Interesting retelling of a classic story. Nice yet eery illustrations. My only concern is unless you are aware of this story prior to reading the book or have someone who has more knowledge to share then this may come off as scary and slightly hard to understand for young readers.

***I was provided this ARC in exchange for honest reviews***

The illustrations of this children’s book are exquisite! Poor Frantz! How can you ask a child to “never open” a mysterious door with a creature stowed away inside? Curiosity will get the better them and that door will be opened! I liked how the story is educational and teaches about the Golem in a respectful way. I didn’t get why Frantz and Miriam had to vow to be married, to be honest with each other? The ending was weird, and I read this to my kids and they were also confused. Overall it was a cute little story.

I am familiar with this tale as I have read other versions. I don;t think there is a moral to this story really. it's just a very dark story, of a dark time in history. The golem is a well known creature in Jewish stories, I believe. I certainly would not want to run into one. Older kids and adults should enjoy this story. yeah, a bit on the scary side at times, but nothing kids, say, 10 and up couldn't handle.

The story of the Golem of Prague is one that has been retold countless times. In this telling, the author stays true to the history of a time when Jews were being persecuted for the notion that they killed children and Rabbi Loew created a man out of clay to help protect the Jews. I found this version to be confusing, especially when it jumped to different times and somehow connected a young boy to the Golem.

It is a rather dark tale, but so is the persecution of the Jews. I would recommend this story to children 10 and older, but adults might have to give a better understanding of the history of the Golem for a child to truly understand.

The Golem of Prague
by Irene Cohen-Janca

Rating 4Synopsis
The legend of the Golem dates back to the 1500s when the Jews of Prague were being viciously persecuted. Their spiritual leader, Rabbi Loew, also known as The Maharal of Prague, created a formidable creature out of clay whose mission it was to protect the Jews of the city. This beautiful picture book with its lyrical text and evocative illustrations, retells the story of the Golem through the eyes of a young boy, Frantz. Despite warnings to never enter the attic in the synagogue, Frantz climbs up. There, he is transported back to the time when the Golem was created, and eventually destroyed. A blend of mysticism, the supernatural, and even romance makes this a haunting picture book for children ages 8 to 12.

I enjoyed the story; but admittedly, I had to google the legend of the Golem to get more information and I’m glad I did as it gave me a better perspective and understanding of the story. The story is a short and fast read. However, it was the exquisite illustrations by Maurizio A.C. Quarello that held me captive to the story and hence the rating of 4 stars.

Parental Note: I would recommend Golem of Prague for children 10 and older only because they would have some background knowledge of what happened to the Jews in Germany pre and during WWII from their school studies. Without this background information, I feel they may have many questions that would require some guidance from a parent or adult who is prepared to answer and discuss religious discrimination issues from this period in our history and how it relates today in our current events.

'The Golem of Prague by Irène Cohen-Janca with illustrations by Maurizio A.C. Quarello, and translation by Brigitte Waisberg is a retelling of the famous story for younger readers.

When a young boy named Frantz enters the forbidden attic of the synagogue, he finds a dusty coat. It triggers a memory, though not his, of a time when the coat was used by a golem. This begins the retelling of the golem of Prague. The Jews of Prague were being persecuted and they turned to a rabbi also known as the Maharal of Prague for help. He creates a giant clay creature that defends the people. When the golem then goes out of control, how will the people stop it.

I liked the framing story, but the real star is the main story. The Illustrations are also well done. I enjoyed reading this famous story in it's updated form.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Annick Press Ltd. and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

This is a beautiful reselling of the story of the Golem of Prague. The writing is vividly detailed and mysterious, and well complemented by the large somber illustrations. A fascinating read.

3 stars
Does this book have any message at all?

FYI, I have only reviewed a couple of middle grade books in my life. I mostly read and review books meant for adults. I do NOT believe that this is a new classic like "The Graveyard Book". This book really left me with mixed feelings.

First, here are the good things. The art is beautiful and atmospheric, and I like how it is placed throughout. It really gives you a sense of place, movement, shadow, and light. Secondly, it is nice how Jewish folklore is the topic. I am fascinated by Jewish folklore and culture, which is why I was initially drawn to this kids' book. Third, it is a nice length for a children's book: it took me about a half hour to read it.

Now, here is my main problem with the book: The original folktale of the Golem of Prague has a few useful themes/morals to the story. However, the way the author adds elements to the story makes any moral/theme confusing or absent. The original story's possible meanings: creating a being can have moral and practical ramifications; people without free will tend to get upset about the lack; the world has a history of fear and violence against people of other cultures. However, the weird and abrupt story element that the author added onto the end muddles the possible messages.

<<Spoiler alert>> In the book, a boy goes into the Synagogue attic where he should not have gone. There, he experiences, either in a dream or in mystical time travel, the story of the creation and destruction of the Golem as if the boy was the Golem itself. In addition, the boy's prospective girlfriend also experiences the dream through the eyes of the girl who was ordered to destroy the Golem, and the next day, the boy and girl acknowledge that they will marry each other someday. So, is the author saying that a boy better not misbehave, or he will dream that he is a soulless being who gets destroyed by his girlfriend? Or, maybe the author is saying that a boy's relationship with his first girlfriend will start if he trespasses in a church's attic? Really? You see how the extra plot elements mess up the story's message. There is a good small theme that couples should not keep secrets from each other.

Well, if you do let your kids read this, here are a few thoughts. There are a few rather dark story elements that might be too creepy for some kids. The book mentions that in 1580 A.D. Prague, Christians stole dead bodies of children from cemeteries and placed them in Jewish people's houses to frame them for murder! This is really twisted and probably really happened. You can decide if your child can handle that. I think that parents might want to read it first so that they can prepare answers for the following questions: What is Jewish mysticism? [There is a glossary at the end, but mysticism is difficult for anyone to explain.] Where on a map is Prague? In 1580, did Christians really do those bad things to Jews? There could be many questions.

This book has good and bad points, in my opinion. I hope this review helps you decide whether to buy the book.

I received a free digital advanced reading copy from the publisher via Netgalley, and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

This retelling of the story of the golem who protected the Jewish quarter of Prague in the 1500s is beautiful, both in the words and the pictures. This is the rare picture book for older kids, and I hope it finds a solid audience. It's not simply longer than those aimed at younger kids, but deals with more complex themes and demands that the reader think for themselves about the persecution of the Jewish people, the violence of the golem, and the eventual need to destroy him. Not that the book is overly dark -- it isn't! -- but it isn't light, either. This a thoughtful book for a thoughtful child (or adult), particularly one interested in medieval history and legends.

I liked it. It was a little too advanced for the age group I typically read to.

When I received this book from the publisher, I didn't know that it was a very short book (smaller than I novella). I think it took me 10 minutes to read and once I had finished it, I wasn't quite sure what the moral of the story was and what I had to take away from it.

This retelling of an ancient Jewish legend - the Golem - dates back to the 1500s when the Jews of Prague were being viciously persecuted. Their spiritual leader, Rabbi Loew, also known as The Maharal of Prague, created a formidable creature out of clay whose mission it was to protect the Jews of the city.

This retells the story of the Golem through the eyes of a young boy, Frantz. Despite warnings to never enter the attic in the synagogue, Frantz climbs up. There, he is transported back to the time when the Golem was created.

The first thing that I would like to state about this book is that there are some amazing illustrations all the way throughout by Maurizio A.C. Quarello that captured my attention and my imagination.

I am not Jewish, and I wasn't familiar with this story but it sounded so intriguing when I read the synopsis. As aforementioned, I didn't know how short this book actually was and I was gearing myself up to read a 200 page (ish) novel about the Golem and awesome adventures. Alas, I got the awesome adventure part, but not the novel. This short story taught me about the Golem and it was a very interesting story and one that I would love to learn about in more depth.

From reading it, you can tell that Cohen-Janca is a good writer and uses descriptions to her advantage and she describes the world around her beautifully, however, I'm not quite sure what she was trying to get across with this story; is there a moral of the book that I didn't pick up? Is there a lesson that I should have taken away from this? I feel like something got lost in the translation.

I also found the ending to be very strange with two of the characters! One minute, Franz is coming back from his deep sleep and the next, he's talking about marriage with a girl he hardly knows!

I feel like - in order for this book to make sense to me - I will have to do some further research and read other texts about the Golem of Prague as something just felt missing in this story.

It was a beautiful story with incredible illustrations, but I simply cannot make sense of it!



Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Released 14th March

The thing about retelling folktales and myths, is that if you are going to retell it, you want to add to it, or make it more relevant to kids today. This picture book did not take that route. Instead, it framed the folktale around two young people who lived in Prague.

If anything, this addition confused me. What were they doing there? Why were they part of the story? What is the point? And this story was set in the modern times of 1892, to tell a story from the 1600s.

The pictures are nice. The folktale itself is done well. It is mostly the framing that made it go down to three stars.

Thanks to netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

This story is a retelling of a Jewish legend, The Golem of Prague. I was unfamiliar with the story and very interested. The illustrations are great as well as the telling of the story. I'm glad to have read it. Parts of the story were a little frightening, but not too much for older elementary children.

4****

What is a golem? Do you know? Frantz is told not to go into the attic in the neighborhood.-- it is too dangerous. One night when everyone is asleep Frantz goes walking out of the house into the night. He goes to the attic that is forbidden to him. He falls asleep with a Hugh dusty coat in the attic and dreams. He dreams of a time when the Jews were being persecuted. The rabbi decides this cannot continue and makes a golem. How do you make a golem? The golem protects the Jews so well that it ends up with nothing to do. He becomes angry and starts ripping up the neighborhood. He walks until he sees a young beautiful girl and stops. The young girl stops him from destroying any more of the neighborhood. How does she do that? Frantz wakes up from the dream. What does he do?

The writing for this book is terrific as well as the illustrations. It is a fascinating story. I found myself marveling how the author wrote this story. Once I started it, I didn't stop till the end.

The Golem of Prague. ***
By: Irene Cohen-Janca

This book is a recounting of one of the most famous Jewish legends. The legend combines supernatural and mythical elements.

Prague, in 16th Century, was home to a large population of Jews. During that time Jews were feared by many and accused of many heinous crimes they didn’t commit. According to the legend, Rabbi Yehunda Loew created a Golem to protect the Jewish people of Prague from persecution. The Golem, after having accomplished its task, and having no further purpose, becomes angry and goes beserk. The Rabbi destroys the Golem, returning it to its natural state of inanimate clay. The inanimate Golem is taken to the attic of the Old New Synagogue where it supposedly remains to this day.

I don’t know if there is supposed to be a moral to this story/legend or not. If there is I couldn’t figure it out. Being a children’s story based on a Jewish/religious legend I expected it to have a moral.

It was an interesting read, if somewhat dark in nature. Age appropriate for middle school.
I enjoyed the many illustrations in the book. They felt accurate for this story in depicting 16th century Prague in relation to the darkness of the story.

I’m sure parents could have a discussion with their child to open their mind to possible morals to be conveyed to children. I can only guess.
Creation of a man with no soul, the error of placing your trust/safety in a false man, even “words can hurt” since the Golem was both created and destroyed by words. Maybe that’s just me, still looking for the moral of a children’s book.

***
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It's a nice reading. However, I would say it is better if kids are 8-10 years old, otherwise they might not understand it.

Great little book,have always loved the story.The drawings were wonderful.

What a wonderful retelling of the Golem story, though I must admit I am not too familiar with either the legend or the Meyrink novel abusing it (defintely have to change that some time).

The story is mysterious and a little bit scary, but not too much - of course, the beautiful illustrations which perfectly capture the slightly creepy mood have a good deal to do with that. It is always a good thing to bring in some young main character in a children's book, so that readers can more easily identify with and experience events through his or her eyes.

I also appreciated the small glossary at the end of the book explaining some central keywords related to Jewish tradition and was helpful and interesting for people (like me) completely unfamiliar with that religion.

A wonderful, slightly dark story for teen readers as well as adults.

The illustrations were quite good, but the story needs work. There were way too many characters introduced in the beginning , and the writing just had a very heavy religious overtone, but not a whole lot of grab. This could be a good book if it were told by a more skilled story-teller.

Evocative illustrations help to tell the mysterious story of the Golem of Prague.