in the book an Ethiopian Jew. (My third editor on the book, Eileen Robinson,
one of the first African-Americans to have her own imprint, said, “Let’s go for it!”)
We had to find an artist.
I’m an artist as well as an author, but I was writing and illustrating “Beni’s Tiny Tales: Around the Year in Jewish Holidays” for a different publisher. It took me the entire pandemic –
3 ½ years to do 144 pages / 139 pieces of art – a passion project with a new generation of bears.
By now, Beni’s all grown up! (The Jewish Book Council gave a great jacket blurb and two articles
for this recent Beni anthology.) So I decided to have someone else do the art. I chose an artist
from Vietnam. At first her characters looked as if they fell off a wagon in some shtetl. I said,
“I’m Jewish: I wear jeans, sneakers, and live in this present world.” She finally got it right.
There’s a lot of Jewish backmatter: history of the dreidel, how to play it, and of course, a recipe for Gingerbread Dreidels!
 |
 |
 |
ABOUT the BOOK
• A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection •
The perfect picture book for families like mine, who celebrate both Christmas and Chanukah, or what we call Chanukahmas (or sometimes Christmakah!). It captures both the rhythms and the compromises, and the swings between.
—Jane Yolen, beloved award- winning author of more than 400 children’s books
Chanukah and Christmas come together in this story of an interfaith, intergenerational family's blended holiday. Gelt and gingerbread, menorahs and trees, red and green and blue and white . . .
Double the celebration in this cozy read-aloud perfect for upcoming holiday season!
When Christmas and the first night of Chanukah occur on the same day, Sophie and Max are confused. The children are used to the two parts of their identity remaining separate, celebrating with each part of their family in turn. But this year is different: all their grandparents are coming to partake in both Jewish and Christian traditions together.
Complete with a sweet acknowledgment of the concern at the forefront of each child’s mind—how will this affect the presents?—Gingerbread Dreidels is a story for interfaith families that shows how love is at the center of every holiday.
MORE ABOUT GINGERBREAD DREIDLES & Jane Breskin Zalben!
About Jane Breskin Zalben
Jane Breskin Zalben was in kindergarten when she took art lessons at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In second grade, she wrote poetry for the class newspaper. In sixth grade, she won a scholarship to study at Pratt Institute. By age thirteen, Jane was traveling three hours a day to the High School of Music & Art in Harlem.
Jane loved art and writing so much that
she eventually became a book designer, and an author/illustrator, publishing about fifty books. Jane is the recipient of four Silver Sydney Taylor medals, including the award- winning picture book, A Moon for Moe & Mo. www.janebreskinzalben.com
About Thai My Phuong
Thai My Phuong is a Vietnamese illustrator who loves pho, boba milk tea,
and homemade coffee from her husband. She fell in love with illustration and storytelling so she traveled to Brighton, UK, to study for an MA in Sequential Design/Illustration.
Now she lives in Los Angeles, CA, where she enjoys working for international publishers, magazines, brands, and universities. www.thaiphuong.net
It was just put on the list of Best Multicultural Books 2024!
YAY! Congratulations!!
Love this whole post! I can appreciate the artist’s/author’s work and thought process to address the sensitivity and delicate approach to these holidays, celebrating our differences and our similarities.