ONE YELLOW DAFFODIL

A very slow description, in a melancholy present tense, of the ordinary days of a kind old man named Morris Kaplan, a Holocaust survivor and now owner of a flower store. One day, Morris's two favorite customers—a boy and a girl—invite him to their home for Hanukkah and make him feel as if he is part of a family again. Later, he brings over his menorah, a remnant from before the war, and tells them his history. It is difficult to estimate the impact of this sentimental story, because it is completely overshadowed by Bloom's magnificent illustrations. The pictures are dark, well- defined acrylics, with light that falls on the foreheads and the cheekbones of the figures, reminiscent of Balthus. The expressions on the characters' faces, the tilt of their heads, the way they hold their hands—it's almost unbearably wistful. (Picture book. 6- 10)