The Boston Chocolate Party

"A fast-paced picture book that combines the drama foreshadowing the American Revolution, the heroic Maccabee fight for freedom, and Sephardic Hanukkah customs . . . Readers can enjoy this lively historical vignette while feeling proud to see Jews at the founding of our nation."  --Ellen G. Cole for the Association of Jewish Libraries

" . . . Combines years of research with the kind of imagination that will have children reading this book over and over. . . .There's even a surprise piece of trivia, showing the kind of cups President George and Martha Washington used for drinking chocolate." --Donald H. Harrison, San Diego Jewish World

"Lehman-Wilzig and Prinz set their story during Hanukkah 1773 in the American colonies, centering Sephardic New England Jews. Protagonist Joshua's friend Isaac and his family have meager resources to celebrate Januca (the Spanish name for Hanukkah), but innovation from Joshua, and chocolate (an alternative to tea!) imported by Joshua's father and his crew, provide help. The Boston Tea Party actually took place on the last night of Hanukah; the (somewhat lengthy) text draws connections between the colonists' "fight for freedom" and the Maccabees'. The muted palette of Combi's digital-looking illustrations lends a historic feel. Back matter provides more information about Hanukkah, the Boston Tea Party, and early American Sephardic Jews--and, of course, recipes. --Shoshana Flax, Horn Book

"Brings history to life and illuminates Jewish culture in colonial times. It's wonderful to read how Hanukkah was celebrated in Newport during the 1700's. It made me feel right at home!" --Rabbi Marc Mandel, historic Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island

"The Boston Chocolate Partyis a child's tale of ingenuity, resilience, and friendship, and embeds these values in an early American history too little known by our children. This book combines whimsy with history in a delicious mix that goes perfectly with a cup of hot chocolate, and a young person's capacity to imagine the past." --William Cutter, Prof. emeritus of Literature, Education, and Human Relations, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Any­one look­ing for a new Hanukkah-themed children’s book might take inter­est in a lit­tle-known fact in Amer­i­can his­to­ry: the famous Boston Tea Par­ty of 1773 took place on the last night of the Jew­ish free­dom fes­ti­val. Fic­tion­al­iz­ing the coin­ci­dence, Tami Lehman-Wilzig, Rab­bi Deb­o­rah R. Prinz, and Fede Com­bi invite read­ers to imag­ine a con­nec­tion between the Mac­cabees’ rebel­lion and the hero­ic upris­ing of Amer­i­can colonists against Great Britain. Indeed, The Boston Choco­late Par­ty fol­lows Sephardic Jews as they seek free­dom and pros­per­i­ty in their new home. When unfair British tax­a­tion poli­cies gal­va­nize patri­ots to protest, the lives of Jews and their neigh­bors inter­sect in a sur­pris­ing way.

At the begin­ning of the book, Joshua Mendes and his father are wait­ing for a ship to dock in New­port har­bor. This impres­sive ves­sel is bring­ing a car­go of choco­late beans for ship­ment to Boston, where res­i­dents will use them to make a sub­sti­tute bev­er­age for polit­i­cal­ly con­tro­ver­sial tea. But here at home in New­port, the Sephardic com­mu­ni­ty is already pre­pared to con­vert the beans into a deli­cious drink, and to serve it on the fes­ti­val of Janucá (Hanukkah). A cozy scene of cel­e­bra­tion fea­tures the fam­i­ly enjoy­ing hot choco­late, the fried dough pas­try buñue­los, and the glow of the chanukiyah placed in the win­dow. A por­trait of the Ram­bam (Mai­monides) hangs in a place of hon­or over the fire­place. The pic­ture offers pas­sage into dis­cus­sion about dif­fer­ent cul­tures with­in the Jew­ish world.

When Joshua final­ly con­vinces his par­ents to allow a vis­it to his friend Isaac in Boston, the two sto­ries of coura­geous upris­ing, Jew­ish and Amer­i­can, cross paths. Isaac’s fam­i­ly, like that of many oth­ers in the colonies, is strug­gling. His wid­owed moth­er can bare­ly put food on the table, let alone pro­vide the extra del­i­ca­cies expect­ed for the hol­i­day. Per­son­al ini­tia­tive and com­mu­nal aid mat­ter equal­ly when Isaac’s moth­er, with the help of her friends, opens a small busi­ness ready to serve choco­late to eager Bosto­ni­ans. The food becomes both a means to eco­nom­ic bet­ter­ment and an act of patriotism.

As Joshua and Isaac look through the win­dow, they sud­den­ly become wit­ness­es to a dra­mat­ic turn­ing point in the colonies, with Isaac not­ing that the demon­stra­tors out­side ​“look angry.” He com­ments that the ​“tea par­ty” tak­ing place does not look like a par­ty at all — although the authors point out in their after­word that the title of ​“Boston Tea Par­ty” was not used at the time the protest took place. Giv­en that this is a book for young chil­dren, the authors choose to make the con­nec­tion explicit.

Just like any cel­e­bra­tion of Hanukkah/​Janucá, there are many ingre­di­ents con­tribut­ing to this appeal­ing new book. Jew­ish mul­ti­cul­tur­al­ism, com­mu­ni­ty sup­port in the face of adver­si­ty, and a thirst for free­dom all add up to an engag­ing sto­ry about a Jew­ish Amer­i­can past. --Emily Schneider, Jewish Book Council