Chag Sameach! = Happy Holidays

Overview

Chag Sameach! = Happy Holidays is Patricia Schaffer's black-and-white photo-illustrated Jewish holiday book, published by Tabor Sarah Books in Berkeley. Open Library describes a children's book introducing Jewish holidays through photographs of multiracial, single-parent, and other families. The local catalog notes that one family appears to be a lesbian couple with two children, and an education report identifies one photograph as a lesbian family observing Havdalah. The item belongs in the collection because it shows same-sex-parent visibility inside a Jewish holiday and family-diversity book. Its subject is not only lesbian motherhood; it is inclusion within ordinary religious and community practice.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Jewish Holiday Book

Public records describe the book as an introduction to Jewish holidays, with photographs and text explaining holidays, observances, greetings, and foods. That subject frame matters. The book is not structured as a coming-out or family-explanation narrative. It begins from Jewish communal time and places different households within that cycle. Same-sex-parent visibility appears as part of ordinary holiday practice, which gives the item a quieter but significant place in the collection.^[2][5][4]

Photographic Inclusion

The local catalog and an education report both point to the book's photographic evidence. The education report specifically identifies a photograph of a lesbian family observing Havdalah. This makes the item useful beside other photographic family-diversity books. The camera does different work than illustration: it asks readers to see families as present in community life, not only as characters in a simplified story.^[1][4][2]

Diverse Jewish Families

A 1985 review emphasizes the book's interest in the diversity of American Jewish children and families, including multiracial families, single parents, extended families, older people, and a child with disabilities. The LGBTQ-family relevance should be read inside that broader field. The book's method is not to isolate one form of difference, but to let several forms of family and community difference appear in the same Jewish holiday frame.^[5][2][4]

Date And Source Trail

The bibliographic trail is useful but uneven. Open Library and ThriftBooks record a 1985 Tabor Sarah Books paperback with ISBN 9780935079166, while the education report cites the book as a 1986 Tabor Sarah title. That difference does not reduce the item's value, but it does show why the Mechanics copy matters. Title page, copyright page, and cover evidence can settle the local edition while public sources supply broader context.^[2][3][4][1]

Timeline

1. 1985Publication recordOpen Library records Chag Sameach! as a 1985 Tabor Sarah Books publication from Berkeley.^[2]
2. 1985Newspaper reviewA Rhode Island Jewish Herald review discussed the book's photographs and its attention to diverse Jewish families.^[5]
3. 1995Education-source afterlifeAn ERIC report on students growing up with gay or lesbian parents identified the book's Havdalah photograph as lesbian-family representation.^[4]
4. Later bibliographyLGBTQ-family bibliographyA children's-books-with-LGBT-parents bibliography continued to list Chag Sameach! among picture books with two-mother relevance.^[6]

Bibliographic Trail

The title has a stable ISBN record and a small date variation across sources.

Citation

Chag Sameach! = Happy Holidays. Patricia Schaffer. Tabor Sarah Books, 1985. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-096.

Sources

Cover image from Open Library.

1. Local collection catalog record for Chag Sameach! · catalog
2. Open Library ISBN record for Chag Sameach! · library
3. ThriftBooks record for Chag Sameach! · bookseller
4. ERIC report, Children Who Grow Up with Gay or Lesbian Parents · education
5. Rhode Island Jewish Herald review, October 4, 1985 · newspaper
6. Children's books with LGBT parents bibliography · bibliography
7. Goodreads author record for Patricia Schaffer · reader_catalog
8. Google Books record for Celebrating Families · library
9. Bibliography PDF describing Celebrating Families · bibliography
10. Kirkus review for Families: A Celebration of Diversity, Commitment, and Love · review
11. Open Library ISBN record for Families: A Celebration of Diversity, Commitment, and Love · library
12. Penguin Random House record for Who's in a Family? · publisher