Review: The Light Keeper
The Light Keeper
by Karen Levine and Sheila Baslaw, illustrated by Alice Priestly
Second Story Press, 2024
Category: Picture Books
Reviewer: Judy Ehrenstein
Buy at Bookshop.org
Shmuel’s family is poor and work is hard to find in their shtetl. Mama frets about feeding her six children and Papa searches for work to earn a few kopecks. Shmuel wishes he could help and is willing to do anything – except patching holes in the roof, as he is afraid of heights. It is into this setting that a cart arrives one day, with news that the men are there to bring electricity to the shtetl! Shmuel watches every moment he can, until the day the lights are turned on. Upon packing up, one of the workers shows Shmuel the boxes being left for repairs. One day the mayor appears at the door, pleading with Shmuel to repair the lights from recent storm damage. It is time to face his fear of heights. Hand over hand, Shmuel climbs to the top of a light pole and does what is needed. Thanks roll in, with gifts of food left at his family’s door, and Shmuel’s sense of self worth has been raised high in knowing that he helped his community. This work of historical fiction, based on the co-author’s father’s childhood, is a refreshing look into Jewish life in “the old country” that is positive and full of life and light.
The illustrations are done digitally in a style reminiscent of colored pencil and watercolor paint. They are rich, with lots of detail for the setting and facial expressions. Especially poignant are the spreads set at night, stars filling the sky of the town square.
The Jewish content is more assumed than overt: there is a mention of a rabbi, the town is called a shtetl, and the main character is named Shmuel. Readers will likely take away more of the history of bringing electric light to small towns than any sense of Jewish life or history.
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Reviewer Judy Ehrenstein is a children's librarian in Maryland and served on the 2020-22 Sydney Taylor Book Award committee. She is co-editor of children's and teen book reviews for AJL News and Reviews.
Shmuel’s family is poor and work is hard to find in their shtetl. Mama frets about feeding her six children and Papa searches for work to earn a few kopecks. Shmuel wishes he could help and is willing to do anything – except patching holes in the roof, as he is afraid of heights. It is into this setting that a cart arrives one day, with news that the men are there to bring electricity to the shtetl! Shmuel watches every moment he can, until the day the lights are turned on. Upon packing up, one of the workers shows Shmuel the boxes being left for repairs. One day the mayor appears at the door, pleading with Shmuel to repair the lights from recent storm damage. It is time to face his fear of heights. Hand over hand, Shmuel climbs to the top of a light pole and does what is needed. Thanks roll in, with gifts of food left at his family’s door, and Shmuel’s sense of self worth has been raised high in knowing that he helped his community. This work of historical fiction, based on the co-author’s father’s childhood, is a refreshing look into Jewish life in “the old country” that is positive and full of life and light.
The illustrations are done digitally in a style reminiscent of colored pencil and watercolor paint. They are rich, with lots of detail for the setting and facial expressions. Especially poignant are the spreads set at night, stars filling the sky of the town square.
The Jewish content is more assumed than overt: there is a mention of a rabbi, the town is called a shtetl, and the main character is named Shmuel. Readers will likely take away more of the history of bringing electric light to small towns than any sense of Jewish life or history.
Are you interested in reviewing books for The Sydney Taylor Shmooze? Click here!
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