Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins - Blog 4

I just read Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel.

Hershel of Ostropol wanders into the village on the first night of Hanukkah looking forward to celebrating the holiday. He finds out the villagers have been forbidden from celebrating Hanukkah by the goblins that haunt the old synagogue at the top of the hill. Hershel goes to the top of the hill to the synagogue to over power the goblins by lighting a candle in the menorah each day for 8 nights to break the spell of the goblins. On the eighth night, he outwitted the king of the goblins by tricking him into lighting all the candles himself and breaking the goblins power.Now everyone in the village can celebrate the last night of Hanukkah thanks to Hershel.

Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins falls into the Folklore genre. It is a traditional story talking about Hanukkah but is a myth with the goblins that Hershel has to beat. Hershel is clever and very brave.  The illustrations are watercolor with a very dark setting considering that it all takes place at night. There is lots of detail in every picture. This book also won the Caldecott Honor award!

Some motivational activities I would do is: 1.) Have the kids make a menorah after we talk about the Jewish holiday. 2.) I would have the kids come up with another way to trick a goblin and write about it in their journal.

As I read the book out load to the kids, I would ask questions: 1.) What is a synagogue and how is used? 2.) Why is there 8 days of Hanukkah?

I really enjoyed reading this book even though it's September. I loved the illustrations of the goblins and how he used eggs and pickles to out smart the goblins. It's a must read! :-)

Galda, L. Cullinan,  B. E., & Sipe, L.R. (2010). Literature and the Child (7th ed.) Belmont, CA: Wadsworths, Inc.

Kimmel, E. (1990). Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins. New York, NY: Scholastic