Jeremy's Dreidel

By Ellie B. Gellman and Maria Mola

At the dreidel-making workshop, Jeremy’s friends think he’s molding a secret code on his clay dreidel. But he’s really making a special gift for his father, who is blind. How will he get his friends to appreciate his special dreidel?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781512490268

Ellie B. Gellman

Ellie B. Gellman grew up in Minneapolis, where she first began telling stories to the children in her synagogue. Her previous books include Netta and her Plant, Shai's Shabbat Walk, and Jeremy's Dreidel.

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Reviews for Jeremy's Dreidel

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Jeremy signs up for a special "Different Dreidels" workshop at the Jewish Center in this Hanukkah story for younger children, intent on making a braille dreidel for his blind father. Although some of his fellow participants have interesting ideas of their own - Abby wants to make an environmentally friendly dreidel out of recycled material, David decides to make a dreidel that changes color as it spins, while Orit is determined to make an Israeli sevivon, which reads "A Great Miracle Happened Here" (rather than the more traditional "A Great Miracle Happened There") - it is Jeremey's project that grabs the workshop's attention, raising awareness of people with visual impairments, and their needs during the holidays. When the braille dreidel is chosen for a special display at the center, Jeremy's friends assume he'll be thrilled, until he points out that a braille dreidel is of no use to anyone, if placed inside a glass case. Is there a way to highlight all the great dreidels created, without putting them on display...?Of course there is, and Jeremy and his fellow workshop participants find it in this engaging tale of a young boy and his efforts to create a special gift for his dad at the holiday. Just reprinted this fall, with new artwork by Maria Mola, Jeremy's Dreidel was originally published in 1992 with illustrations by Judith Friedman. It is this earlier edition that I read, after finding it on the Hanukkah display at my local library this past weekend. It is an appealing tale, one which incorporates issues of disability naturally into a narrative - a child making a gift for a parent, to mark a special event - that manages to be both culturally specific and widely identifiable. The artwork is appealing, with full-page color illustrations facing each page of text, save for a few two-page spreads where the artwork stretches across both pages, with the text beneath. A different dreidel is depicted in miniature above each full-page text-block, while instructions for making some of the "different dreidels" in the story can be found in the afterword. All in all, an engaging holiday story, one I would recommend to young readers who are looking for Hanukkah tales that address issues of special needs, and inclusion.