The Ugly Menorah

By Marissa Moss

Book Overview

A Hanukkah story that emphasizes the importance of remembering On the first Hanukkah since Rachel's grandpa died, Rachel is keeping her grandma company. "Where is your menorah, Grandma?" Rachel asks. When Grandma points to a plain wooden board with tin cylinders, Rachel can't help crying, "It's so ugly!" Then Rachel listens as Grandma tells the menorah's history, and Grandpa seems to fill the house again. That night, when Grandma lights the candles, the experience is intensified -- and the menorah is transformed. In gentle words and pictures that weave together past and present, Marissa Moss creates a warm family story with a timeless theme.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374480478
• ISBN13: 9780374480479
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 8.8"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

THIS WILL LIGHT UP YOUR HOLIDAY

This gently written Hannukah story is a lesson in what is really beautiful. Rachel visits her grandmother and comments on an old, obviously hand made menorah made of odds and ends. She thinks it is ugly and tells her grandmother that. Rachel's grandmother, a wise and articulate woman tells Rachel that she just needs to understand the story behind that menorah. She described her life as a young wife during the Depression Years when money was hard to come by. She saw a beautiful, very ornate menorah in a shop window and wanted it. Unable to afford it, her husband went into his shop, and, using assorted scraps around the place built a makeshift menorah. That way, they could celebrate the ancient, wonderful traditions together with something he had made.Rachel is understandably moved by the menorah's history. She decides it is beautiful because it was made by love. When her mother comes to pick her up and comments on how ugly she thinks the menorah is, Rachel tells her it is NOT ugly, it is beautiful!Rachel was right. It really was beautiful, just like this story.

my favorite hanukkah tale

Over the eight days of Hanukkah, there's ample time to sneak this book into your child's bedtime readings. It is lovely tale that teaches that beauty can be found in the most simple things. Reinforcing the idea of Hanukkah, that spiritual items, though they may look mundane, have greater power and beauty than a more Hellenistic idea of artistic beauty.