25% Off Pre-Order Books with Code: PREORDER25 for Premium & Reward Members Shop Now

The Castle on Hester Street

Add to Wishlist

The Castle on Hester Street

Hardcover

$19.99

Hardcover
$19.99

SHIP THIS ITEM

Qualifies for Free Shipping
PICK UP IN STORE
Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Available within 2 business hours

Want it Today?
Check Store Availability

Related collections and offers

Overview

A flying goat, buttons the size of sleds, and a castle on Hester Street are some of the widely imaginative stories Julie's grandpa tells her about his journey from Russia to New York many years ago. But Grandma's no-nonsense memories are far different from Grandpa's tall tales.

This classic story, which reveals the immigrant experience with wit and warmth, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award when it was originally published with Linda Heller's own illustrations. Now, on its twenty-fifth anniversary, The Castle on Hester Street is given new life with Boris Kulikov's vibrant paintings.

Product Details
About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689874345
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	10/23/2007
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	1,118,193
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Linda Heller has written and illustrated many books for children. The Castle on Hester Street won the Sydney Taylor Book Award when it was first published in 1982. Linda Heller lives in New York City.

Boris Kulikov, a former set and costume designer in St. Petersburg, Russia, was chosen as a Flying Start by Publishers Weekly. He has also illustrated Morris the Artist by Lore Segal, The Perfect Friend by Yelena Romanova, and Carnival of Animals by John Lithgow. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

…Linda Heller's zestful tale of Russian-Jewish immigration at the turn of the last century…Loving grandparents, Rose and Sol, vie for young Julie's attention as they give wildly contrasting accounts of their Old World departures and New York arrivals. Sol, the dreamer, speaks of dockside greetings from President Teddy Roosevelt and of living like a king on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Rose, the realist, recalls cramped quarters and long hours of piecework. Both versions of the past, Heller suggests, contain a kernel of truth. Together, they make a palpable family legacy: one part bitter, one part sweet, all worth remembering.
—The New York Times

Leonard S. Marcus

Pre-school children will be charmed and enlightened.

Woman Books

Originally illustrated by the author, this 1982 Sydney Taylor Book Award winner receives spectacular new life by Kulikov (Carnival of the Animals). Like the story, Kulikov's illustrations are beguiling, witty and filled with enough details for dozens of readings. Julie's grandparents tell her about coming to America and falling in love, their versions competing in narrative counterpoint-her grandmother Rose gives her the facts ("Grandpa came on a boat, like I did. It was terrible") and her grandfather Sol exaggerates ("But what a welcome I got when I arrived. President Theodore Roosevelt rode his horse through a blizzard of ticker tape to greet me. 'Hello, Sol,' he said. 'Mighty glad you could come' "). The book riffs on the difference between the stories the two grandparents tell while at the same time showing how much Julie loves both grandparents and both types of "true." Kulikov never fails to amuse, whether he's rendering a faded sepia photograph of Sol's pushcart or the buttons Sol imagines he sold-"buttons carved from diamonds, emeralds, and rubies.... Buttons you could use as sleds in the snow." His painting of Rose being watched by her five brothers (so "nobody [could steal] her away") is especially irresistible, as is his homage to Chagall as the two young lovers float in the air behind their babies who ride down Hester Street in "hand-carved golden baby carriages." Not to be missed. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

New pictures add fresh animation to a slightly retouched text originally published in 1982. Young Julie listens happily as Grandfather describes how he crossed the ocean in a golden wagon pulled by Moishe, a very special goat; how Teddy Roosevelt personally welcomed him; and how he emerged from his huge castle on New York City's Lower East Side to sell gemstone and plate-sized buttons. Meanwhile, Grandmother counters with more likely accounts of an overcrowded immigrant ship, Ellis Island and hard times on Hester Street. The two find common ground at last, in telling how they met and had Julie's mother and other children: "We had each other and we were free to live as we wanted." Properly chastened, Grandfather promises to tell only the truth from now on-such as the tale of how he and Moishe once sang for Woodrow Wilson. The historical references make the narrative a bit creaky, but Kulikov recreates warmly lit, authentic-looking interiors and street scenes, and his smiling, flexibly posed figures project an intimacy that will draw children in to this intergenerational interchange. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews

The Castle on Hester Street

The Castle on Hester Street

Hardcover

Hardcover

Related collections and offers

Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Customer Reviews

Related Searches

Explore More Items

Related collections and offers

Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Related Subjects

Customer Reviews