Book-It 'o14! Book #25
Aug. 13th, 2014 08:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alivemagdoleneThe Fifty Books Challenge, year five! (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013) This was a library request.
Title: Candlelight For Rebecca by Jacqueline Dembar Greene with illustrations by Robert Hunt
Details: Copyright 2009, American Girl Publishing Inc
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Rebecca's teacher, Miss Maloney, assigns the class to make Christmas decorations-- but Rebecca's family is Jewish and doesn't celebrate Christmas. Miss Maloney tells Rebecca that Christmas is a national holiday, for all Americans to celebrate. Although her parents came from Russia, Rebecca knows she's as American as anyone else, even without celebrating Christmas. Could Miss Maloney be wrong? Then, on the first night of Hanukkah, Rebecca finds kindness in an unexpected place-- and learns the real meaning of the holiday season."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Remember my remembrances of the American Girl franchise? And my reviews of the the character Kit's six-book series? And my review of the first book about Rebecca? Then the second? Okay then.
How I Liked It: Easily the best of the Rebecca books so far and probably the best in the six-book series, this book would (and probably should, given that she's the only Jewish American girl and it'd be a nice reminder that they have a right to the holiday season, which is kind of the whole point of the book) have been called Rebecca's Surprise, if not for the book format revamping I mentioned in my last review.
This book gives Rebecca and heart and personality in a way the others don't, possibly because she's given plenty of selfless acts to perform, and plenty of American Girl moments. The book has a charming bit of interfaith connection with a previously curmudgeonly elderly (Italian Catholic) neighbor that frankly belongs in holiday books today, a century after this story is set, as the "War on Christmas" nonsense rages more than ever.
The illustrations are better executed, and more realistic than the previous two books (along with a better adherence to historical accuracy, which makes you wonder if the illustrator didn't get some sort of note after the last book), even if some still run on the stage-y side.
The "Looking Back" section explains the struggle as Christianity became "challenged" as the predominant religion, gives the history of Hanukkah, and offers the rise of big department stores (citing that many chains were started by Jewish businessmen, like Bloomingdale's) to create the holiday shopping frenzy as we now know it.
Title: Candlelight For Rebecca by Jacqueline Dembar Greene with illustrations by Robert Hunt
Details: Copyright 2009, American Girl Publishing Inc
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "Rebecca's teacher, Miss Maloney, assigns the class to make Christmas decorations-- but Rebecca's family is Jewish and doesn't celebrate Christmas. Miss Maloney tells Rebecca that Christmas is a national holiday, for all Americans to celebrate. Although her parents came from Russia, Rebecca knows she's as American as anyone else, even without celebrating Christmas. Could Miss Maloney be wrong? Then, on the first night of Hanukkah, Rebecca finds kindness in an unexpected place-- and learns the real meaning of the holiday season."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Remember my remembrances of the American Girl franchise? And my reviews of the the character Kit's six-book series? And my review of the first book about Rebecca? Then the second? Okay then.
How I Liked It: Easily the best of the Rebecca books so far and probably the best in the six-book series, this book would (and probably should, given that she's the only Jewish American girl and it'd be a nice reminder that they have a right to the holiday season, which is kind of the whole point of the book) have been called Rebecca's Surprise, if not for the book format revamping I mentioned in my last review.
This book gives Rebecca and heart and personality in a way the others don't, possibly because she's given plenty of selfless acts to perform, and plenty of American Girl moments. The book has a charming bit of interfaith connection with a previously curmudgeonly elderly (Italian Catholic) neighbor that frankly belongs in holiday books today, a century after this story is set, as the "War on Christmas" nonsense rages more than ever.
The illustrations are better executed, and more realistic than the previous two books (along with a better adherence to historical accuracy, which makes you wonder if the illustrator didn't get some sort of note after the last book), even if some still run on the stage-y side.
The "Looking Back" section explains the struggle as Christianity became "challenged" as the predominant religion, gives the history of Hanukkah, and offers the rise of big department stores (citing that many chains were started by Jewish businessmen, like Bloomingdale's) to create the holiday shopping frenzy as we now know it.
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Date: 2014-08-14 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-08-14 10:52 pm (UTC)The book is really sweet. Spoiler alert! The old man's wife turns out to have been Jewish and he gives Rebecca her candle holders ("I know you celebrate Hanukkah so I want you to have these.") when she gives HIM the Christmas centerpiece she made in school. Such a sweet cultural exchange, and since it's an old guy, they totally could've gone the "YOU'RE IN AMERICA, YOU CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS!" route, even though the guy is an Italian immigrant himself, so... yeah.
Fuck, I'm glad that even though I went to a Catholic private school it was an uber liberal one in the 1990s and we learned as much about other religions and their holidays and not in a "HA HA THESE FOOLISH DELUSIONAL INFERIOR HELL FODDER!" way. I remember learning that we took our Advent wreaths from the menorah (and later learning that both were taken from Pagan Winter Solstice celebrations >_>).