Author Study of Eric Kimmel

1. Author Study
 Eric A. Kimmel

2.  “I grew up with stories, which is why I love them so much. My earliest memories are of
my grandmother telling me about the foolish people of Chelm, clever Hershel of Ostropol,
or any of several wildly imaginative tales from her native Ukraine, where the hero had to
kill a dragon with seven, nine, or twelve heads. Just walking down my block, I could hear
five different languages. All of my friends had grandparents living with them who would
gladly tell us a story—all we had to do was ask and listen.
 “My Uncle Abe gave me a wonderful present when I was seven years old: my own copy of
Grimm’s Fairy Tales. I read the book until it fell apart! I tried to put the pages back
together, but I didn’t always get them in the right order. Some of the stories got mixed up,
which led me to new, even more interesting combinations. That’s when I realized that
stories aren’t set in stone. They can be switched, changed, expanded, taken apart, and
put back together again in a thousand different ways.
 “Years of experience as a storyteller have taught me that stories never stay the same.
They’re alive; they grow and change. You can never tell the same story twice because
you’re different, the audience is different, and often you discover a new way of telling the
story that makes it different. Whenever I set out to write or tell a tale, I never really know
how it’s going to turn out. That’s what makes it so exciting. There’s always a new story
waiting to be discovered.”

3. Biography
 Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1946
 Went to Gil Hodges School (named
after a famous baseball player)
 Went to Andries Hudde Junior High
(named after a pirate)
 Attened Midwood High School
 Attened Lafayette College, graduated
in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in
English literature.

4.  Got his Masters degree from New York
University
 Obtained a Ph.D. from University of Illinois
in 1973.
 Taught elementary school in Manhattan and
in the U.S. Virgin Islands
 Taught language arts, children’s literature,
and storytelling at Indiana University 1973
to 1978, and from 1978 to 1993 at Portland
State University
 Retired from teaching college in 1993.

5.  Lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Doris,
and many pets.
 Performs throughout the United States for
children and adults
 Plays the banjo
 First book was published in 1974
 Caldecott Honor Medal (Hershel and the
Hanukkah Goblins) and the Sydney Taylor
Picture Book Award (The Chanukkah Guest
and Gershon’s Monster).
 Won the 2004 Sydney Taylor Body-of-Work
Award
 He is the only author to win the National Jewish
Book Award for picture books twice.

6.  “Eric Kimmel’s books are loved by children,
not just by teachers or librarians,” explained
Estrin. “He brings a sense of joy to his
storytelling. His humor, sense of adventure,
inclusion of scary monsters, and pride in his
Jewish heritage are all features that help him
forge a strong bond with readers.”

7. Books By Eric A. Kimmel
 A cloak for the moon  Charlie drives the stage  Montezuma and the fall of the
Aztecs
 A Horn for Louis  Count Silvernose
 Nanny goat and the seven little kids
 A Picture for Marc  Days of awe
 Nicanor's gate
 Anansi and the magic stick  Don Quixote and the windmills
 One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes
 Anansi and the moss-covered rock  Easy work!
 One good tern deserves another
 Anansi and the talking melon  Even higher!
 Onions and garlic
 Anansi goes fishing  fisherman and the turtle
 Pumpkinhead
 Anansi Series  flying canoe =
 Rimonah of the Flashing Sword
 Asher and the capmakers  Four Dollars and Fifty Cents
 Rip Van Winkle's return
 Baba Yaga  Gershon's monster
 Robin Hook, pirate hunter!
 Bar mitzvah  Grizz!
 Seven at one blow
 Be not far from me  Hayyim's Ghost
 Bearhead  Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins
 Bernal & Florinda  horn for Louis
 Billy Lazroe and the King of the Sea  I Took My Frog to the Library
 Blackbeard's last fight  I Went Walking
 Boots and his brothers  I-know-not-what, I-know-not-where
 Brother Wolf, Sister Sparrow  Iron John
 Cactus soup  McElderry book of Greek myths
 castle of the cats  Mishka, Pishka, & Fishka

8. Book List Continued
 Sirko and the wolf  The lady in the blue cloak  Why the Snake Crawls on Its
Belly
 Sopa De Cactus/ Cactus Soup  The Magic Dreidels
 Why Worry?
 spotted pony  The mysterious guests
 witch's face
 Squash it!  The Old Woman and Her Pig
 Wonders And Miracles
 Stormy's Hat  The Rolling Stone & Other Read
Aloud Stories  Zigazak!
 Sword of the samurai
 The rooster's antlers  Zigazak! A Magical Hanukkah
 Tartar's sword Night
 The runaway tortilla
 Ten suns
 The Spider's Gift
 The Adventures of Hershel of
Ostropol  The tale of Aladdin and the
wonderful lamp
 The birds' gift
 The tale of Ali Baba and the forty
 The Brass Serpent thieves
 The Chanukkah guest  The Three Cabritos
 The Chanukkah tree  The Three Princes
 The Erie Canal pirates  The Two Mountains
 The four gallant sisters  three little tamales
 The frog princess  Three sacks of truth
 The gingerbread man  Three samurai cats
 The goose girl  Tuning up
 The Great Texas Hamster Drive  valiant red rooster
 The Greatest of All  Website of the cracked cookies
 The hero Beowulf  Website of the warped wizard
 The jar of fools

9. Picture books are important for one
reason. They are the first books a
child owns and they are the first
books a child falls in love with. They
are also the first books children
encounter… long before they are able
to read or even handle books on their
own. Children learn to read from
picture books and children learn what
books are by reading picture books.
It comes down to this. We don’t
just teach reading; we teach
the love of reading. The love of
reading begins with picture
books.
- Eric A. Kimmel
Importance of Picture Books

10. SUMMARY:
Hershel arrives in a
village on the first night of
Hanukkah, looking
forward to fellowship and
latkes. However, the
villagers have been
forbidden from
celebrating Hanukkah by
goblins that haunt the old
synagogue at the top of
the hill. Does Hershel
outwit the goblins?
Caldecott Honor Book.
Recommended for ages 4-8
ISBN 0823407691

11. SUMMARY
This book begins with the
Seder and the haggadah,
The fourteen parts of the
Seder are explained and
so are different parts of
Seder. There are also
recipes, poems,
blessings, prayers and
songs in this collection.
There is even a three-
person, two page play by
Kimmel, based on the ten
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award plagues of Egypt.
2004 Sydney Taylor Honor Book
ISBN: 9780439071758, recommended for ages 10 & up

12. SUMMARY
Gershon and his wife
lived on the shores of the
Black Sea. He wasn’t
always a good man.
Gershon committed small
sins like losing his temper
or telling white lies. He
didn’t regret his sins nor
did he ask for
forgiveness. Gershon
would sweep up his
mistakes and toss them
into the cellar. Every year
on Rosh Hashanah, he
would put his mistakes in
a bag and throw them into
Gershon’s Monster the sea. However, his sins
Sydney Taylor Book Award in 2000 come back to haunt him
ISBN 043910839X, Recommended for ages 4 and up
in the form of a monster.
What happens to
Gershon, his wife, and
children?

13. Bibliography
 Kimmel, E. (2000). Gershon’s
Monster. New York. Scholastic Press.
 Kimmel, E .(1994). Hershel and the
Hanukkah Goblins. New York. Holiday
House.
 Kimmel, E. (2004). Wonders and
Miracles: A Passover Companion.
New York. Scholastic Press.

14. Sources
 Estrin, Heidi. (2005, January). 2004 Sydney Taylor Book Awards
Announced by Association of Jewish Libraries. Retrieved July 23,
2012, from
http://www.jewishlibraries.org/ajlweb/awards/stba/stba_press_releas
e_winners.pdf
 www.amazon.com
 Holiday House. (nd). Eric A. Kimmel. Retrieved July 24, 2012 from
http://www.holidayhouse.com/docs/Kimmel.Eric.A.10.08.pdf
 http://ericakimmel.com