A warm, cozy and loving depiction of shared culinary traditions around an inviting table.
Neighbors join together to celebrate a holiday.
Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, brings a wonderful aroma to an urban apartment house. All the neighbors stop their activities and happily sniff the air as one door opens and everyone enters to feast on cholent. And what makes this dish so delicious? An Italian neighbor says tomatoes. Barley, says the Korean neighbor. Potatoes, says the family from India. No, it is beans, says the Spanish family. Goldie, a contemporary hostess, explains that cholent is a dish that her grandmother served on Shabbat, and that is what makes it taste special. Then, one Saturday, there is no wafting aroma, because Goldie is sick. Things go awry until the neighbors troop up the stairs with Indian potato curry, Korean barley tea, Italian pizza, and Spanish beans and rice. Goldie is happy because she can share a Shabbat meal. A recipe for vegetarian cholent is appended, but it’s too bad there is no note about the origins of the dish, a slow-cooked stew prepared before Shabbat when lighting a fire is not permitted. Also, “chik chak,” Hebrew for “quickly,” can be inferred but is not translated. Brooker’s oil paint and collage art presents a richly textured assortment of folk and apartments.
A warm, cozy and loving depiction of shared culinary traditions around an inviting table. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5528-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
A tender book to help little ones make sense of the emotions around prayer.
Actor Metz and songwriter Collins join illustrator Fields in their second faith-related title for young children.
Instead of focusing on the language of prayer—what to say or how to say it—this book explores a topic central to the lives of the very young: their feelings around talking to God. Rhymes and near-rhymes in the AABB verses enumerate the simple challenges and triumphs experienced by a series of animals: “Sometimes I’m sad, not sure what to do. / There are days I feel teary, unhappy, or blue. / I fell off a log. I’m embarrassed and hurt. / My coat and paws are all covered in dirt.” An accompanying illustration depicts a sad wolf pup, a definite contrast to its siblings, who are delighting in their play. The highlight of the book is Fields’ animal characters. Whether happy, nervous, or sad, their expressive faces are easy to read, and their feelings will be familiar to young tots. The beaver’s frustration is palpable, and the tears in the scared raccoon’s eyes may just make readers’ own eyes well up. Some of the animals have a God stand-in to help them with their feelings—a friend or family member—but the final spread shows all the individual animals coming together in a couple of group hugs that express where children can find support (and sweetly defy predator–prey relationships).
A tender book to help little ones make sense of the emotions around prayer. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593691366
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
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