The Spotted Pony: A Collection of Hanukkah Stories

by Eric A. Kimmel

Eight traditional shammes stories--about King Solomon and his magic ring, a mysterious spotted pony, Benayahu ben Yehoyada, and other heroes, demons, and fools--help celebrate the Festival of Lights. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823409368
• ISBN13: 9780823409365
• Release Date: September 1992
• Publisher: Holiday House
• Length: 70 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.3" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Brave and wise tales

Among the brave and wise rabbis in these stories come demons, ghosts, fools and even the clever Hershel of Ostropol, who tricked the Demon King in another Kimmel Chanukah story. But our son especially loves the story for the fourth night. The Lord tells King Solomon the dimensions for the Temple he must build and what materials to use. But King Solomon may not use iron, "for iron is a metal of war." As to how, without iron, builders can hew timbers for the ceiling and split stones for the walls, the Lord remains silent. Then Nathan the prophet tells King Solomon of the wondrous creature called the Shamir, fashioned by God from beams of light. Although no bigger than a barleycorn, it has the power to split massive stones.Solomon calls for an army captain to confront Ashmodai, king of the demons, who has the Shamir. Benayahu ben Yehoyada volunteer, and took with a spade, a fleece, a jar of Greek wine, an iron chain with a holy charm carved on each link, King Solomon's magic signet ring--and the wise King's plan. He came to a mountain, at whose foot the winged demon king Ashmodai landed. Benayahu dug a hole beneath the cistern where the great demon king drank, letting all the water run out. The ring gave him strength to move the cistern's stone cover. Then he hid. Ashmodai returned and drank from the well. It was wine, which soon made him dance, and then sleep. Benayahu bound the sleeping demon king, who insisted on telling the secret location of the Shamir only to Solomon himself. In court, the demon confessed that the Lord had taken the Shamir away.Solomon called the birds and asked if any of them had seen the Shamir. An albatross had--on a rock in the middle of the ocean. Benayahu straddles the great bird, and flies off to retrieve the Shamir, returning with it to Jerusalem. "And so Solomon built the Temple, without iron tools of any kind." The Shamir was then returned to its rock in the northern sea--until the Messiah comes, and a new Temple rises in Jerusalem.Each of the seven other tales is as brave and wise as this one. Alyssa A. Lappen

Great book for reading nightly

I found this book at my childs school library and found it to be a wonderful complement to our nightly Hanukkah celebration. Every night I've read a new story and we've talked about what each story means. I think its a great book, full of meaningful stories.

A book for the entire family!

A very worthy collection of short stories that will appeal to the entire family. The stories are sometimes clever, sometimes humorous, but always enjoyable. This is a book that can be read silently alone, or out loud to others. The author also includes a very touching story concerning his collection of the stories in this book.