The Language of Angels: A Story About the Reinvention of Hebrew

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The Language of Angels: A Story About the Reinvention of Hebrew

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Overview

In 1885, few Jews in Israel used the holy language of their ancestors, and Hebrew was in danger of being lost—until Ben Zion and his father got involved. Through the help of his father and a community of children, Ben modernized the ancient language, creating a lexicon of new, modern words to bring Hebrew back into common usage. Historically influenced dialogue, engaging characters, and colorful art offer a linguistic journey about how language develops and how one person's perseverance can make a real difference.

Influenced by illuminated manuscripts, Karla Gudeon’s illustrations bring Ben Zion—and the rebirth of Hebrew—to life.

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About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580896368
Publisher:	Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.
Publication date:	02/21/2017
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Richard Michelson's children's books have been listed among the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and the New Yorker. His many books include Too Young for Yiddish and Busing Brewster (Knopf Books for Young Readers). He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Karla Gudeon is a former teacher whose art is influenced by illuminated manuscripts and folk art. She is the illustrator of One Red Apple, Hanukkah Haiku, and Grandma's Wedding Album (Blue Apple Books).

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

11/28/2016
It isn’t easy being the child of a visionary. Ben-Zion’s father is Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, a man determined to revive Hebrew as a living, everyday language—even though most of his fellow Jews in 19th-century Jerusalem accuse him of sacrilege and are content speaking Yiddish or the languages of their native lands. Eliezer insists on raising Ben-Zion as the first native speaker of modern Hebrew, which makes for tense family moments and a lonely childhood. But gradually, father and son persuade other children that speaking Hebrew might not be such a bad idea, and that they can have a hand in building the language “word by word.” Gudeon (Grandma’s Wedding Album) turns Hebrew letters and words into graphic elements that dance across the pages and frame the text, although it’s not enough to counter the wooden feel of her vignettes. But Michelson (Fascinating: The Life of Leonard Nimoy) knows how to turn a complex story into both a brain tickler (how do you invent a word for “ice cream” or bicycle”?) and a compelling emotional journey. Endnotes provide additional context, including where Michelson’s story diverges from the historical record. Ages 5–9. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

It isn't easy being the child of a visionary. Ben-Zion's father is Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, a man determined to revive Hebrew as a living, everyday language—even though most of his fellow Jews in 19th-century Jerusalem accuse him of sacrilege and are content speaking Yiddish or the languages of their native lands. Eliezer insists on raising Ben-Zion as the first native speaker of modern Hebrew, which makes for tense family moments and a lonely childhood. But gradually, father and son persuade other children that speaking Hebrew might not be such a bad idea, and that they can have a hand in building the language "word by word." Gudeon (Grandma's Wedding Album) turns Hebrew letters and words into graphic elements that dance across the pages and frame the text, although it's not enough to counter the wooden feel of her vignettes. But Michelson (Fascinating: The Life of Leonard Nimoy) knows how to turn a complex story into both a brain tickler (how do you invent a word for "ice cream" or "bicycle"?) and a compelling emotional journey. Endnotes provide additional context, including where Michelson's story diverges from the historical record.
—Publishers Weekly
The ancient Hebrew language enters the modern world. In 1885 Jerusalem, a young boy named Ben-Zion cannot converse with the polyglot children of his age because his father has decreed that he speak only Hebrew, "the first child in more than two thousand years" to do so. The father, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, is a Zionist immigrant to Palestine and fervently believes that Jews from every country, speaking so many different languages, should return to the language of their ancestors and of Jewish Scripture. Ben-Zion is not popular in the neighborhood; some consider Hebrew a holy tongue to be used only in prayer. The father persists and finds that he needs to invent words to modernize the ancient language. Thus, by combining the Hebrew words for "wheel" and for "a pair of" he creates a word for bicycle. Ben-Yehuda's work leads to a network of schools, a dictionary, and the eventual designation of Hebrew in 1948 as the national language of Israel. Michelson's account, based on history, is presented as a story with invented dialogue, which he addresses in his author's note. Gudeon's digitized watercolor illustrations, full of children, are lively and feature Hebrew words and letters as part of the page design. A lively introduction to the work of a Hebrew language scholar and lover—and his family.
- Kirkus Reviews
Hebrew as a colloquial language died out around 200 BCE, when Jews were driven out of Jerusalem and settled in various places around the world. They learned the languages of their adopted countries and used Hebrew only for prayer. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda is credited with reinventing Hebrew as the unifying language of the Jewish people, and he dedicated his entire life to creating a modern Hebrew dictionary. Michelson tells his story through the eyes of Ben-Yuhuda's young son, Ben-Zion, who grew up in Jerusalem in the 1880s. While the other children in his neighborhood spoke Yiddish, Arabic, Spanish, or Ladino, Ben-Zion's father insisted that he speak only Hebrew. He wanted Ben-Zion to be "the first child in more than two thousand years who [would] grow up speaking only the beauty of our ancient tongue." Ben-Zion helped his father create new Hebrew words for "ice cream," "bicycle," and "school"—and within one generation, modern Hebrew was born. Inspired by illuminated manuscripts, the bright, decorative watercolor illustrations in oranges and reds beautifully complement the text and intergrate Hebrew letters and words throughout. A comprehensive three-page afterword provides additional information about Ben-Zion and his parents, as well as the history of Hebrew, Jerusalem, and the modern state of Israel.
Hebrew teachers and students in Jewish schools will welcome this gorgeous new picture book about how the language developed and the impact of one person's perseverance on an entire people.
—School Library Journal
Eliezer Ben-Yuhuda, a Jewish resident of Jerusalem in the 1880s, devoted his life to promoting the modern use of Hebrew. Although always used for religious prayers and rites, Hebrew had died out as a spoken language more than 2,000 years before and lacked terms for modern ideas and objects. Ben-Yehuda created new words, often borrowing from related languages, and published a modern Hebrew dictionary, his milon. Through his efforts, Hebrew became Israel's official language in 1948. Michelson's text draws on Ben-Yehuda's memoirs, although he tells this story from the perspective of Ben-Yehuda's young son, Ben-Zion. Gudeon's mixed-media illustrations depict period clothing and architecture, and she effectively incorporates Hebrew letters and words into the art. Appended with a generous afterword explaining the changes Michelson made to this story, this title also offers information about important individuals, the Hebrew language, and Palestine. With a smoothly written text and an appealing child focus, this makes a perfect resource for religious school collections and public library language shelves.
—Booklist

From the Publisher

Once there was a child without a friend.” This is how this multi-faceted story about the reinvention of an ancient religious language begins. Eliazar Ben-Yehuda, father of the friendless Ben Zion, made his son a guinea pig in an enormous experiment. In Jerusalem, where Ben-Zion lives, people speak a polyglot of languages. Ben-Zion hears Yiddish, Ladino, Arabic, Russian, and English in the streets, but he can speak none of those languages. Eliazar believes that a new country needs a new language and wants to revamp Hebrew, a language previously used only for the sacred. In the meantime, his young son has no common language to approach other children and that makes him a lonely boy. How Hebrew evolves from the prayer book to a conversational language is fascinating and will resonate with children learning conversational Hebrew. However, the deeper story of a doctrinaire father who enforces his child’s isolation by denying him a common language is worthy of discussion. The evolution of the language, depicted as a game in which Ben-Zion and his father combine word roots into contemporary language, is fascinating and can be expanded into a lesson on word roots in any language. The history of the region is explained in the back matter, but is oversimplified for a young audience. For example, the British Balfour Declaration, which promised Palestine to both the Jews and the Arabs and set up more than a century of division, is sanitized. Children in the illustrations are shown in Western dress, rather than Middle Eastern clothing. Hebrew calligraphy is cunningly used in the border art, but also figures as identifiers in characters and objects in the story. Ben-Zion’s mother utters one truism to her son that bears repeating,” If only parents could learn from children, maybe they wouldn’t be so frightened.” Reviewer: Lois Rubin Gross; Ages 5 to 8.

Children's Literature - Lois Rubin Gross

02/01/2017
K-Gr 3—Hebrew as a colloquial language died out around 200 BCE, when Jews were driven out of Jerusalem and settled in various places around the world. They learned the languages of their adopted countries and used Hebrew only for prayer. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda is credited with reinventing Hebrew as the unifying language of the Jewish people, and he dedicated his entire life to creating a modern Hebrew dictionary. Michelson tells his story through the eyes of Ben-Yehuda's young son, Ben-Zion, who grew up in Jerusalem in the 1880s. While the other children in his neighborhood spoke Yiddish, Arabic, Spanish, or Ladino, Ben-Zion's father insisted that he speak only Hebrew. He wanted Ben-Zion to be "the first child in more than two thousand years who [would] grow up speaking only the beauty of our ancient tongue." Ben-Zion helped his father create new Hebrew words for "ice cream," "bicycle," and "school"—and within one generation, modern Hebrew was born. Inspired by illuminated manuscripts, the bright, decorative watercolor illustrations in oranges and reds beautifully complement the text and integrate Hebrew letters and words throughout. A comprehensive three-page afterword provides additional information about Ben-Zion and his parents, as well as the history of Hebrew, Jerusalem, and the modern state of Israel. VERDICT Hebrew teachers and students in Jewish schools will welcome this gorgeous new picture book about how the language developed and the impact of one person's perseverance on an entire people.—Rachel Kamin, North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, Highland Park, IL

School Library Journal

2016-12-06
The ancient Hebrew language enters the modern world. In 1885 Jerusalem, a young boy named Ben-Zion cannot converse with the polyglot children of his age because his father has decreed that he speak only Hebrew, "the first child in more than two thousand years" to do so. The father, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, is a Zionist immigrant to Palestine and fervently believes that Jews from every country, speaking so many different languages, should return to the language of their ancestors and of Jewish Scripture. Ben-Zion is not popular in the neighborhood; some consider Hebrew a holy tongue to be used only in prayer. The father persists and finds that he needs to invent words to modernize the ancient language. Thus, by combining the Hebrew words for "wheel" and for "a pair of" he creates a word for bicycle. Ben-Yehuda's work leads to a network of schools, a dictionary, and the eventual designation of Hebrew in 1948 as the national language of Israel. Michelson's account, based on history, is presented as a story with invented dialogue, which he addresses in his author's note. Gudeon's digitized watercolor illustrations, full of children, are lively and feature Hebrew words and letters as part of the page design. A lively introduction to the work of a Hebrew language scholar and lover—and his family. (afterword, further reading) (Picture book. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews

"Sorensen's portrayal of... relationships and long-distance love, as well as the longing to escape one's past, raises her above her new adult peers."

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