Books -for Children, Many With Jewish
Themes, Appear in U. S. and in Israel;
Dramatic Story of Aaronsons in 'Gideonites'
Children's books must serve
importantly in efforts to provide
cultural backgrOunds for Jewish
youth. There has-been an encour-
aging increase in the number of
good books for youth of Jewish
interest, and the Jewish contents
in new works serve a valuable
purpose.
The most impressive collection
of new children's books has just
been issued by Sabra Books, the
division of American-Israel Book
Co. (38 W. 32nd, NY1), which also
LS being distributed in this coun-
try by Funk and Wagnalls.
Four children's books appear as
Sabra works. All were printed in
Israel and they are suitable for a
variety of ages.
Sabra's "The Hebrew Alpha-
bet Book" is for the very young.
Beautifully illustrated by Avi
Margalit, multicolored, it con-
tains basic words for each let-
ter in the Hebrew alphabet.
Each Hebrew word also is trans-
literated and is accompanied by
the English translation.
Another of the new Sabra Books
provides a bit of history. In "The
Gideonites" by Devorah Omer,
which was translated from the
Hebrew by Ruth Reznik, the fa-
mous but nearly-forgotten story
of the Nili Spies in the Middle
East is excellently outlined. It
is the story of Aaron Aaronson,
the discoverer of "wild wheat,"
who gained world fame as an ag-
ronomist; of the martyrdom of his
sister, Sarah Aaronson, who be-
came known as the "Jeanne d'Arc
of the New Palestine."
This dramatic story, now seldom
referred to, is revived and should
have an interest not only for • the
young people for whom it was
written, but also for the adults
who are provided with one of the
most interesting chapters in early
Zionist hitory in Eretz Israel.
All the Aaronsons play their
roles in this most interesting
story, and the emphasis is on
the heroism of Sarah, who spied
for the British in World War I,
who was tortured by the Turks
but they were unable to get any
information from her. She took
her own life and deprived the
enemy of facts she had gathered.
Her death occurred in 1917 in the
Zionist colony of Zichron Yaakov.
The task for the Nili Spies in
which she was a major leader was
fully accomplished.
An appended note to the story
in "The Gideonites" states:
"After Sarah Aaronson's death,
the Turks continued arresting
and torturing people they thought
had - information a _ bout Nili and
its work. Reuben Schwartz, like
Sarah, committed' suicide in
prison. Joseph Lishansky was
caught and hanged, with Naa-
man Belkind, in Damascus.
"In 1918, General Allenby,
aided by the map Sarah had
sent him; invaded Palestine with
his troops. The reports and in;
formation supplied by members
of Nili greatly helped the Brit-
ish in winning their victory over
the Turks.
_ "The Aaronson house still
stands today in Zichron.Yaakov,
in the street of the Founders. In
the house is all the Nili mate-
rial which was saved after the
war. Aaron Aaronson's diaries,
letters, research notes and her- .
barium are there; along with -
Absalom's poems and letters
from the British authorities, ex-
pressing their gratitude for the -
activities of Nili. It is a place
you should visit."
"Yael and the Queen of Goats"
by Margalit Banai, also translated
from the Hebrew by Ruth Reznik,
is the third of the Sabra Books
that earns distribution among
young readers 7-9. With fine
dramatic stories written by R.
D. Mascott and illustrated by Mi-
chael Jackson. The "secret
agent" is at work in all the
stories and the teenagers espe-
cially are provided with thrills
in well told narratives.
From Random House comes a
splendid Pop-Up book, "What Do
You Get?" created by Jack Han-
rahan and Phil Hahn. Animal
tales, a gorilla with a mink, a
duck with a cow, a tiger with a
parrot, and other items are em-
phasized.
Equally exciting for the very,
very young is the Random House
magic motion book, "My Friend
the Dragon.
"The Adventures of Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang," also from
Random House, is a special mo-
tion-pictuke edition by Albert G.
Miller adopted from the screen-
play based on the Ian Fleming
story. It has scores of illustrations.
-There is -a bit of history for
young readers in "Meet Christo-
pher Columbus" by. James T. de-
Kay, illustrated by Victor Mays,
published by Random House.
• • •
Dover' Reprints Carrick's
Folk•Tales, Kipling's
Puck of Pook's Hill
One of the most imaginative and
charming of all of Rudyard Kip-
ling's children's books, "Puck of
Pook's Hill," has just been re-
printed by Dover in paperback.
This semi-historical mythology, a
skillful_ blend of fact and fancy,
takes the reader back to long-ago
England and introduces him to
many fascinating heroes whose
names cannot be found in books on
history.
Dover has also reprinted Valery
Carrick's Picture Folk-Tales in
paperback. The 10 Russian folk-
tales in this book have been told
in such a way as to make them
readily accessible even to the
youngest child. The language used
is clear and simple; the type is
large and easy to read; and the
80 drawings by the author help to
bring the tales to life and create
a sense of drama and excitement.
Most of the stories in the book
were first heard by Carrick as a
little boy in Russia. There, on his
father's estate near St. Petersburg,
he would listen with enchantment
while his mother and his nurses
told him Russian folk-tales. As
soon as he was old enough, he
made drawings of the people in
the stories.
illustrations by Friedel, this story,
offered as "a recipe for fun!,"
now is available for American
readers, Israeli children having
shown great delight' in it.
In the "Yael" tale the young
reader is introduced to life in
Israel, the activities of children
there, their love of the land and
animals. It is a story of Israeli
children and their share in the fun
of living in their land. It is a story
filled with action, marked by a
plot with a happy ending.
The fourth of the new Sabra
Books is "Young Samson—The
Strongest Boy Who Ever
Lived." It is a splendidly nar-
rated story,_ well illustrated by
Luisada, filled with action, re-
plete with dramatic incidents
that will enchant children under
the teenage level. „
This one is a tale inspired by
the ancient biblical story, based
in the same area, linked with Ash-
kelon of old, transformed into a
modern narrative deserving emu-
lation on the basis of the lessons
of the Bible story.
• • •
•
Variety of Other
Children's Books
•
A large variety of other books
for children now is available, in
time for Hanuka gift-giving. The
Sabra Books are especially suited
for the _Jewish youth. Other books
of merit just published include
the following:
There is great charm in a set
of very brief stories by Jan Wahl
in t h e
Macmillan-published
"Runaway Jonah and Other
Tales." The pictures for this
book were done by Uti Shule-
vitz. The stories were influenced
by the Bible story of. Jonah and
the author's versions of the tales
about the whale and the Prophet
will delight the very young read-
ers. The elders reading the
stories to their children will get
an equal amount of enjoyment
as a reminder of their Bible
studies.
It isn't the Jonah story alone
that makes this little book so
commendable for young readers.
Here are the titles of the five
stories in this book: "Good Dan-
iel," "Captain Noah," "Runaway
Jonah," "Singing David" and
"Little Joseph." In each there is
the Old Testament influence, and
all the Shulevitz illustrations
adhere to the traditional depicting
of Bible themes. The combination
of story and pictures make the
Wahl-Shulevitz book especially
noteworthy.
In the field of Bible literature,
Golden Press has issued a most
interesting paperback—"The Bi-
ble for Young Readers." An ex-
planatory subtitle points out that
the stories were "rewritten for
young readers to understand and
all ages to enjoy." The book is
nearly 400 pages and written
by Anne Edwards. There are
more than 220 full color illustra-
tions by Charles Front and
David Christian.
The scores upon scores of stories
in this book, which , commences
with "The First Seven Days" and
concludes with Psalm's includes the
basic themes in all books of the
Old Testament. The condenser who
has _ably. rewritten the_ works has
included numerous biblical quo-
tations to illustrated the texts.
Young readers who seek ad-
venture and are enamored with
the James Bond - tales will find -
-the - enticement • they need in
•-0031/2—The Adventures of James
-Bond -.Ruder," which contains
"the daring • exploits of the
nephew of 007." Published by
Random House, this volume,
filled with action, contains 22
SS Man Gets Six Years
for Ordering Deaths of 140
BONN (JTA)—A Dusseldorf jury
sentenced a former SS man, Horst
Huhn, to six years' imprisonment
at hard labor and five years' loss
of civil rights for ordering the
death of 140 Jews, mostly women
and children, in the Kiev district
of the Ukraine in 1941. Huhn com-
manded an "einsatzkommando"
group.
Three former non-commissioned
officers of the Nazi "Elite Guard"
are on trial in Bochum On charges
of responsibility for the deaths of
40,000 Polish Jews in Tarnow dur-
ing World War H. The chief de-
fendant is Karl Opperman:, 61,
accused Of having killed '155 Jews
personally and 'of having aided in
the inurder . of 23,000 other ghetto
inhabitantS. His co-defendants are
Gerhard Gaa, 63,- ati Office -clerk,
and Georg Peter Libor, 55, a pho-
tographer.
The Warsaw Yiddish newspaper
Folkstimme reported that .. a sur-
vivor of the 1943 upriiing in_ the
Nazi extermination camp of Sobi-
-bin, in oicimied pblabc1; hal been
located is Pinik, Soviet Byelortis-
siati Republic. The nian, identified
as Nahunt Plotnitzki,- is one of a
handful of participants in the death
camp revolt who survived.
-
48 Friday, November 15, 1968
—
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Peace Pilot Compares Biafra to Israel
"The- atmosphere in Biafra today is reminiscent of Israel during
its War of Independence," said Abie Nathan - (shown assisting a
young Biafran) titan hi ii return here from a Bnai Brith-sponsored
mercy, flight to Biafra. -"There is the same fierce determination not
•to surrender at any cost, the desperation. born, Of encirclement—
and the excitement of a new nation being born." Nathan, -the Israeli
"peace pilot" flew to Biafra two weeks ago with 30 tons of high
protein food contributed by the Catholic Relief Service 'and $250,000
worth of. drugs and medical supplies collected by Bnai Brith. The
Jewish service organization also paid part of the cost of the flight,
together with the Union' of American. Hebrew Congregations, the
American Committee to Keep Biafra Alive and the Biafran Relief
second
Services -Foundation. Nathan _has announced plans for
mercy flight to Biafra, to leave from .New York • Nov. Z. Col. Odu-
megwa Ojukwu, the popular' leader of- Biafra,,when told- by Nathan
that the flight had been arranged with the assistance of Jewish
groups, said: -"I feel that more than any people on earth the Jewish
people would understand ,our plight. There has been perhaps only
one other tragedy on earth which could easily compare with the
tragedy_ being enacted here in our midst by the - suffering that our
people are being subjected to by a remorseless enemy. That is the
tragedy which the Jewish people suffered - befoke the founding of
the State of Israel."
Nathan; - Flies to --Biafra .
With $350.000 Medicines
C' NEW YORK (JTA)—The Biafra
Relief Services Foundation sent a
DC:8 jet to Biafra with $350,000
worth of medicine, medical and
surgical supplies, food and chil-
dren's clothing. Abie Nathan, the
Israeli peace pilot, was aboard the
Of the factual accounts of the
Israel-Arab conflict in June 1967, chartered airplane as coordinator
the book written by the son and of the mercy mission to the chil-
grandson of Winston Churchill, dren of Biafra. Members of -the
R a n tip I p h andM-Pr —
Canadian, Dutch and Danish Par-
Winston Church4:In
liaments, as well as newsmen,
ill, remain
were accompanying the flight.
among the most,
informative a n d
The medicine and medical sup-
the most impres-
plies were collected from a num-
sive.
"The Six-Day
ber, of American companies by the
War" by Ran-
Bnai Brith Foundation and the In-
dolph S. and Win-
ternational Rescue Committee. The
ston S. Churchill,
Biafra Relief Services Foundation
published as a;
raised $45,000 to pay for the cost
ne w paperback p
edition by Pen-
of the plane flight. Much of the
guin Bboks, is
money consisted of small contri-
valuable for its
butions front individuals, many of
day - by - -day re-
them young persons. Students at a
view of what had
number of colleges and high schools
occurred, supple-
Randolph
conducted. specia 1, fund-raising
mented by the
Churchill
canipaigns, to help pay for the char-.
background material which made ter:- Commenting. an_ the student
the book a best seller from the campaigns,.-Nathan said thit "The
time it first appeared within weeks youhg people of
- have
_ nieriell
A
after the historic war had ended. demonstrated :their _idgallant and
.
_
dedication."
-
The added value of this work is
.
.
. _
•
the evaluation of the news cover-
age and. of the aftermath 'of the
This Nisi" Nathan's aeiiiiticfn4eie*
Six-Day War. The authors criti- flight tn-Biafre -from- Nie -United
cized the tasteless jokes at a gath- States.--On ,his - first -flight, which'
,ering in New .York, the "flop" of left-New-York. Sept.; 29, lie brought
television reports because there 4250,000 worth of &age -aid' 30,000.
was "too much talk and too few iionods of high-protein foods to the-
picture's," and special conimendi; chid govirfinient pharmacist of
tion for the reporting for BBC by _Inaba; CariOis _Internationale and
Michael Elkins. The two Churchilla World Chigch Service, for distri-.
stated that "Radio filled to make bution Ito, hospitals, clinics and
the. best use of its gifted reporters, refugee camps. The same agencies
particularly in the case of Elkins." will receive the second cargo.
Cliurchills' New
Edition of Book
on Six-Day War