The Sages of Chelm and the Moon is a fun retelling of Jewish folklore. The people of Chelm, called Sages for being wise, use the moon to light up their streets at night. However, some nights the moon does not show up, so the Sages determine they need to buy a new moon. This is a funny story with just as funny illustrations that will remind children of stories like The Emperor's New Clothes and will interest children (and adults) in learning about folklore from other places in the world.

NetGalley, Lindsey Lewis

In Shlomo Abas’s droll version of the traditional tale, the wise but unfortunately naive Chelm-dwellers struggle with a recurring nighttime visibility problem:

The darkest nights were those when the moon disappeared altogether and barely a sliver of light could be seen in the sky. On such nights, the poor people of Chelm bumped into each other, walked into tree trunks, and stumbled over rocks in the road. Sometimes they completely lost their way. Some couldn’t find their own homes and wandered into their neighbour’s houses by mistake.

The solution? Blindingly obvious! Buy a better moon… Ideally one that doesn’t periodically disappear. And so, they set out to do exactly that. Alas, the purchase doesn’t turn out to be quite as successful as they might have hoped. But the town people’s puzzled, unenlightened efforts make for a wonderful story—with readers in on the joke throughout.

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GLLI

Who would not want to carry home a beautiful full moon, safely secured in a barrel, perfect for nights when the moon is only a crescent or barely visible at all? The Sages of Chelm and the Moon, by Shlomo Abas, with pictures by Omer Hoffmann, retells one of the stories about residents of the legendary town of Jewish folklore, who are not constrained by reality. In a lucid translation by Gilah Kahn-Hoffmann, children read expectantly about people who believe they can carry reflected light home with them, wondering if they will be bitterly disappointed when they learn they have been tricked by a venal innkeeper. They need not worry; the sages of the title are protected by an innocence which makes them vulnerable to deception, but equally prone to seeing the light in a dark situation.

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Imaginary Elevators

'Israeli children's books come of age' – by Nicola Christie

Jewish Renaissance, 1st January 2020

As featured by

Jewish Book Council

I read this book with my daughter and she loved the images!

I thought it was a fun folktale that was easy to follow and I thought the writing style was great, it was easy to read and I can see children finding it funny with lots of giggles when they reading the story about the silly people!

4 stars from me for this one - highly recommended!!

NetGalley, Donna Maguire

The illustrations are beautiful.

GoodReads, Amanda Williams

A well illustrated tale with a sound story.

NetGalley, reviewed by Han Hunter

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I loved this funny little story which reminded me of Bulgarian Gabrovo tales. Beautiful quirky illustrations in exquisite colour schemes add to the kind humour of the story. I can see myself reading this book to my little one many, many times.

Looking forward to more titles in the Chelmite series.

NetGalley, reviewed by Tonya Cibelli

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This was great! I love the Chelm stories! Right up there with the Nasruddin and Til Eulenspiegel stories I've heard over my lifetime. I am happy to see someone keeping these tales alive! Illustrations were wonderful!

NetGalley, reviewed by Catherine Hankins

Simple but good!

NetGalley, reviewed by Etienne Breton