First Light - Eight Stories of Hanukkah through History (Hardcover)

The story of Hanukkah is the story of triumph of light over darkness, of the small miracles that give hope to an entire people. In a series of eight powerful and evocative free-verse poems, award-winning author Karen Hesse captures the resilient spirit of the Jewish people through the voices of eight children at Hanukkah. The children - from Tamara in 12th-century England and Jeremie in 13th-century France to Havva in 17th-century Turkey and Ori in 20th-century Israel - have all experienced loss and hardship. But they are united by love, family, and their cherished stone lamp. The stone lamp provides each with comfort and hope, for every time its wicks are lit, the endurance of the Jewish people is re-illumined.

Karen Hesse is the award-winning author of many books for young readers, including most recently Aleutian Sparrow, Witness, Stowaway, and Out of the Dust, which received the 1998 Newbery Award. She is also the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. Karen Hesse lives with her husband in Vermont.

Brian Pinkney is the illustrator of many
acclaimed books for children, including Alvin Ailey, Duke Ellington, and Ella Fitzgerald. He has received Caldecott Honors for Duke Ellington and The Faithful Friend, and a Coretta Scott King Award for In the Time of the Drums. Brian Pinkney lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and frequent collaborator, Andrea Davis Pinkney, and their children.