A wealthy merchant, Feivel learns about the meaning of Hanukkah only after he condemns a small brood of hungry children for begging. "In a charming story from the oral tradition, a rich man begrudges three hungry children the good smells emanating from his kitchen window, and insists that they should pay for them. The kindly town rabbi comes up with a solution that is completely fair but that also teaches the miserly merchant a valuable lesson."-The Horn Book Nina Jaffe is an award-winning storyteller and author who is internationally known for her retellings of Jewish and world folklore. Recent titles include The Mysterious Visitor: Stories of the Prophet Elijah (1997 Sydney Taylor Award); A Voice for the People: The Life and Work of Harold Courlander, which was selected as a Smithsonian Notable Book for 1997; and The Golden Flower: A Taino Myth From Puerto Rico. She is the author of the critically acclaimed In the Month of Kislev: A Story for Hanukkah; Patakin: World Tales of Drums and Drummers and While Standing On One Foot: Puzzle and Stories and Wisdom Tales From the Jewish Tradition co-authored with Steve Zeitlin. The Uninvited Guest and Other Jewish Holiday Tales was the recipient of the Sydney Taylor Award for Best Jewish Children's Judaica Picture Book in 1993. In 1996, While Standing on One Foot received the Arnie Izard Storyteller's Choice Award and the Prix Verseles - the prestigious children's literature award of the Ligue des Families in Belgium. A native New Yorker, she holds a degree in World Music from Wesleyan University and an M.S.Ed in Bilingual Special Education from Bank Street College of Education, where she is currently on the graduate faculty as a specialist in storytelling, folklore, and music. Nina Jaffe is the co-founder of The Center for Folk Arts in Education, a partnership between Bank Street and City Lore: The New York Center for Urban Folk Culture. As a storyteller, she has presented Yiddish folktales and poetry at the Children's' Museum of Indianapolis for the Holocaust Exhibit Remember the Children: Daniel's Story. Other performance credits include: The Connecticut Storytelling Festival; The 92nd Street Y "Oral Tradition Series;" The Storytelling Institute at Long Island University; The Public Library of Montreal; The Museum of Natural History.In December 1998, Nina represented the United States in the Third International Festival of Storytelling in the Canary Islands of Spain. Nina lives in New York City with her husband, Bob, a learning specialist, and their son, Louis.
