An attractive, different take on a holiday tale.
As in the story of the little red hen, Little Red Rosie, a Jewish white girl, is baking bread, but she is baking festive challah.
In the folk tale, the hen gets no help and must do everything herself. In this lively picture book, Rosie’s stuffed animals come to life, and Toucan, Parrot, and Hornbill (and a yellow bird that observes) help make the loaves, both the usual braided type and the round challah, symbolic of the cycle of life and God’s crown and made specifically for the high holidays. No adults help, but Kimmel writes in his afterword that Rosie “practices being the capable one—the parent—with her bird friends.” Rosie’s repetitive questions, as in “Who will help me knead the dough?” and the frequent, eager “I will” responses of the main avian characters will help young readers join in. Watercolor paintings set in a modern kitchen detail the mess and emphasize the story’s fun. The three birds are pictured sitting on the (covered) rising dough “like it was an egg in a nest.” The shaping of the dough into challah is quite amusing. Luckily, the loaves are ready for the neighborhood holiday dinner, a multiethnic affair. Readers wishing for educational extras will need to look elsewhere for a description of the holiday and the festive foods pictured (pomegranate, apple, and honey), a Hebrew transliteration of the English prayer, and a challah recipe.
An attractive, different take on a holiday tale. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-68115-518-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Apples & Honey Press
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
Fans of this popular series will find this a rewarding addition to family Easter celebrations.
Bergren and Bryant attempt to explain Easter to young children in a gentle, nonthreatening manner, with partial success.
When Little Cub questions her father about Easter, Papa Bear explains the religious significance of the holiday in various symbolic ways to his cub. He uses familiar things from their world, such as an egg and a fallen tree, to draw parallels with aspects of the Christian story. Papa Bear discusses his close relationships with Jesus and God, encouraging Little Cub to communicate with God on her own. The theme focuses on the renewal of life and the positive aspects of loving God and Jesus. Easter is presented as a celebration of eternal life, but the story skirts the issue of the crucifixion entirely. Some adults will find this an inadequate or even dishonest approach to the Easter story, but others will appreciate the calm and soothing text as a way to begin to understand a difficult subject. Bryant’s charming watercolor illustrations of the polar bear family, their cozy home and snowy forest scenes add to the overall mellow effect.
Fans of this popular series will find this a rewarding addition to family Easter celebrations. (Religion/picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-307-73072-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: WaterBrook
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
Stick to separate books about parental love and prayer instead.
This Is Us actor Metz and her partner, songwriter Collins, present a rhyming children’s book about prayer and parental love.
“When I talk to God, guess what I do? / It’s really quite simple: I talk about you.” Fields’ pencil and digital illustrations show different parent-child animal pairs throughout, from bears to otters to skunks, ducks, deer, and more. But from this auspicious beginning, the authors’ point of view and direct address to “you,” the child, makes the majority of the pages seem like affirmations of what they love about their child and not what the parent actually prays for. Adults reading this aloud may see this as a prayer of thanksgiving for their child’s gifts and qualities, but little listeners will not make that connection. In the final pages, the parent tells the child that they can talk to God, too, and that God is always by their side. The last spread states, “You’re my sweetest prayer.” While the individual parts are sweet and affirming of a parent’s love and pride in their child, the sum of those parts isn’t what’s advertised in the title and repetitive refrain “When I talk to God, / I talk about you.” The gentle artwork in soft colors anthropomorphizes the animals’ facial expressions to make their loving relationships clear. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Stick to separate books about parental love and prayer instead. (Religious picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-52524-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
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