On a Chariot of Fire: The Story of India’s Bene Israel

While preparing for a special ceremony, a grandmother recounts to her granddaughter the origins of the tradition and of their Jewish community, known as the Bene Israel. More than 2,000 years ago, writes Lyons (Zhen Yu and the Snake), a tiny ship carried people fleeing “from ancient Israel in the days when the Greek tyrant Antiochus ruled.” While some people stayed and joined a rebellion, others were forced to flee, escaping with all that was dear to them. Only seven men and seven women survived the terrible storm that shipwrecked the group on India’s shore, where they established lives and slowly began to meld local customs with their own. Folktale-like text then describes how Eliyahu HaNavi—Elijah the prophet—descended from the heavens in a flaming chariot to promise that, because they had not abandoned their faith, the people would “one day... return to our home across the sea.” Benjamin (I Am Hava), working in gouache, markers, and colored pencil and brush pens, creates dramatic, mural-like compositions and dreamy, swirling colors to offer a lesser-told story to a new generation. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. Agent (for author and illustrator): Caryn Wiseman, Andrea Brown Literary. (Sept.)