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SHARING SHALOM

Name: SHARING SHALOM
Author: Danielle Sharkan
ISBN: 9780823455560

by Danielle Sharkan ; illustrated by Selina Alko ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 17, 2024

An especially important book for the current moment that will empower children to stand up in the face of bigotry.

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A young girl heals as her community comes together following an antisemitic incident.

Attending Hebrew school helps Leila feel connected to her family and heritage, but after the synagogue’s window is broken, being Jewish suddenly doesn’t feel good or safe. Wondering if her classmates hate her for being different, she tries to hide signs of her Judaism, from her Star of David necklace to the bagel with lox she brings to school for lunch. But when Leila’s diverse classmates help repair the window, she’s reminded that she still belongs and that being Jewish is something to be proud of. Hebrew letters and prayers and Jewish symbols are beautifully woven into both the text and the collage-style illustrations, reinforcing the tale's unique Jewishness alongside its universal message about the importance of allyship. With sensitivity and candor, Sharkan demonstrates how pride in one’s identity can lead to shame and fear in the wake of a hate crime. In an author’s note, she mentions that her story was based on a real-life childhood experience and speaks to the rise in antisemitic incidents around the world; books like these will help young people process complex emotions. Although hate takes forms that can’t be as easily addressed as a broken window, this is nevertheless a lovingly crafted, age-appropriate doorway into a difficult topic. Leila and her family are light-skinned, while their neighborhood is diverse.

An especially important book for the current moment that will empower children to stand up in the face of bigotry. (glossary, bibliography) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024

ISBN: 9780823455560

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Holiday House

Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS FICTION

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IMANI'S MOON

by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Hazel Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2014

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...

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Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.

The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)