Chil­dren’s

Expe­ri­ence Mod­ern Israel

Avi­va Werner
  • Review
By – January 10, 2012
Expe­ri­ence Mod­ern Israel is a 112-page text­book and work­book meant for stu­dents to make a real con­nec­tion. The live­ly writ­ing and plen­ti­ful vignettes make for meaty non-fic­tion read­ing. The vol­ume has a web com­po­nent, rich with maps, video clips, music, games, facts and images acces­si­ble through the publisher’s web­site. The high­ly researched nine-chap­ter book describes the many var­ied aspects of the coun­try. It does not shy away from chal­leng­ing top­ics. Chap­ters focus on vis­it­ing the coun­try, arts and cul­ture, diver­si­ty, aspects of the Jew­ish state, his­to­ry, secu­ri­ty and con­flict, the envi­ron­ment and the econ­o­my. Each chap­ter is rich with mod­ern or his­toric pho­tographs and graph­ics describ­ing facts. Meet-An-Israeli” box­es make an authen­tic con­nec­tion for the young read­er. The well-orga­nized book makes the plen­ti­ful infor­ma­tion easy to digest. Inter­ac­tive sec­tions spur thought on Israel includ­ing dis­cus­sions on hot top­ics. One activ­i­ty makes read­ers imag­ine they are in the mid­dle of vibrant Israeli move­ments and activ­i­ties such as army ser­vice or kib­butz­im. The book makes Bib­li­cal con­nec­tions to the mod­ern land and explains how Jew­ish val­ues like Bal Tash­hit (Do Not Destroy) apply to every­day life in Israel. A Say-It-In-Hebrew sec­tion gives stu­dents who can read the lan­guage applic­a­ble lan­guage skills. Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 10 – 12.

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