This will end in tears," he thought to himself as he tried to cross the crowd of protesters. "They just won't recognize that I'm Israeli." But alas, Josh's sharp eye caught the glint of the Shield of David on his neck, and Yaron found himself pushed against the solid wall of Harvard. Kennedy School, Harvard University School of Government. "He's a Jew, a Jew from Israel!" Jennifer yelled, and a group of American Millennials advanced on him menacingly. He could barely recognize the brand of trendy beanies they were wearing—when the rescue came! She grabbed his chain, pulled him away. From there and ran like the wind. The millennials were left empty-handed. His last words before he passed out were "Thank you, Ozit, the parachute dog.
A good dog!"
("Izit the parachute dog at Harvard", the book that has not yet been written)
It is no big secret that Israeli children's literature, even before the establishment of the state, was mobilized in favor of different ideologies, and the conclusion that the young readers were supposed to reach was one: the small Land of Israel surrounded by enemies belongs to us, always has been and always will be, and we certainly will not let anyone expel us from it .
The same Zionist militaristic ethos permeated the young audience from every direction: in the children's books that dealt with the Holocaust and its revival;
In patriotic historical novels that described the lives of the great leaders (the same characters that the children will later know through the names of the streets);
And above all - through fiction.
Atomic rod
In fact, in the early years of the state, quite a few children's books described heroic children who were active in the Haganah organizations, the Etzal or the Lahi, the Shin Bet service or the Mossad, and even just volunteering. "), the group of children created by Yigal Musinzon - a series first published in 1949, as a serialized story in the newspaper "Mishmar for Children".
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Hasmaba, who starred in no fewer than 24 titles, took part in many adventures, and among other things fought quite a bit against enemy countries: the children were captured by the Arab Legion, exposed spies in the Air Force, participated in street battles in Gaza and in a raid on the Suez Canal - and even took an active part in the Gulf War.
And not only them.
Deborah Omer contributed her part when she told about Sarah the heroine of Nili and the people of the naval commandos ("Divers Forward"), Galila Ron-Feder brought up the children who helped the underground even before the establishment of the state in the series "Unknown Children", and Esther Streit-Wurzel also joined with the "underground boys".
All of these are Iron Sheep properties in the source literature, and certainly in the local children's literature.
In fact, these books defined an entirely new genre and outlined, to a large extent, the ethos of the all-Israeli hero.
And yet, it seems that the greatest flourishing in the history of our childhood heroes was when Shraga Gafni, a particularly prolific writer who was himself an IDF and Lehi fighter - began writing adventure stories for the weekly "Ha'aretz Shlano", and later also dozens of books for children and youth, some under pseudonyms such as Avner Carmeli , On Sharig, Yitzhak Ahitov, Yigal Golan and Eitan Notev.
Among the popular series he produced are "The Young Athletes", "The Young Detectives", "The Sailors", and of course, the best known series of all, "Dunedin - The Seer and the Unseen".
And this is the story, in short: Sometime in the early 1960s, Danny Amouli, an innocent and sweet boy, drank a purple and mysterious liquid that Professor Catros accidentally left in a glass on the windowsill (who among us hasn't had this happen), and this liquid turned him into Dunedin, who sees and is not seen.
After quite a few amusing and tense experiences that remained within the boundaries of the neighborhood where he lived, Dunedin realized his true calling, and chose to devote the superpower he possessed to fighting the enemy.
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Thus, later in the series, he reached the rank of lieutenant colonel, was awarded the decoration of bravery and quite a few bezalshis, and even killed several hundred(!) daring enemy fighters. As the character developed, the names of the titles in the series also changed their nature: from "Dunedin appears in the theater", "Dunedin Sails the Sea" and "Dunedin in the Circus", released in the early 1960s - the transition to "Dunedin in the Six Day War", "Dunedin in the Hijacked Plane" and "Dunedin Frees Prisoners" was noticeable and clear.
And not only child heroes: the pets also mobilized.
No one was young or unfit enough to participate in the national mission.
And while dogs from other countries were considered heroes for the very fact that they accompanied their owners on adventures (or simply returned home), the dogs in Israel were already harnessed to the war effort: Azit the paratrooper dog, the heroine of Mota Gur's books, and Deborah Omar's dog No-No-No - went to the front in the Sixth War The days and helped our forces.
My childhood heroes, as you can understand, were not young detectives like Nancy Drew, Benny Hardy and Danny Yadani - but patriotic children who helped the State of Israel in the battle against its enemies.
My parents adored Moshe Dayan and Yoni Netanyahu, and I hung my eyes in admiration on Uzi Reza, Ehud Hashem and Menashe the Yemeni (the stereotypes are already in).
From all of this, I realized, as a girl growing up in the 70s, that it is best to die for our country, and if not to die, then at the very least to fall behind enemy lines, and if I have already been captured - to remain silent in the face of the torture mask that awaits me.
And it's true, Superman was also an admirable figure in my eyes, but it was clear to me that if he was Israeli, he wouldn't waste his time saving the world, but doing what was really important - protecting the country.
Fact: this is really what the Israeli superheroes (the few that exist) did.
"Gidi Gezer", whose stories illustrated by Jacob Ashman became famous in the 1950s, was a kibbutznik who got superpowers as a result of eating carrots, and fought the British and the Arabs.
Saberman, the Israeli superhero created by Uri Fink in 1978, also donated his supernatural powers to the IDF. Saberman, from Saber's dialect, he is Dan Bar-On, was a brave soldier who was wounded in the battles of the Chinese Farm during the Yom Kippur War, and had an organ transplanted into his body A prosthetic named "atomic rod" that gives him supernatural powers.
So it's clear who the "good guys" are, but who are the "bad guys"?
In the years when I grew up, especially after the Yom Kippur war where we were attacked from all sides at once, there were no shades of gray - in books, in the news, in the public discourse, all Arabic speakers were the enemy, and now go explain to the children the difference between an Arab and an Israeli Arab, a Druze or a Bedouin.
Accordingly, the children's books were also filled with illustrations of mocking characters with mustaches and buns.
Who wants superpowers?
And meanwhile in the big world, heroic children fought a variety of evils: supervillains who want to rule the world, dangerous criminals, child kidnappers, just women who wanted to make themselves a coat from Dalmatian puppies.
There was also ethnic characterization - starting with the Cold War, Russians became the default villains, but with the breakup of the Soviet Union, they became less relevant.
Later they were replaced by Iranians or Muslims, and after the September 11 attacks in the USA - the mere fact that you came from one of the "Stan" countries already made you an immediate suspect. At least today, in the WOKE era, describing a villain through ethnicity - no longer passes.
And all these made me wonder, is this really what bothers and occupies children?
When I started writing "Who Wants a Superpower?", I thought of myself as a girl.
I imagined what would have happened if back then, as a child, I had powers.
Since I'm not Gal Gadot who can save the world six times before breakfast - I thought if I had the powers, it must have been a farce.
So that's what I wrote about: about the most geeky and unacceptable kids, who one day get superpowers, and surprisingly don't actually join the border guard or the 8200.
They use their powers to reach the North Pole and the Pacific Ocean, to drop chips from the sky and to travel through time;
They are as stressed by talent contests and an annual trip as they are by a bus trying to run over them or when one of them is cut in half.
They fight the evil language teacher and learn to do the Heimlich when one of the teachers chokes on popcorn.
And mostly they enjoy their innocence, in a world where the bad guys are also ridiculous, and all you need for your life to be perfect is good friends and a giant yellow rubber duck.
Because at the end, when you are in the 7th grade - the class party or escaping from a villain who wants to eliminate you are equally important and dramatic.
Today I turn to the books precisely to escape from the news and the situation.
And maybe in times like these, that's what reading should serve: to give young readers the space where they can admire heroes who fight fantasy villains, believe a little more that if they want it's not a fairy tale, and above all - enjoy reading, and take them away to other worlds and times.
Shiri Tsuk is a screenwriter, writer and editor, author of the book series "Who Wants a Superpower?"
These days, the third book in the series, "Who Wants Superpowers - When We Were Wrong on the Street?
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