Bibliograph

Alte Zachen, old things, Ziggy Hanaor ; illustrated by Benjamin Phillips

Type

Label

Alte Zachen, old things, Ziggy Hanaor ; illustrated by Benjamin Phillips

Language

eng

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

Literary Form

fiction

Main title

Alte Zachen

Nature of contents

comics graphic novels

Oclc number

1345674204

Responsibility statement

Ziggy Hanaor ; illustrated by Benjamin Phillips

Sub title

old things

Summary

This is an intergenerational graphic novel that follows 11-year-old Benji and his elderly grandmother, Bubbe Rosa, as they traverse Brooklyn and Manhattan, gathering the ingredients for a Friday night dinner. Bubbe's relationship with the city is complex - nothing is quite as she remembered it and she feels alienated and angry at the world around her. Benji, on the other hand, looks at the world, and his grandmother, with clear-eyed acceptance. As they wander the city, we catch glimpses of Bubbe's childhood in Germany, her young adulthood in 1950s Brooklyn, and her relationships; first with a baker called Gershon, and later with successful Joe, Benji's grandfather. Gradually we piece together snippets of Bubbe's life, gaining an insight to some of the things that have formed her cantankerous personality. The journey culminates on the Lower East Side in a moving reunion between Rosa and Gershon, her first love. As the sun sets, Benji and his Bubbe walk home over the Williamsburg Bridge to make dinner. This is a powerful, affecting and deceptively simple story of Jewish identity, of generational divides, of the surmountability of difference and of a restless city and its inhabitants

Target audience

juvenile

resource.variantTitle

Old things

Classification