{"id":45521,"date":"2024-11-29T01:15:51","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T09:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=45521"},"modified":"2024-11-28T17:54:23","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T01:54:23","slug":"two-great-books-for-giving-tali-and-the-toucan-oy-santa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2024\/11\/29\/two-great-books-for-giving-tali-and-the-toucan-oy-santa\/","title":{"rendered":"Two great books for giving – Tali and the Toucan & Oy, Santa!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Honestly, I think adults would benefit from reading children\u2019s books, even if they don\u2019t have kids. Generally, the books impart good messages, like how to overcome challenges or be proud of who you are, and their illustrations are works of art. The two I reviewed for this issue of the Jewish Independent <\/i>are prime examples.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>Tali and the Toucan<\/i><\/b> by writer Mira Z. Amiras and illustrators Chantelle and Burgen Thorne (Collective Book Studio) is set in San Francisco. The young protagonist, Tali, longs to tumble, swing and cartwheel like other kids, and she would love to take martial arts. But she is debilitated by fear \u2013 that the world will shatter, that she will break into a million pieces, that she will get hurt. Then, one night, she has a dream. At first, it\u2019s kind of a scary dream, with a storm raging, chickens flapping about. One chicken makes it to the roof, pecks a hole in the window glass, and transforms into a toucan. The colourful-beaked bird teaches Tali how to tumble and soar in the sky. She awakes with new spirit and courage, no longer feeling like a chicken but like a toucan, ready to fly \u2013 and fall \u2013 with the other kids.<\/p>\n

While not spelled out in the story, at the end of the book, there\u2019s a note that explains that Tali\u2019s fear of the world shattering \u201cis taken from Jewish teachings that the world is indeed broken and that our job, called in Hebrew tikkun olam<\/i>, is to put it back together again \u2013 starting with ourselves.\u201d In addition to the \u201chamsa she wears \u2013 an amulet common to peoples of the\u00a0 <\/span>Middle East worn to protect children \u2013 her dreams lead her to conquer her fears, begin her tikkun and follow the path of Aikido, the Japanese martial art of nonviolence that teaches harmony, mutual assistance and peaceful resolutions to conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other than the fact that Tali wants to do martial arts, the text of Tali and the Toucan<\/i> doesn\u2019t touch upon ideas like multiculturalism, cooperation or what a well-functioning society looks like, but rather expresses these concepts through the artwork. There\u2019s a lot to look at in the illustrations and they beautifully capture Tali\u2019s emotional journey.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>Oy, Santa!, or There\u2019s a Latke to Learn about Hanukkah<\/i><\/b> by writer Joyce Schriebman and illustrator Gil von Meissner (Intergalactic Afikoman) also expresses so much with its artwork. Whereas Tali\u2019s hamsa makes an appearance on almost every page of her book, different kinds of light run through Oy, Santa! <\/i>\u2013 white swirls full of stars, hanukkiyot with candles lit, strings of Christmas lights and exploding fireworks. While Tali and the Toucan<\/i> only hints at multiculturalism and doesn\u2019t explicitly talk about Judaism, Oy, Santa!<\/i> puts both topics front and centre.<\/p>\n

On Christmas Eve, young Oliver Overstreet writes an email to Santa: \u201cI know you\u2019re busy making toys, so I won\u2019t write much. But I\u2019m Jewish. And that means you don\u2019t have to come down my chimney on Christmas Eve. I just wanna make sure you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so begins a delightful \u2013 and educational \u2013 email exchange between Oliver and Santa, who assures Oliver that he knows that both Oliver, and Oliver\u2019s friend Ibrahim, do not celebrate Christmas. Oliver rails at Santa\u2019s signoff, wishing Oliver a \u201cHappy Chrismukkah!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDear Santa,\u201d he writes. \u201cI know you\u2019re still very busy. But please don\u2019t write Chrismukkah. That\u2019s not my holiday. I celebrate HANUKKAH. And Hanukkah and Christmas are different\u2026.\u201d Oliver goes on to explain the story of Hanukkah and some of the fun ways the holiday is celebrated.<\/p>\n

Santa and Oliver talk about many things in subsequent emails, from elves getting time off to celebrate whatever holidays are in their culture, to miracles and how reindeers fly, to whether it\u2019s acceptable to put ketchup on latkes, and more. The conversation even gets a little heated, but \u2013 spoiler alert \u2013 Oliver and Santa work things out.<\/p>\n

Oy, Santa!<\/i> is a wonderful read, with lots of humour, fun illustrations, and great takeaways about identity, diversity, culture, civil discourse and friendship.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Honestly, I think adults would benefit from reading children\u2019s books, even if they don\u2019t have kids. Generally, the books impart good messages, like how to overcome challenges or be proud of who you are, and their illustrations are works of art. The two I reviewed for this issue of the Jewish Independent are prime examples. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[4946,23668,21777,9637,1959],"class_list":["post-45521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-childrens-books","tag-collective-book-studio","tag-hanukkah","tag-intergalactic-afikoman","tag-tikkun-olam"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}