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list price: $9.99
edition:eBook
category: Children's Fiction
published: Sep 2010
ISBN:9781926920597
publisher:
Second Story Press
Description
Charlotte has traveled across the ocean with her mother and father to their new home in France, where she discovers she has a lot to adjust to. The food taste different, she has to make new friends, and perhaps biggest of all, she has to learn to speak a new language. Her feelings of being different and left out are made worse when Colette, a girl in her class at school, calls her “the stranger”. Now Christmas is coming and Charlotte is swept up in the town’s preparations, but she's disappointed when her mother tells her they won’t be participating because they are Jewish. At school, they all bring in a gift for Christmas, but Colette does not because, it turns out, she is poor. Charlotte, inspired by the gifts of the Magi, gets over her anger at Colette and asks her father if they can give Colette’s family all the trappings of Christmas, as a gift. In thanks, Colette and her family invite Charlotte's family to share dinner with them and Charlotte gets to experience Christmas after all.
Children are curious about other cultures, religions, and traditions - A Chanukah Noel is an honest portrait of childhood curiosity with a great message of friendship between people of different faiths.
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age:
- 5 to 7
- Grade:
- k to 3
- Reading age:
- 6 to 8
Editorial Reviews
A Chanukah Noel is an unforgettable tale of reaching across differing cultures, regions, geographies and classes to find the best truth of all: the gift of love is from the heart in any language.
— Midwest Book Review
A Chanukah Noel is a beautiful Christmas story. The illustrations in this book are amazing. Congratulations to illustrator Gillian Newland, as her pictures are just as touching as the story. There is so much detail in each picture that you just can't take your eyes away.
— Kidswwwrite.com website
A poignant story for kids aged five to nine, in which a young Jewish girl who has moved with her parents to a new country answers a classmate’s cruelty with an act of simple generosity that transforms the holidays.
— The Georgia Straight Magazine
Jennings' evocative descriptions, together with Gillian Newland's finely rendered illustrations, capture the sights, scents, and tastes of the French countryside. Newland uses an unusually dark palette, but it works. Though Charlotte's story is set in the past, the book's message is timeless: the joy or giving and sharing with family and friends far outshines a thousand shiny baubles.
— Quill & Quire
This quiet and charming slice of life, which assumes a basic knowledge of both holidays, shares enough details (chocolate on a baguette as a school snack) to give readers a flavor of Charlotte’s new life. The attractive, realistic paintings depict a timeless French village–this story might take place now or several decades ago. A fine cross-cultural choice for larger collections.
— School Library Journal
Transplanted from Canada to France, Charlotte mopes that her Jewish family doesn’t celebrate Noel like her schoolmates. Then she comes up with a perfect solution — a Chanukah gift of Noel and all its fixings, delivered to a needy family in the village. This true story comes from the life of a beloved champion of children’s literature, Charlotte Teeple of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.
— The Toronto Star
A Chanukah Noel is an unforgettable tale of reaching across differing cultures, religions, geographies and classes to find the best truth of all: The gift of love is from the heart in any language.
— The Midwest Book Review
"Captures both the holiday spirit and the feeling of a French village. Good to have on hand at holiday time."
—Booklist
— Booklist
A Chanaukah Noel touches on themes of acceptance, empathy, respect, and kindness... [so] worth purchasing and reading to your class during the holiday season. 5/5 hearts.
— ETFO VOICE
Her family's resolution to this dilemma evokes our own family's, but adds an important lesson about tzedakah to boot. I highly recommend this book, and not just for interfaith families.
— Homeshuling Blog
A Chanukah Noel is a Christmas story with a difference. As its title implies, it involves someone who’s Jewish. ... In the end, Charlotte gets her Christmas experience and readers learn a universal truth: It’s better to give than to receive.
— The Montreal Gazette
Sharon Jennings is a superb storyteller, creating an interesting tale depicting the complications of real life. As a reader I felt compelled to read on and although the story is a mere twenty-four pages, it felt as satisfying as a novel ... The book invites children to explore their own feelings about being different, being new and about welcoming those have different cultural backgrounds.
— Resource Links
Sharon Jennings’s recounting of Charlotte’s story is perfect in every way, as are Gillian Newlands’s powerful paintings, which reflect the depth and weight of this Chanukah/Christmas story.
— The Globe and Mail
This book owes much of its appeal to the illustrations by Gillian Newland.
— The Ottawa Citizen
[A] quiet and charming slice of life...The attractive, realistic paintings depict a timeless French village- this story might take place now or several decades ago. A fine cross-cultural choice for larger collections.
— School Library Journal
The illustrations, created by Gillian Newland, serve well in creating a lovely flow to the timing of the story ... the final illustration in the book and the scene of the Christmas market are exquisite. They begged my eyes to linger on these pages.
— Resource Links
