Happy Family Day!

Family Day  (which used to be called Mother's Day)  in Israel is celebrated on the 30th of Shvat which this year comes out on February 26th.  The date was chosen as a tribute to Henriette Szold, the founder of  Hadassah who passed away on the 30th of Shvat, 1945.  While she herself had no children, she was called "אם הילדים"  / "Mother of the Children" for her work with  Youth Aliyah.

Recently I met Eshkol Navo, one of Israel's most well-known authors of adult fiction.  He is also the author of one children's book אבא של עמליה נוסע לאוסטרליה/ Amalya's Father Travels to Australia. Amalya's father is going to Australia for a whole week! When he goes away, nothing seems like fun anymore.  But soon some very interesting visitors come to visit Amalya.  She has a great time with her guests -The Whipped Cream Man, the Fairy of the Kisses and the Jumping Kangaroo. There are some great visual clues to help figure out who all these guests really are    The week turns out to be more fun than Amalya thought it would be.  And before she knows it, her father is back! I love the illustrations in this book.  Ages 3-6.

Navo gave me some background on the origin of the book.  He was going on a trip and his three-year-old daughter was not happy about it.  So he started telling her a story to make feel better.  Navo was surprised to find that his daughter still wanted to hear more of the story when he came back.  The story developed into אבא של עמליה נוסעת לאוסטרליה.  He picked the name Amalya for the heroine of the book because in Hebrew it rhymes with Australia.   It isn't surprising to learn that when his third daughter was born he and his wife named her  - Amalya.

In my post on biographies/autobiographies, I wrote about Uri Orlev's autobiography of his life during the Holocaust.  רחוקי משפחה / Distant Family continues the story after he makes aliyah in 1945.  His mother died during the Holocaust.  His father survived but is only able to make aliyah from Poland in 1954.   He and his younger brother Yigal come to Pre-State Israel by themselves and are adopted by Kibbutz Genosar.   The brothers get a letter from distant relatives living in Tel-Aviv. The boys are desperate to see their only family but it's not so easy to get from a kibbutz near Tiberias to Tel-Aviv in the 1940's.  Uri and Yigal can't wait and devise a way to get to Tel-Aviv.  The plan doesn't  quite work out as they hoped and they end up at a police station in Petah Tikvah.  Will the boys get to Tel-Aviv to finally see the family they so long to meet? Ages 8-10.






עץ אבא / Father Tree connects us to our extended family.  Hannah wants to climb a tree so her father tells her to plant one.  Hannah is smart enough to know that it takes quite a while until a small tree is large enough for climbing.  While her father rests against the trunk of a young carob tree, Hannah tries climbing several types of trees without much success. Hannah learns that her parents planted the carob tree when she was born. It will take many more years until the tree produces fruit.  Why plant a tree when it takes so many years until you can pick its fruit? The answer comes in a dream that shows Hannah as the mother of a small child and her father as a grey-haired grandfather.   Ages 3-5.




Michal is a tomboy and she is always getting into trouble.  We get to know Michal in הדודה מיכל / Aunt Michal by מאיר שלו /  Meir Shalev.   Michal's much older sister gives birth to twins. Five-year-old Michal is now an aunt.   Her mother tells her that she hopes Michal understands that aunts don't throw eggs or climb trees.  Michal does want to be a good aunt.  She learns how to pinch cheeks and give wet kisses. It's not easy to give up climbing trees and all the other things she likes to do.  She turns six and her parents miss the old wild Michal. They tell her so. After that,  Michal decides to take her nephews for a  walk in the fields.  They all come back filthy, scratched and happy. Ages 4-6.


Tip no. 15

דףדף

DafDaf is an Israeli website for children's literature.  This is an excellent site for information on books, authors, and illustrators. It's my go-to site for reviews of new children's books.