Review: Shield of the Maccabees
Shield of the Maccabees: A Hanukkah Graphic Novel by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Dov Smiley Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House) Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Leah Cypess Buy at Bookshop.org "All history books," Dara Horn has written, "fact or fiction, are really about the times in which they are written, not about the times they supposedly describe." This is particularly true when it comes to historical fiction, and it's very true about Shield of the Maccabees, Eric Kimmel and Dov Smiley's graphic novel about a friendship between a Greek boy and a Jewish boy that is fractured by the conflict between the Greeks and the Jewish Maccabees. Kimmel uses this framework to tell a story about friendship transcending differences -- a story that should appeal greatly to its intended modern-day audience, although the main message might have made little sense to its historical characters. Its main poin