🕎A Dreidel in Time: A new Spin on an Old Tale by Marcia Berneger, illustrated by Beatriz Castro

 

It's the last night of Hanukkah and Devorah, 12, can't to finally open her present. To make it happen faster, she convinces her brother Benjamin, 9, that it will be alright if they light the eight menorah candles and say the blessing while they wait for their parents to come home from work. But Mom isn't too happy to see what they have done, and Devorah isn't too happy when she learns she will have to wait even longer to open her gift - grandparents Bubbe and Zayde are coming over with a very special gift. 

But Devorah's excitement turns to disappointment when she learns it is a gift she must share with Benjamin, and she feels letdown even more when the present turns out to be a large, lopsided old dreidel with red and gray speckles. Encouraged to play the dreidel game with it, Devorah and Benjamin don't notice when they surroundings being to fade as the dreidel spins. But when the stops, the dreidel falls on the Hebrew letter Shin ש. Devorah knows it's not a good spin, Shin means the player loses what is in the pot. 

And indeed, they have lost something. No longer at home, Devorah and Benjamin suddenly find themselves in an unknown place. When they meet siblings Simon and Shoshana, they learn they are in ancient Modi'in and that the Macccabees are leaving to escape the cruel Syrian ruler King Antiochus so that they can practice their Jewish religion in peace. Antiochus had ordered his soldiers to kill anyone observing Jewish traditions. 

Arriving at the Maccabee camp, Devorah and Benjamin, mistaken for Antiochus' spies, are taken to the leader of the Jews, Mattisyahu. Already knowing what happens, they warn Mattisyahu of a coming attack. Mattisyahu orders the children held while his sons Judah and Jonathan investigate this information. Luckily, the old dreidel appears again, and this time, the spin lands on Nun נ, meaning the player neither loses nor gains from the pot. 

Everything looks the same as before, but two years have passed. Simon is now 15 and Shoshana is 12, yet Devorah and Benjamin haven't aged at all. When they learn that the Maccabees are losing to the Syrian soldiers because they are outnumbered, Benjamin remembers how George Washington fooled the British into thinking he had more soldiers than he actually did. Washington's plan is relayed to Mattisyahu's sons Judah, now the leader of the Maccabees after the death in battle of his father. Judah accept the plan, but when Benjamin is too impatient to see if it worked, he gets captured by the Syrians. The original plan is called off and a another strategy is found, one that would rescue Benjamin. 

In the midst of battle, Devorah spins the dreidel, which lands on Hey ה, meaning the player gets half of what would be in the pot. A year has passed, and the Maccabees have been victorious and are now returning to their temple in Jerusalem. But when they get there, they discover everything in the Temple has been destroyed. They spend days cleaning it up, and finally the saved menorah is brought out for the Temple's rededication.  But there is no oil for the menorah. A search is made and Devorah finds a small jar of oil, enough for one night. But the dreidel has once again appeared and it is time for another spin. 

The last spin lands on Gimmel ג, meaning the player gets everything in the pot. For Devorah and Benjamin, it means a return to home in the present and a much better understanding of the history and meaning of their Hanukkah traditions.  

A Dreidel in Time is a fun retelling of the Hanukkah story. And a great way to remember that holidays like Hanukkah and Christmas are not only about the gifts, but are more about the reason why we celebrate them in the first place. Berneger has included all the important parts of the Hanukkah story including how the Jews brought gifts to the rededication of the Temple, which is how the tradition of gift giving began. 

How the dreidel game is played isn't explained at first, not until 15-year-old Simon asks about it and, hearing Devorah's explanation and that the meaning of the four Hebrew letters is "a great miracle happened there," to which Simon responds "Your story is nonsense. There's no holiday called Hanukkah." 

It is a well-written book with humorous black and while illustrations that should appeal to young chapter book readers.  

This book is recommended for readers age 7+

This book was borrowed from the Brooklyn Public Library 

If you are wondering how to play the dreidel game, Scholastic offers simple instructions you can download HERE 

You can also download a template for making a paper dreidel that can be printed out, colored and glued together HERE

Magic in the Mix by Annie Barrows

Molly and Miri Gill are fraternal twins, unlike their identical older twin brothers Ray and Robbie and their identical younger twin sisters Nora and Nell.  The only difference is that Molly was originally living in 1935 when Miri traveled back in time and found her.  Both girls traveled forward to Miri's time and have lived as twin sisters ever since, and luckily, everyone has a little mind adjustment so no one except Molly and Miri remembers what it was like before Molly arrived - they remember only that she was always there.

OK, that and more is what happened in Annie Barrows's first book The Magic Half.  Now Molly has lived in the present long enough that she doesn't make too many slip ups about her former life.  But suddenly, during some house renovations, the magic comes back, the girl time travel back to 1935 again.  But why?  Then, they are also sent back to 1918 and Molly meets her real mom as a teen.  Molly's mom had died after marrying and having Molly, which is why she was living with mean Aunt Flo in 1935.  When Molly realizes that she could possibly change her mother's fate by going back to 1918 again and preventing her from meeting her future dad, she begins to believe maybe she needs to do, even though it would mean giving up Miri and her new, great life with the Gills.

Meanwhile, twins Ray and Robbie are in trouble in history class, and have to participate in a Civil War reenactment to help bring up their grade.  Turns out, the boys really like enacting the Civil War, but then they get in trouble (again) for not doing their homework, and they are not allowed to go back to the battlefield until all it's done.  So the boys try to sneak out of the house when the parents and youngest twin sisters are out.  Suddenly, Miri realizes that her brothers have time traveled back too, but to where?  When she and Molly follow them, they discover they are in the midst of the Civil War as it happened in their neighborhood.  And Ray and Robbie, dressed in Union uniforms for their reenactment, have just been captured by Confederate soldiers.

Molly and Mire can't help but wonder why all this happened?  After all, the magic is supposed to set things right, not make them more complicated.

I really thought Magic in the Mix was a very readable middle grade time travel novel that will probably have lots of appeal to young readers despite or even maybe because of the amount of Civil War history included.  The real story, however, revolves around the tough dilemma the girls are facing that would separate them for life, and on solving the mystery of what the magic needed to set right with their help in 1864, 1918 and 1935.

One of the things I liked about Magic in the Mix is the way the girls arrive right where their house is each time they travel back in time.  Barrows describes the area through Miri's observations so that the reader get a sense of time as far as how the house, the yard and the people living there change over time.  By connecting it all to the Gill family, it really shows how the past is so connected to the present (and presumably the future).

I had never read The Magic Half, so I was afraid that maybe I wouldn't really be able to appreciate this novel completely, but it really is a good stand alone story.  The reader is given just the right amount of information they need to understand the history of Molly and Miri and how they became twin sisters.

Twins are always popular in literature for young readers and they seem to be gaining in popularity these days (because there are so many more twins being born nowadays? Perhaps).  That special bond they have with each other makes the idea of twins very appealing.  Young readers don't have to be a twin, though, to enjoy this fun novel.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley