A Telling Time Author:Irene N. Watts This tale is told in three time-frames. On the eve of the Festival of Purim, a grandmother tells her granddaughter how, as a little girl, she heard the story of Queen Esther from her family rabbi. This was in 1939, in Nazi-occupied Vienna, on the eve of WWII. Soon after the rabbi begins the story of the brave queen, soldiers come to arrest hi... more »m. The young girl begs for the rabbi to finish his story, and the soldiers allow him to do so. When the tale is over, the soldiers permit him to send the children home. But when the children turn to wave goodbye, the rabbi had vanished in the snowflakes, safe from harm, saved by the miracle of a story from long ago. The illustrations by Kathryn Shoemaker perfectly highlight the story's message of hope. "Crafted as a story-within-a-story-within-a-story, the understated picture book A Telling Time by Irene Watts (Finding Sophie ), illus. by Kathryn Shoemaker (My Animal Friends ), focuses on a grandmother who tells her granddaughter how she first heard the Purim story from her rabbi when she was a girl. The grandmother's memories, tinged with fear, sorrow and hope, recall how German soldiers interrupted the story all those years ago in 1939 Nazi-occupied Vienna. Many of the evocative and delicate paintings take on an interesting vertical perspective, making readers feel as if they are watching from a lofty perch." --Publishers Weekly« less