Cheap K'Tonton in the Circus: A Hanukkah Adventure (Book) (Sadie Rose Weilerstein, Marilyn Hirsch) Price

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The Adventures of K'tonton (1935) was printed at least 10 times (we own the 10th edition). K'tonton in Israel appeared in 1964 as a sequel and was in turn followed by K'tonton on and Island in the Sea (1976) and K'tonton in the Circus in 1981. I recently ordered the last, expecting a picture-book with one Hanukkah story. Low and behold, this 86-page volume contains 15 delightful K'tonton tales.

The book opens with a brief obligatory reintroduction of the magical little main character: Isaac Samuel ben Baruch Reuben's first name meant laughter, but his parents called him K'tonton--Hebrew for very very little--on account of his four-inch height. He was raised on milk with honey added from the land of Israel, and by age three could recite verses from Torah the way other children say nursery rhymes. As in all K'tonton volumes, each tale is filled with details of important Jewish ideas or traditions, and a dash of Jewish humor.

Here, as the title implies, K'tonton joined the circus. He had traveled from Brooklyn to South Carolina to visit his aunt. In her yard, K'tonton sat under her fig tree. Its vine reminded him of the biblical verse, "Nations shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks." All that day, he dreamed of the Messiah, and the next day, the first day of Kislev, his father tucked him into his pocket to go to synagogue.

After services, he sat on the window sill thinking of Elijah the prophet while his father talked to the Rabbi. He was singing softly, Am Yisrael Chai (The people Israel lives) when the sound of a trumpet rang, and a tall bearded man in a cape rode by on a bicycle. "Elijah, Elijah, you've come!" K'tonton shouted. Needless to say, the bike rider was not Elijah at all, but a circus man who brought K'tonton not to Jerusalem, as the Jewish Tom Thumb had expected, but in a circus tent.

Before long, K'tonton found himself at work as a main attraction in the Sideshow tent, where he met the Wild Man of Borneo and a Sword Swallower, who could not beat his sword into a plowshare, lest he lose his job. In another story, K'tonton met Mama Belle, Lillibelle and Papa Joe, a family of acrobats who cleared a small nook for him in their cramped trailer. When they saw he wasn't eating, and he explained that he must keep kosher, they found him bread, popcorn, boiled eggs and tuna.

In the fifth story, K'tonton visited the lion's cage--giving a kindergarten class visiting that day a major fright. The circus master warned him to be careful around animals that were once wild. To this, K'tonton objected fiercely. "When the Messiah comes," he said knowingly, "the lambs will lie down with the lions." Well, the master agreed, he could go into the cage again--but only after the Messiah came.

In the next story, Daisy, the Fat Lady, threatened to go on strike and lose most of her 410 pounds if the Big Boss didn't let K'tonton observe the Sabbath. (I won't tell what else happened.)

Stories seven, eight, nine and ten introduced K'tonton to the horses and camels, and elephants. K'tonton learned how a seal named Baby came into the circus, which involved a mitzvah--a good deed. K'tonton helped arrange a benefit, another mitzvah. K'tonton met Clarence, a clown who figured he was useless. K'tonton told Clarence about the Prophet Elijah, who had once noted that two clowns could count on going to heaven, since they "cause laughter and make sad hearts glad." K'tonton cheered Clarence, but himself grew despondent for reasons I can't reveal.

In the 12th story of this book K'tonton finally celebrated Hanukkah. This was even more original than the first Hanukkah celebration, in which he rode a dreidel off the edge of a table, down a flight or stairs and right into the street. K'tonton explained a thing or two, made some latkes and gave presents. This tale also featured a dreidel, but not the sort you might think.

After several more adventures, K'tonton made it home to his parents. How? Alas, I must keep that secret too. But in these stories, the circus barker is still shouting about K'tonton, and kids just love him. Yours will too. Alyssa A. Lappen