Children Book featuring Ladino Culture: The Key from Spain by Debbie Levy

I am very happy to discover lately so many events and discussion groups and publications - online particularly - dedicated to feature the Ladino language and culture. I am sure many of them were there already for a long time already and it´s only me who is a late comer in this movement, aimed to feature and outline an unique episode of the Jewish history.

As usual, it started with a tragedy that, as usual, we tried to get the best of it: as Jews were persecuted from Spain, they moved on to the Balkans particularly and especially Turkey. Carrying with them the language and the key of their houses, they contributed alongiside with the other communities to the new definitions of the modern states. I am far from being a naive assuming that life was ever easy for Jews living there, but no matter what, they were able to strive.

The Key from Spain by Debbie Levy, colourfully and beautifully illustrated by Sonja Wimmer, published in 2019 by Kar Ben Publishing is dedicated to the memory of the late Ladino singer Flory Jagoda. A Bosnian Jew with Spanish roots, she carried with her the songs and memories of the lost worlds and was an important supporter of the Ladino revival.

In a language accessible to children - preschool and first to mid-grade - the book convenes in few and simple words both the global and the personal histories: of the Jews fleeing Western Europe but also of the brave Flory who remained faitful to her culture and happily shared it with the older and newer generations of Jews from Ladino families. Children books on such topics are even more important than academic studies about Ladino because it raises the interest among the little ones at an age when they are curious and open to learn about the world, but also about themselves and their families. 

The book also includes a couple of words in Ladino, enough to create a certain level of expectation among the children for learn a bit more.

I am glad that such books exist and I was able to read it to my son. As I was growing up, Ladino was rarely, if ever mentioned and there were, for sure, no pedagogical resources and no children books to make you aware of your heritage. I am glad that nowadays there is a strong support to diverse identities among the Jewish communities, too much reduced before to the Askenazi vs. Mizrahi (with the Sephardim included here for the wrong reason of the mental comfort) duality. 

I hope to have the chance to read soon to my son and review more and more books on Ladino-related topics.