In the Days of Sand and Stars

By Marlee Pinsker

Take out your time telescope, wipe the dust and cobwebs from its lens, tilt it upwards, and find a twinkling speck of light. Now look behind it ... way back, to the days of sand and stars. Here are... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887767249
• ISBN13: 9780887767241
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Tundra Books
• Length: 88 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.3" x 0.6" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

In the Days of Sand and Stars

Marlee Pinsker relates these tales about ten Biblical women in the style of midrash, " weaving stories into the areas in which the text is silent, giving voices to the people we want to understand." She says "in this way we imagine ourselves into the words of the Bible and bring its meaning forward, into our own lives." Her skillful writing brings her characters to life and makes these women seem real. There are chapters about Eve eating the apple, Noah's wife Naamah, and Sarah, who is amazed to find herself pregnant at the age of ninety and laughs at the miracle. We also read about Rebecca, Leah, Rachel, Dina and finally, Moses's mother, Yochaved. We experience Dina weaving Joseph his coat of many colors, and Yochaved as a child, before she is the mother of Moses, forced to work gathering straw for bricks while hearing her nurse's stories about her people before they were Pharoah's slaves. Thisdale combines traditional drawing and painting techniques with digital technology to create multi-textured images, which give his illustrations a dreamy, ethereal quality and compliment the stories beautifully. The author's lyrical use of language makes this illustrated book a natural to read-aloud. The book successfully connects the lives of these Biblical women who lived "in the days of sand and stars," to each other and to our lives today. Remember this book the next time a Bat Mitzvah gift is needed. Ages 10 and up. Reviewed by Andrea Davidson

A 2007 Association of Jewish Libraries Notable Book for Older Readers

In ten short stories, Marlee Pinsker lends a new voice to the women of the bible - those whose lives are given short shrift in the original text. These are beautiful, imaginative and spiritual imaginings of how these women might have felt, of the spirit, wisdom, humor and love they might have had. The lyrical and poetic language quickly draws the reader into the lives of each character. And so we are exposed to an Eve who was full of wonder and curiosity at all she saw around her, a Naamah who understood the language of the animals on the ark, a Leah who was full of love, and jealousy, for her sister Rachel. Each story stands on its own, yet each is connected by an invisible thread that evokes the feeling of family history being told. Gorgeous illustrations that are both muted and richly detailed lend a sense of grace to these tales. REVIEWED BY NANCY AUSTEIN (Temple Emanu-El, Dallas, TX)

Gorgeous images with tales perfect for read-aloud.

Francois Thisdale adds lovely drawings to these Biblical Midrashic stories of famous women from Eve to Rebecca, whose lives were affected by miracles, possibilities, and change. Midrashic tales are 'what if' stories built around Biblical tales, and here come to life pairing gorgeous images with tales perfect for read-aloud.