The Adventures of Hershel of Ostropol

This short chapter book is a collection of tales about Hershel of Ostropol. Each chapter holes another crazy story. Kimmel definitely made this book worth reading. Oh and its a Jewish folktale. (diversity :) )

Hershel is a famous Jewish folk hero. He passes his stories on around the the town and he is made immortal. This story has many retold Hershel stories.

Hershel of Ostropol, the trickster hero of Eastern European Jewish folklore who appeared in author Eric A. Kimmel and illustrator Trina Schart Hyman's marvelous holiday picture-book, Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, stars in ten stories in this collection. Outwitting his stingy Uncle Zalman,

Show More

tightfisted innkeepers, and nefarious bandits, Hershel always finds a way to get what he wants: to feed his family, and sometimes, to aid the other poor people of his village...

Two of the selections in The Adventures of Hershel of Ostropol - "What Hershel's Father Did" and "The Bandit" - appeared in an earlier, more limited collection, Hershel of Ostropol, as did the introduction. Whatever their source (and Kimmel mentions a collection in Yiddish, and one in Hebrew, from which he drew), these tales are immensely humorous and entertaining, not to mention emotionally satisfying, as the reader gets to witness the cunning of a poor but clever man pitted against wealth and privilege. The accompanying artwork from Hyman is appealing, so far as it went, but I wished that there was more of it, given that it consists solely of small black-and-white panels at each chapter-header. Recommended to anyone who had read Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins and wanted more, as well as to all folklore enthusiasts.

Show Less