TIKVAH MEANS HOPE

Scholastic, 1994. 1st Paperback Edition 1st Printing. Soft cover. New/No Jacket Issued. Patricia Polacco color illustrations. CONDITION: NEW1994 PJ Library/Scholastic large paperback, first PB edition, first printing. Color illustrations by the Author. The decorated end pages from the hardcover are included here as well. CONTENT: Polacco recalls a terrible firestorm in Oakland, California, that consumed its hills, and describes two miracles that took place there. On the day before Sukkoth, Mr. Roth begins to build a Sukkah, which he explains to the two non-Jewish neighbor children who have come to help, is an outdoor hut built for the holiday, with a roof of open branches to recall the time the Jews wandered in the desert and lived in similar huts. That night, the children sleep in it, joined by Tikvah, the Roths' cat. The next morning something is awry. The sun is fiery orange and a strong hot wind has sprung up. The hills are on fire! Panic and confusion prevail, and families are evacuated. The fire burns for two days. Incredibly, the Sukkah was spared and Tikvah is found alive. Polacco's illustrations are dramatically expressive. She contrasts homey scenes of one day with the confusion, despair, and eventual ash gray caused by the destruction. These are followed by a night of redemption, the Sukkah standing untouched among the ashes, the neighbors illuminated in the light of a holiday candle, gathered to give thanks and to eat in the one standing structure. Polacco has provided Sukkoth with its own miracle. PreSchool to Grade 2.