Beam of Light: The Story of the First White House Menorah
by Elisa Boxer (Author) Sofia Moore (Illustrator)
The first piece of Judaica in the White House's permanent holiday collection was introduced for Hanukkah in 2022. This lovely picture book tells the history and importance of its creation.
The official White House menorah is a symbol of strength and perseverance against seemingly insurmountable odds. It was created from a piece of reclaimed wood salvaged during a Truman-era renovation of the building. That beam of White House wood sat in storage for seventy years, through thirteen different presidents. It might have been destroyed, but instead it waited for its new purpose. And so, in 2022, it was transformed into a menorah that will shine its beams of light every year, celebrating the resilience and permanence of Jewish people in America and abroad.
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Publishers Weekly
A Hanukkah menorah wasn't lit inside the U.S. White House until 2001, per this historical-leaning work's back matter, during the first of ceremonies that employed borrowed menorahs until 2022. This picture book gives a backstory to the first Jewish artifact in the White House permanent collection, fashioned from a wooden beam stored during the residence's Truman-era renovations. With earnest prose and reportorial, pencil- and watercolor-style images, Boxer and Moore cast that beam as this picture book's narrating protagonist, imbuing it with a perspective that explicitly connects its own arc of resilience and renewal ("I was supposed to be destroyed," it repeats) with the history of Jewish people during WWII. "I am the centerpiece of the story of the oil that lasted longer than anyone expected," the beam-turned-menorah says, "a beam of light, a reminder of the miracle, a symbol of strength." An author's note and bibliography conclude. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Amy Bates is the illustrator of many books for children, including The Boy and the Sea, Gittel's Journey, Minette's Feast, and The Dog Who Belonged to No One. She lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
JNF026110 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Holidays & Celebrations | Hanukkah
JNF025260 - Juvenile Nonfiction | History | Symbols, Monuments, National Parks, Etc.
