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A Telling Time
by Irene Watts and illustrated by Kathryn Shoemaker

Magic drums and talking animals take their place beside tales of daily life in market and school. Irene Watts retells the story of the Jewish festival of Purim, taken from the biblical Book of Esther. Irene Watts' version acquires a powerful extra dimension by being framed within events in Nazi-occupied Vienna. An ancient genocidal plot is echoed by a modern policy of extermination. The beautiful pictures of star-strewn skies and snow-covered streets match this thought provoking blend of old and new.Times Educational Supplement


A Telling Time is an intricately conceived and splendidly written Purim tale set in three historic periods. The title itself is a clever play on words. At one level, it means a time for telling stories. On another level, it refers to specific times in the past when life-and-death decisions were being made.
In the present, a grandmother is telling her granddaughter about her last Purim as a young girl in Vienna, Austria, before the family fled the Nazi occupation. Their present-day conversations appear in normal type face while grandmother’s story is in bolder, larger print.
Within that context, grandmother is actually telling two stories – her experience of the Nazi occupation as she and other costumed children listened to their rabbi relating the Purim story.
Parallels between the stories are subtly drawn. The most powerful one being Nazi soldiers invading the rabbi’s study just as he has told the children about Haman choosing the date on which to kill all Persian Jews. And just as Haman’s date is a bit into the future, so too a Nazi soldier gives the rabbi time to finish his story and send the children home before arresting him.
In that brief interlude, the rabbi assures the children of a happy ending. Queen Esther saves her people. Magic realism saves their rabbi as he vanishes in a flurry of snowflakes.
Kathryn E. Shoemaker’s full colour illustrations, complete with elements of fantasy and wonder, are gloriously apt. She immediately sets a tone of hope amid worry with strangely swirling snowflakes and a radiant sun-like clock. Her starry illustrations of the Purim story are presented as though on a scroll and stylistically imitate traditional Purim art.
In sum, although the author takes poetic licence with Megillat Esther – for example, no Vashti – A Telling Time is a super addition to both Purim and Holocaust Kid Lit. And all Canadian too! -- by Deanna Silverman, published in the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin on March 13, 2006

Kathryn Shoemakers's illustrations demonstrate her artistic ability and her talent to interpret text. The blues and whites of the Vienna winter are contrasted with the dark browns of the Persian court...She indicates the pressure of time that was crucial to the victory of Haman through clocks that appear throughout the pages. The unsettling times are represented through unusual angles and disconnected images. Canadian Materials-University of Manitoba-Manitoba. Librarians Association December 10,2004

Irene Watts' lovely volume, A Telling Time, retells the Purim story of how Queen Esther saved the Jews of Persia from an evil man named Haman. Purim is a lively and hopeful spring festival occurring during the Jewish month of Adar (between February and March). Children traditionally don fancy dress and perform plays of the Purim story.
With great skill, the author weaves the traditional Purim tale through three time frames. In present-day North America, a grandmother tells her granddaughter how, as a little girl, she first heard the story of the courageous Queen Esther from her rabbi. Thie happens to be on the eve of World War II, in occupied Vienna. During the rabbi's discourse, Nazi soldiers come to arrest him, but when he begs for a little more time to finish the tale, they grant his wish. The children are allowed to go home, but when the rabbi waves goodbye, he vanishes in the snow-covered streets, presumably saved by a Purim miracle. Irene Watts' skillful interweaving of present, recent past, and biblical past is infused with a feeling of magic and hope.
Kathryn Shoemaker's dream-like paintings complement the story's feeling of stepping through time. Beautiful images of snowy Vienna streets coupled with richly painted Torah scrolls make this book an enticing visual treat for readers of all ages. This book is a great addition to the family or school library. Ann Shantz is a Toronto bookseller. Resource Links April 2005

On a moonlit March night, Rebecca's grandmother Esther is telling her the Purim story about Queen Esther, who saves her people when she tells her husband the king about his trusted adviser Haman's plot to kill the Jews of Persia. This evening, with snow drifting down from an indigo sky, reminds grandmother of another evening, long ago in Vienna, when she was a child Rebecca's age.
On that night, the night before Purim, she and a group of friends had gone to the rabbi's house to hear the story of Queen Esther. As the rabbi began the story, the door suddenly burst open and soldiers rushed in, shouting, "You are wanted for questioning, Jew." The rabbi responded, "Permit me a little more time, sir, before you take me away; the children have not heard the end of the story."
The rabbi was permitted to continue, and the children to hear the end of his story. When he ended it, the children left the house and he was led away.
"And what happened to the rabbi?" Rebecca asks. "Who can tell?" grandmother Esther replies. "A miracle occurred that night, just like the miracle of Purim. And somewhere, I believe, the rabbi still tells the story of Queen Esther." -- CHILDREN'S BOOKS by Susan Perren, 12 March 2005, The Globe and Mail

Purim as a telling time by Judith Saltman, The Western Jewish Bulletin

Gr 3-6- A Modern-day grandmother shares with her granddaughter the remembrance of a childhood Purim in Nazi-occupied Austria. On the snowy eve of the holiday, a rabbi begins to tell the story of Queen Esther's rescue of the Jews of Persia to a group of children when he is interrupted by soldiers who have come to take him for questioning. Pleading for a few more minutes to finish the tale, the rabbi is given 15 minutes to continue and, at the conclusion, leads to children out on a snow-covered street and symbolically disappears, wrapped in his white prayer shawl, within the frosty blizzard night. The two miracles of salvation are parallelled as one story is told within the other. Overtones and shadows of the Holocaust are blended with the scenes of the Purim retelling highlighting the main characters of Queen Esther, King Ahasuerus, Mordecai, and the villainous Haman. Dark paintings in muted hues of maroon, black, and gray of a Persian kingdom and Nazi imagery of yellow stars, Gestapo police, and barbed-wire fencing are a backdrop for text that alternates in type style to distinguish the two stories. The juxtaposition of the different times of Jewish persecution in the world's history is subtle and effective. This holiday book can also serve as a good discussion starter about racism and anti-Semitism.-By Rita Soltan, Oakland University, Rochester, MI in April 2005 issue of School Library Journal

One of a new wave of sophisticated picture books for older children, teenagers, and adults, A Telling Time is a brilliant interpretation of the Purim story and its lasting, powerful metaphor for Jewish courage and survival in the face of persecution. The multi-layered narrative has three threads that weave together a fable of three distinct time periods - the ancient time of Esther's courage; the threatening Fascist Vienna in 1939; and a moment in our contemporary world. In a story within a story within a story, a modern grandmother celebrating Purim with her granddaughter shares her memory of a Purim of her childhood, when a rabbi telling a group of children the story of Esther escapes a sudden, frightening Nazi arrest, perhaps through the grace and humanizing power of storytelling, perhaps through a miracle. With the tale of Esther at the centre, the threads intersect in the act of storytelling, of communicating Jewish history, courage and hope. Each time period is a telling time, a central historical moment of clarity and action. Each historical period has a tale to tell - preparing the next generation of children to face the world with courage and compassion. The grace and strength of Watts's story is extended into a complex literary and visual experience through the remarkable art. Created for the older child, ages eight and up, Shoemaker's visually literate gouache paintings evoke the three historical time frames, convey atmosphere and the emotional underpinnings of the story. Traditional jewel-like scrolls of Esther's tale unfold with imagery recalling ancient Jewish art and Persian miniatures. The images of wartime Vienna incorporate subtle icons of the Holcaust: tiny images of lost shoes, suitcases, flames, mogen davids, clocks witnessing the telling times, and barbed wire. The white purity of the Viennese snowy night and the small coloured figures of the children in their Purim costumes, are threatened by a flickering orange of fire and framed by black designs that suggest bars of oppression and a history of resistance. The warmth of the contemporary grandmother's window looking out to another snowy night conveys her love of her grandchild and the survival of a people. By Judith Saltman Associate Professor, School of Library, Archival & Information Studies The University of British Columbia.The Jewish Independent Vancouver BC, March 25th, 2005

It is wartime in Vienna but safe in the rabbi's study, a group of children dressed in Purim costumes listen to the rabbi tell the story of Queen Esther. About half way through the story, Nazis burst in to arrest the rabbi. They agree to give him fifteen minutes to finish. "You see, children, the story has a happy ending," he says, as he finishes and walks them out into the snow covered street. When the children reach the corner and look back, the rabbi has vanished. Describing this to her granddaughter, Rebeccah, is a woman who was one of the children who heard the rabbi's story and witnessed his miraculous disappearance. The three narratives, with that of Esther at the center, are woven into one riveting tale of courage and hope. The illustrations are outstanding in conveying mood and setting, with swatches of black and flame reds predominant in the depiction of Nazi-occupied Vienna and lighter, jewel tones resembling tapestries used to tell the tale of Queen Esther. As a fresh way of viewing two epochal Jewish narratives, this is graced with both simplicity and conviction. For ages 8 - 11.
By Linda R. Silver. Spring 2005 issue of Jewish Book World and Feb/March issue of the AJL

The jacket flap of A Telling Time explains that the story is told in three timeframes: the present day, Nazi-occupied Vienna in 1939, and the time of Queen Esther. A grandmother tells her granddaughter about the last time she celebrated Purim in Austria as a child and how she heard the story of Queen Esther from a local Rabbi. When he is interrupted by soldiers, the Rabbi pleads with them to let him finish the story before being taken in for questioning. The story abruptly ends with the Rabbi disappearing into the winter storm. When Rebeccah asks her grandmother what happened, she replies: "Who can tell? A miracle occurred that night, just like the miracle of Purim. And somewhere, I believe, the rabbi still tells the story of Queen Esther." The vibrant illustrations richly depict both Vienna in 1939 and Persia during the time of Queen Esther. However, the slanted placement of the text and the choice of fonts (the Rabbi's retelling of the Purim story is distinguished by a larger, serif font) detract from the beauty and impact of the paintings. The Purim story is very abbreviated and simplified, omitting Vashti and other key elements. And while linking the Purim story to the Holocaust is interesting, this book may have difficulty finding a wide audience. Grades 2 -5 The Newslaetter of the Association of Jewish Librarians, by Rachel Kamin, Temple Israel, West Bloomfield, MI