Beschreibung:

Leah Goldberg, layout of the book "Gaddi und sein kleine Esel, Eine Gedichte aus Israel, mit Bilder von Anna Riwkin Brick und Text von Leah Goldberg" [Gaddi and his little donkey, poem-story from Israel, illustrations by Anna Riwkin-Brick and text by Leah Goldberg], Tel-Aviv, 1959. German. In the 1950s-'60s several children's books were published in Israel, accompanied by b/w photos, about children's lives in Israel and worldwide. The series of children's books created by Swedish photographer Anna (Hana) Riwkin-Brick with the author Astrid Lingren was very popular at the time. Anna Riwkin-Brick (born in Russia, 1908, died in Tel-Aviv, 1970) was born to a Zionist family (her father was a delegate to the 1st Zionist Congress). In 1915, when still very young, she immigrated with her parents to Sweden where she was raised and educated, in Stockholm. Worked as an assistant to the photographer Moise Benkow. In 1928 she opened her own photography studio and started to work as a professional photographer. After WW II she worked for the Swedish magazine "Se" and travelled frequently in Sweden and abroad. During her travels Riwkin photographed the places she visited (including Japan, Korea, Israel and India). The frequent travels led to the series of books mentioned above; a series of nineteen books (the text of nine books was composed by Lindgren) portraying lives of children in various countries around the world. To mention some of the series' books: "Ella Kari, the Girl from Lapland" (1954), "Nariko-San, the Girl from Japan" (1957), "Sea, the Girl from Africa" (1959) and other books, translated into Hebrew by Leah Goldberg. The popularity of the books translated from Swedish into Hebrew led to the creation of similar local versions in Hebrew, portraying lives of children in Israel, such as "The Small Queen of Sheba - Story of Children - Olim" (1956) - about a girl who arrived from Morocco and her attempts to adapt to life in a Kibbutz, and "Adventure in the Desert" (1966) - about three children from Kibbutz Revivim. As Lindgren's books brought scents of remote countries to the children of Israel, local attempts from Israel were exported to children of the world through the books "Little Queen of Sheba" (New York, 1959) and "Eli Lives in Israel" / "Eli aus Israel / "Eli bor I Israel" (New-York, 1964; London, 1964; Hamburg, 1964; Stockholm,1964) - all being the outcome of a fruitful cooperation between Goldberg who composed the texts and Riwkin-Brick who contributed her photos. The booklet offered here, apparently intended for publication in Hebrew, Swedish and German, is an example of the collaboration described above. The booklet contains 43 photos with short texts by Goldberg, creating 43 "scenes" portraying a day in Gaddi's life, a child living on a kibbutz in the northern Jordan Valley. The story opens with a short introduction: "Shalom, boys and girls! We will tell you the story of Gaddi and his little donkey (who was much smarter than Gaddi!)". Following is an introduction of Gaddi's family, first his mother, a teacher, and his father - a farmer who drives a tractor (and teaches Gaddi how to drive a tractor); then, more children of the kibbutz appear and introduce different animals, amongst them Gaddi's favorite donkey. Gaddi and his donkey explore the kibbutz paths, but suddenly the donkey disappears. This sends Gaddi to search outside of the kibbutz: he visits nearby settlements (including an Arab village). Gaddi meets a shepherd and undergoes various experiences but he cannot find his way home and when night falls, sad and desperate, Gaddi falls asleep under a Eucalyptus tree. His worried parents turn to the police (in Afula) for help and start looking for him. One of the kibbutz members finds Gaddi the following morning walking down the road along the Kinneret. He lets Gaddi drink some orange juice and takes him home, to the kibbutz and to his parents where Gaddi is received with joy and where he finds his favorite donkey.