Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
Boston : Little, Brown, c1997.
Description
In the year 1947, Michael Devlin, eleven years old and 100 percent American-Irish, is about to forge an extraordinary bond with a refuge of war named Rabbi Judah Hirsch. Standing united against a common enemy, they will summon from ancient sources a power in desperately short supply in modern Brooklyn-a force that's forgotten by most of the world but is known to believers as magic.--From Content Reserve screen.
User reviews
LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
Unheard of! A miracle! Or magic, at the very least. In the midst of a December blizzard, on his way to serve at Saturday mass, 11-year-old Michael Devlin hears a voice asking for his help. When he realizes it's coming from the synagogue across the street, he has some trepidation...there are stories
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about Jews, everyone has heard them. But the rabbi calling to him seems harmless, sad, a bit lost. And Michael also knows that his father died fighting the Nazis, who did terrible things to Jews; his father would have wanted him to be kind, to be helpful. Thus begins an adventure that even Michael's extremely healthy imagination, fueled by Marvel comics and his mother's stories of Irish heroes, could not have invented. Rabbi Hirsch, it turns out, is very new to America; his English is rough; his wife is dead; his congregation is dwindling. And he needs a Shabbos goy to do the tasks he cannot perform for himself on the Sabbath under Jewish law. A marvelous friendship develops, as Michael not only turns on the lights and shovels the sidewalks, but helps the Rabbi with his English and sorts out the mysteries of baseball for him. In turn, his new friend tells him tales of old Prague, teaches him Yiddish, and becomes a source of comfort and wisdom. The Brooklyn neighborhood where Michael and Rabbi Hirsch live is not a congenial place. It is terrorized by a gang of useless yout's who call themselves the Falcons. Women, children, and especially Jews are considered fair game for taunting, extortion, and worse. As winter recedes and the summer approaches, life heats up on Ellison Street. Michael needs to grow up fast, and make hard decisions for himself. His vivid imaginings of Rabbi Hirsch's Old Country and his mother's auld sod set the stage for an ending in which snow in August is just the first of many miracles. Show Less
LibraryThing member mrgan
What do you rate a book that proceeds in a realistic, extremely affable way for hundreds of pages, only to tie up a plot saturated with grief, loss, and lack of justice with a literal deus ex machina that resolves everything magically? I'm going to go with a 3, though it pains me. The overall work
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is still educational and remarkably readable, but there's no denying the feeling of being straight-up cheated when all the metaphorical magic hinted at for 90% of the book becomes bafflingly literal, to no clear narrative or symbolic purpose. Show Less
LibraryThing member LCBrooks
Snow in August is a coming of age story set in Brooklyn during the mid-1940s. Pete Hamill uses comic books, baseball, and mysticism to illuminate the harsh anti-Semetic intolerence of a predominately Irish Catholic parish. Young Michael Devlin, an alterboy at the local cathedral, and Rabbi Hirsch
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form a friendship that ignores the generational, religious, and ethnic barriers between them. They use the study of Yiddish, English, and baseball to support their mystical connection. Show Less
LibraryThing member suzanne5002
What a great book!! A 12yo boy lives with his mom & is an altar boy. On his way to church on day, he hears a person yelling something. The boy goes to see if there is a problem & the rabbi tells him that since this is the Sabbath, he isn't able to turn on the light. You can't work on the Sabbath.
The boy has 2 best friends but he learned who his best friends REALLY are when tragedy strikes.
This is the first book that I've read by Mr. Hammill. I wouldn't mind reading another by him.
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He turns on the light for him & during the next months, he befriends the rabbi. He continues to do this selfless act for many months. They befriend each other & the boy teaches him English while the rabbi teaches him Hebrew. The rabbi also tells him stories of his younger days in Prague & what happened to his wife. The boy has 2 best friends but he learned who his best friends REALLY are when tragedy strikes.
This is the first book that I've read by Mr. Hammill. I wouldn't mind reading another by him.
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LibraryThing member TheExOne
A book to read again. Truly magical. Important issues. Loved it!
LibraryThing member carycox
A young adolescent Irish-Catholic boy in post WWII Brooklyn learns about injustice, racism and the power of belief when he befriends a neighborhood rabbi. Michael Devlin teaches Rabbi Hirsch English and baseball, while he learns Yiddish and the rich stories of the Jewish tradition.
When a gang of
When a gang of
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hoods terrorizes the neighborhood, Michael has to stand up to them--but not alone. The surprising ending is rousing and more than a little magic. Show Less
LibraryThing member nbsp
Hard luck life in Hell's Kitchen has been done so many times that it's hard to make it special.
LibraryThing member taanderson
Love, love, love this book! The friendship that develops between the Irish-American 12 year old boy and the Rabbi is heart warming. With Hamill description of places and events, I truly could see them. This has laughter, tears, drama, and magic. A movie I can see of this book.
LibraryThing member JBourke56
One of my favorites!
LibraryThing member presto
1947, Michael Devlin is eleven years old, an American-Irish boy who lives with his war-widowed mother in Brooklyn, he takes is role as alter bot seriously, but the day he braves a snow storm to fulfil his duties is the day everything changes. While on his way out of the storm a voice pleads for his
The friendship between Michael and the Rabbis is beautifully related, as they seal an agreement for Michael to teach the Czechoslovakian Rabbis English and the mysteries of baseball while in return he receives instruction in Yiddish. Michael learns a lot more besides, including much of the history of the Jews in Prague, and becomes an avid student lapping up all he is taught, something which he extends to his school work.
Michael is a delightful boy, a good kid with an insatiable appetite for learning, true to his ideals. Snow in August is a charming story, at times funny, full of hope and the power of faith and of good over evil; it is also a story of what some might call magic, yet believers a miracle.
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help, Rabbis Judah Hirsch needs his help. That is just the beginning of what becomes a remarkable friendship and a untied bond against a gang of young thugs who are in the unfortunate habit of beating up people. The friendship between Michael and the Rabbis is beautifully related, as they seal an agreement for Michael to teach the Czechoslovakian Rabbis English and the mysteries of baseball while in return he receives instruction in Yiddish. Michael learns a lot more besides, including much of the history of the Jews in Prague, and becomes an avid student lapping up all he is taught, something which he extends to his school work.
Michael is a delightful boy, a good kid with an insatiable appetite for learning, true to his ideals. Snow in August is a charming story, at times funny, full of hope and the power of faith and of good over evil; it is also a story of what some might call magic, yet believers a miracle.
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LibraryThing member Dmtcer
I found this book to be a delight! The main protagonist, Michael Devlin, is a young boy growing up in post WWII Brooklyn. He loves baseball and superheroes, but one day his world is changed forever when he befriends a Rabbi. He discovers that superheroes are not always there to save the day, and
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sometimes it is necessary to look to a higher power. The book is full of racial and religious tensions, and the clash of different memebers of different cultures and how just the smallest things can affect our lives. Sometimes doing the right thing is not what we grew up believing in. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dmtcer
I found this book to be a delight! The main protagonist, Michael Devlin, is a young boy growing up in post WWII Brooklyn. He loves baseball and superheroes, but one day his world is changed forever when he befriends a Rabbi. He discovers that superheroes are not always there to save the day, and
Show More
sometimes it is necessary to look to a higher power. The book is full of racial and religious tensions, and the clash of different memebers of different cultures and how just the smallest things can affect our lives. Sometimes doing the right thing is not what we grew up believing in. Show Less
LibraryThing member sandra.k.heinzman
Wow, what a good book club pick this was. Can't wait to discuss it.
LibraryThing member sandra.k.heinzman
Wow, what a good book club pick this was. Can't wait to discuss it.
LibraryThing member TakeItOrLeaveIt
my grandmother had me read this book as it is one of her all-time favs. it was pretty great as much as I started of not liking it, I grew to love it.
LibraryThing member sandra.k.heinzman
Wow, what a good book club pick this was. Can't wait to discuss it.
LibraryThing member sandra.k.heinzman
Wow, what a good book club pick this was. Can't wait to discuss it.
LibraryThing member sandra.k.heinzman
Wow, what a good book club pick this was. Can't wait to discuss it.
LibraryThing member sandra.k.heinzman
Wow, what a good book club pick this was. Can't wait to discuss it.
LibraryThing member OzzieJello
After reading Hamill's book "Forever," I wanted to read more of his books. "Snow in August" is a lovely story that takes the reader to post-WWII Brooklyn and explores the themes of childhood, prejudice, religion, cultures, sports, friendship and mysticism. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will be
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reading a lot more of Hamill's books going forward. Show Less
LibraryThing member YAbookfest
Michael, an alter boy, forms an unusual friendship with a poor rabbi. Michael witnessed the brutal beating of a Jewish shopkeeper and is caught in a moral dilemma. It is against his mother's and his friends' ethics to rat on Frankie and his gang of toughs. But they are terrorizing and brutalizing
There are many side-stories about Jewish history, Jackie Robinson, and life in New York... sometimes you wonder where they are going but it all fits together in the end.
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more and more people. With the rabbi's help, he turns to mysticism for a solution.There are many side-stories about Jewish history, Jackie Robinson, and life in New York... sometimes you wonder where they are going but it all fits together in the end.
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LibraryThing member VashonJim
Great depictions of NewYork City, but the story moved slowly. Young boy befriends a rabbi.
LibraryThing member christinejoseph
Irish Catholic Boy + freindship elderly Rabbi — 1940 Brooklyn neighborhood — things, music, Marvel comics — Jackie Robinson — ending disappointing — too mystical
Set in a working-class Brooklyn neighborhood in 1947, this poignant tale revolves around two of the most endearing characters in
Set in a working-class Brooklyn neighborhood in 1947, this poignant tale revolves around two of the most endearing characters in
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recent fiction: an 11-year-old Irish Catholic boy named Michael Devlin and Rabbi Judah Hirsch, a refugee from Prague. Show Less
LibraryThing member thornton37814
Set in late 1940s Brooklyn, Michael Devlin, a Catholic altar boy, pursues an unlikely friendship with Rabbi Hirsch, performing duties such as turning on lights on the Sabbath and teaching the Jewish leader English and baseball. In return Michael learns Yiddish. The neighborhood is full of bullies
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who terrorize Jews. Michael realizes these were the same Jews his dad died trying to free from Hitler's regime. It's an interesting story depicting consequences of prejudice. This poignant read will stay with me awhile. The cursing seemed to fit the characters, even if I do not enjoy it. Show Less
LibraryThing member sandra.k.heinzman
Wow, what a good book club pick this was. Can't wait to discuss it.
Awards
Alex Award (1998)
Language
Original publication date
1997
Physical description
327 p.; 25 cm
ISBN
0316340944 / 9780316340946