O Jerusalem: Voices of a Sacred City - Hardcover

Grade 5-7-Jerusalem's holiness, history, and ageless appeal to three religions has been captured in these wonderful poems. "Abraham's Message to the Terah Clan" reads like a psalm and is as lovely. "King David's Tomb" mulls over what the city might be like had the boy David not been successful in vanquishing the giant, while "Stone Upon Stone" records its successive conquerors and physical composition. "Wall 1" and "Wall 2" tell of both the Jewish and Muslim traditions regarding the wall; "Dome of the Rock" pays obeisance to that object's importance for the three religions. In referring to the Jewish reverence for the rock, Yolen uses the Christian interpretation of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son (as Christ was sacrificed). The Jewish interpretation is the binding of Isaac, inferring a different meaning. The collection concludes with "Jerusalem 3000," an inspirational poem of peace. A narrative paragraph follows each poem to explain its historical references and/or allusions to legend and religion. The painterly acrylics reflect the majesty of a Jerusalem dawn, the old city panorama as seen perhaps from the Mount of Olives, black-faced sheep blending against a background of stone wall, an adolescent David contemplating his decision, and other striking perspectives. Thompson is a superb draftsman who also handles color eloquently. As each illustration is unique and a work of art, so is each poem. Together they form an integral unit and provide a most fitting celebration of the Jerusalem 3000 anniversary.
Marcia W. Posner, Holocaust Memorial and Educational Center of Nassau County, Glen Cove, NY
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In honor of Jerusalems upcoming 3000th anniversary, Yolen (Here There Be Witches, 1995, etc.) offers a series of poetic meditations on its history, people, and symbolic meaning. In a tone that is reverent throughout, she gives Muslim, Christian, and Jewish traditions equal time, visiting landmarks, describing customs, and explaining in prose notes the references in each preceding poem. Thompson (the McKissackss Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters, 1994), using warm golds and browns applied in complex textures, creates spread-filling acrylics that range from impressionistic views of towering clouds to a larger-than-life, carefully detailed pilgrims hand gathering a few pinches of earth from the Mount of Olives. Two potentially confusing notes: In a poem about the nine ``measures of beauty'' God gave the city, readers may count more than nine; in the poem titled ``Jerusalem 3000,'' the number refers not to the city's anniversary but to the (Christian) year 3000, when the city and the world might, finally, be at peace. That's a fairly gloomy forecast if readers accept the number literally and not as a typographical error. Otherwise, this is an uplifting companion to Karla Kuskins Jerusalem, Shining Still (1987). (Poetry. 9-13) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.