The story calls for oomph and glory, but the illustrations don’t deliver.
The biblical story of Creation, seen through a theme of colors.
“In the beginning, there was nothing. No colors at all,” reads the first page, showing a dark gray, canvas-textured background; abstract black and gray cutouts sit in front of it while bits of dark blue peek out from behind it. The architect here is God, unseen and ungendered, spelled out in Christian/mainstream tradition (though the author’s note calls the day of rest “Shabbat,” a Jewish term). God’s creations are mapped onto colors: The spread about skies and oceans is blue while the one about trees and grasses is green. Some mappings, such as pinks for fishes, feel arbitrary. On the first day, when God “separate[s] the crisp, strong blacks / from the wintry, pale whites,” the cutout design resembles a web or net—but with sharp, nonrepeating shapes rather than geometrical repetition. Dim light illuminates the netting-shapes on the black page but doesn’t make them, as the text claims, “crisp.” On “day four” (sun, moon, stars), the low-saturation oranges aren’t “burning” as claimed—though the facing page does blaze thanks to yellows and unacknowledged red. God’s first two humans—unnamed and ungendered, one with medium-light orange-brown skin and short, straight hair, the other with very pale skin and long, loosely-curly brown hair tumbling downward—face demurely away from readers among vine-shaped cutouts.
The story calls for oomph and glory, but the illustrations don’t deliver. (author’s note) (Picture book/religion. 3-6)Pub Date: April 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68115-545-6
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Apples & Honey Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Better stories about Hanukkah abound.
A family of latkes prepares for Hanukkah.
The members of the Latke family are all potato pancakes, even their dog, Applesauce. As Hanukkah approaches, daughter Lucy greets readers while her parents fry jelly doughnuts, her older brother holes up in his room being a teenager, and Grandpa disrupts the holiday by offering up an alternate spelling: “CHHA-nukah!” Applesauce explains that both can be correct. The usual celebrations continue, with all participating except for the teenager. And then Grandpa commences to tell the story of the holiday with his own twist. It was not the Maccabees who fought for freedom, it was bees: “MEGA-BEES!” Applesauce tries to correct this version, but Grandpa continues. The enemy was not Antiochus: It was “ALIEN POTATOES FROM PLANET CHHHHH!” And while the Maccabees were low on oil, the Mega-Bees are low on honey. Also in this revised account is a giant dreidel that calls to mind the Trojan horse and from which the Mega-Bees emerge to “[mash] those tater tyrants into tatters.” Add the usual ingredients and you have, of course, “POTATO LATKES!” Silverberg’s narration brings to mind a Borscht Belt routine that may be appreciated by some adult readers but is just as likely to cause confusion among its audience. His digital illustrations depict latkes that resemble brown blobs and only add to the general muddlement.
Better stories about Hanukkah abound. (author’s note, glossary) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-451-47912-9
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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