When a poor olive harvest threatens his village's Hanukkah celebration, Hayim, the poorest man in the village, decides to write a letter to the Almighty, asking for help. Despite the ridicule of his fellow villagers, and of the scribe who writes it for him, he persists, eventually entrusting the letter to a strong wind. It finds its way to the city, to the home of the wealthy merchant Ger Yehudah, who takes it as a sign from the Almighty that he must fulfill this wish. But his lavish gift, including a jewel-encrusted menorah inscribed with his own name, leads to trouble when Hayim is suspected as a thief, after attempting to share the riches that appear one day outside his door with the other villagers. Disturbed by the accusation against him, and restless, Hayim seeks the hillside each night. Has Hanukkah been ruined, despite this seeming miracle...?

Based upon a story collected in Dov Noy's Folktales of Israel, where it was entitled "A Letter to the Almighty," Letter on the Wind: A Chanukah Tale pairs an engrossing and ultimately heart-satisfying narrative from author Sarah Marwil Lamstein with appealing pen and watercolor artwork from illustrator Neil Waldman. I've read the Dov Noy collection, although I don't recall this specific tale, so I was interested to see what Lamstein would do with her tale. I enjoyed following along as Hayim's simple faith is rewarded, not once but twice, and I appreciated the way in which this more recent miracle mirrored the ancient one, which is the core of the Hanukkah story. The illustrations are lovely, with a soft, pastel palette that works surprisingly well with the tale, and a folky sensibility that I found appealing. I liked the way that Waldman used smaller panels of illustration within larger ones, on the page, as this emphasizes both the action of the tale, and the setting. Recommended to all young folklore enthusiasts, and to anyone looking for engaging Hanukkah picture-books. ( )

Lamstein, Sarah M. Letter on the Wind: A Chanukah Tale. Illus. Neil Waldman. Boyds Mills Press, 2007.
Type: Multicultural/Fiction
Annotation:
Letter on the Wind is a story about “a far-off village” whose inhabitants are only days away from beginning their annual celebration of Chanukah. Unfortunately, the year’s growing season was dry and the olives used to make oil shriveled and died on the trees. Without oil the villagers would not be able to light their menorahs for Chanukah. In an effort to solve this problem Hayim, the poorest villager, asks the town scribe to write a letter to the Almighty requesting oil for everyone in the town. Hayim sends the letter off on a strong breeze and a merchant in another town eventually finds the letter. The merchant decides that the Almighty wishes to use him to help the villagers so he takes them figs, dates, flour, sugar, and enough oil for the entire village. The gifts are delivered in the night to Hayim’s hut but the villagers fear Hayim has stolen the goods and they refuse to use them. The merchant learns of this and returns to the village to let everyone know that Hayim is not a thief and the villagers then use the oil and are able to celebrate the eight nights of Chanukah.
Review:
Recommendation
I would recommend this book for children in grades four to six. The text is lengthier and the concepts more advanced than would be appropriate for younger children. Also, this is an appropriate time for children to begin developing an understanding of the customs and practices of other cultures.
Use
I would use this book to show children the practices and traditions of people of the Jewish faith. It may be a new concept for many to discover that not all people celebrate Christmas. I would try to spark class discussion by asking students to give examples of traditions they say displayed in the book and I would give an explanatory background as to how these traditions came to be and what their cultural or historical significance is for Jewish people.
Artwork
The artwork in the book is very expressive of the text. A page of illustration accompanies each page of text. The artwork also effectively communicates the changing moods of the story. In the beginning when the village is in drought and there is no oil for the Chanukah celebration the colors are dark and the shadowy leaves on the trees are withered. Once the town receives the gift of oil the colors become warm and even the pictures of the village houses show light shining from all the windows, making them appear all together as a sea of smiling faces.