A Yiddish and English book for young kids, just in time for Hanukkah
Illustration by Jenny Kjærbo
By Forverts Staff November 15, 2023
When choosing a present to give your favorite little kids for Hanukkah, consider a unique picture book that was recently translated into Yiddish and English.
The book, Gevald! (Uh-Oh! in English) was originally published and illustrated by Jenny Kjærbo in Faroese — an Old-Norse-based language similar to Icelandic. Faroese is still spoken on several Danish-held islands north of Scotland and west of Scandinavia.
Jenny Kjærbo, who was raised on the island of Suðuroy in the Faroe Islands, is a graphic designer based in Copenhagen. Her children’s books have appeared in Faroese, Danish, Hungarian, and Spanish. This is the first time any of her books has been published in Yiddish and English.
Gevald! tells the story of a wayward young puffin who has a series of misadventures when he’s left in charge of his baby brother’s egg. It was translated into Yiddish by Arun Schaechter Viswanath, the Yiddish translator of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
The book debuts this month through Kinder-Loshn Publications in time for Hanukkah, which starts on December 7th. A previous book by the publisher — The Clever Little Tailor by Solomon Simon — was translated by Simon’s grandson David Forman and illustrated by former Yiddish Forward staff artist Yehuda Blum.
How did Kutzik first come upon a children’s book written in Faroese? And what does a book about the Faroe Islands’ puffins have to do with Kinder-Loshn’s mission of publishing Yiddish kids’ books?
“When I began figuring out how to set up and promote Kinder-Loshn, I looked to indigenous and minority language children’s book publishers for inspiration,” Kutzik said.
He soon discovered that the Faroese children’s publishing industry is possibly the largest such enterprise per capita in the world. With only 55,000 residents of the Faroe Islands, Kutzik said this small population nonetheless produces dozens of new children’s books a year.
“Prior to the Holocaust, a lot of the most popular children’s books in Yiddish were translations from world literature,” Kutzik noted. “This continues that tradition. What’s so great about Gevald! is that even though the puffins and rocky islands are quintessentially Faroese, the story is universal. Many young children worry about how the arrival of a new sibling will impact their lives.”
