I think it wants words. And so he wrote the joyous words. Soon the song was being sung throughout the land, sprouting up everywhere, like sunflowers in the newly planted Negev. In fact, it is not definitively known whether Nathanson or Idelsohn wrote the words, since both later claimed they did and each has his supporters. Manushkin's engaging story gives the credit to young Nathanson, which is fitting, of course, for a child's book.
Historical fiction can be a compelling way to spark interest in a subject and period.
Here he fictionalizes the story of Moses, from his rescue from the Nile River, his life growing up in Pharaoh's palace in ancient Egypt, to his killing of the Egyptian and subsequent flight. Aside from the broad outlines, this is not the story found in the Bible, which tells us very little of this aspect of Moses' life. Lester has used his imagination to paint a picture of royal life in ancient Egypt and to create a biography for Moses. Almah is the vehicle through which Lester writes of daily life in ancient Egypt, for she becomes like a daughter to Pharaoh, more so, in fact, than his own daughter, who drew Moses from the Nile. In an author's note, Lester emphasizes that the book is a novel, a work of the imagination.