CHILDREN'S
Released: April 1, 1996
"Clement's witty illustrations depict Mendel sometimes towering over the village, sometimes in miniature among giants, always slightly dazed. (Picture book/folklore. 4-8)"
Chelm, that village of ``extremely silly'' (as Clement words it) folk, is the setting of a splendidly idiotic tale of Mendel, a lazy man with his head literally in the clouds.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 2003
"Even younger readers will have no trouble appreciating either the wisdom that Grandpa offers, or the close relationship between him and his devout grandson. (Picture book/folktale. 6-10)"
A heartfelt gesture of gratitude takes a surprising but altogether proper twist in this retold folktale.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: March 10, 2003
"A much-used theme with a clever twist that will bring smiles during each reading. (Picture book/folktale. 4-10)"
Fowles illustrates her first picture book, a magic-pot variant, with luminous watercolors that simply glow on the page like stained glass.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Sept. 23, 1994
"Lyrical, comic, cosmic, and deeply touching. (Folklore/Picture book. 4+)"
Gerstein (The Story of May, 1993, etc.) explains that this tale of Moses's surpassingly reluctant and argumentative passage into heaven is from a midrash (``a text using biblical legends to teach a moral lesson'') and that his source was a translation from a 500-year-old Kurdistani manuscript.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 1993
"Nice. (Folklore/Picture book. 5-11)"
When Joseph is born, his grandfather fashions a beautiful blue blanket embroidered with stars.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 1, 1992
"A winning tale, unusually well told and presented. (Folklore/Picture book. 4-8)"
Mendel the peddler and his hard-working wife are so poor they can't buy a single potato for Hanukkah but, miraculously, their daughters fall asleep contented each night after smelling the delicious aroma of latkes emanating from the home of Feivel the merchant.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: March 15, 1996
"Arnold's frenetic acrylic illustrations have a rough-hewn woodcut look; the action fairly sails off the page. (Picture book/folklore. 6-10)"
A classic tale about the fool who makes good, while his acquisitive older brothers are left holding the bag.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Feb. 1, 1993
"A fine addition to any collection of traditional Jewish tales, with a final note about Passover, Elijah, and Peretz. (Folklore/Picture book. 5-10)"
Goldin (Just Enough Is Plenty, 1988) adapts another story about the prophet Elijah visiting a needy, but still charitable, family and providing their Passover feast.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: March 1, 1996
"These skillfully evoke the images in Jewish illuminated manuscripts and in the paintings of Chagall, providing a match made in heaven for Prose's funny tale. (Picture book/folklore. 5+)"
Prose's first children's book is a humorously understated retelling of a traditional Jewish folktale (a scrupulous author's note provides sources). ``Forty days before a baby is born, the angels in heaven get together and decide whom the baby will marry . . . .
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CHILDREN'S
Released: June 30, 1994
"Renberg's simplified retelling is straightforward and lively, a good match for Heller's almost raucously colorful illustrations: Her statuesque, classically draped figures, set amid a riot of blossoms in the opulently appointed palace, are the stuff of legend. (Folklore/Picture book. 4-8)"
After King Solomon forgives a bee for stinging him, it returns the favor by identifying the one real flower among a roomful of artificial ones—one of the riddles set the great king by the queen of Sheba.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: March 1, 1995
"A uniquely funny book. (Picture book/folklore. 4-7)"
A tale about Chelm—a town celebrated in Jewish folklore for the legendary idiocy of its inhabitants.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Sept. 30, 1992
"Excellent source note. (Picture book. 5-9)"
CHILDREN'S
Released: July 1, 2003
"Satirical and absurdly appropriate for this ludicrous and outdated rite. (Folklore. 5-9)"
Silverman adapts a story from Sholom Aleichem featuring Kapores, the old Eastern European Jewish ceremonial custom of twirling a chicken in order to erase one's bad deeds on the last day of Rosh Hashanah.
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Sept. 1, 2010
"Stampler's touching note demonstrates this layered tale's openness to multiple interpretations. (author's note) (Picture book/folktale. 4-7)"
CHILDREN'S
Released: Oct. 18, 1996
"A fact- filled final note concludes this mesmerizing book. (Picture book/folklore. 6-10)"
The much honored cut-paper master (Sundiata, 1992, etc.) turns his attention to a retelling of the story of the Golem, created by a chief rabbi, Judah Loew, to defend the Jews against the ``Blood Lie'' (that Jews were mixing the blood of Christian children with the flour and water of matzoh) of 16th-century Prague.
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