All is happy and peaceful on this springtime Israeli holiday.
A sister and brother celebrate Israel’s Independence Day.
Redheaded, white Arielle happily gets ready for her workday because it is a very special day: Yom Ha’Atzma’ut, Israel’s birthday or Independence Day. Her brother Ezra is also getting ready to go to work. Arielle rides her scooter through the colorful streets of Jerusalem and thinks about her great-great-grandfather Ari, who was a conductor on a train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem over 100 years ago—and who celebrated Passover in Cohen’s Engineer Ari and the Passover Rush (2015) and Sukkot in Engineer Ari and the Sukkah Express (2010), both illustrated by Shahar Kober. Arielle drives a very modern train, but before she starts out, she tapes a poster to the roof of the front car. Many people board the trains, including Arielle’s friends, who want her to join in their activities, but she is going to celebrate with her brother. The train makes many stops in Jerusalem, and Arielle finally sees her brother flying overhead with the Israeli Air Force in planes that spell out “Israel” in their contrails. From his cockpit, Ezra can read the message that his sister has placed on the train—and it is no surprise on this holiday. Orrelle’s bright and splashy art depicts a bevy of happy folk of a variety of skin colors.
All is happy and peaceful on this springtime Israeli holiday. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5124-2095-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Traffic jams, it turns out, can be good fun, and children might even learn a word or two.
A genial elementary reader that taps into the electricity generated by Brian Biggs’ Everything Goes: On Land (2011).
This book has been designed to share with very beginning readers, as Bourne’s text amply illustrates in its simple repetitions: “ ‘Woof, woof, woof.’…The dog wags his tail. The dog does not want to stop. The dog wants to see.” Then there is the truck honking—“Honk, honk, honk!”—at the tree that has fallen across the road, causing the traffic jam that is the story’s pivot. Though the text can feel overly purpose-driven, and the words more to be absorbed than befriended, such is not the case with Abbott’s artwork—“in the style of Brian Biggs,”according to the title page—which is amiability itself. The line work is crayon bold, and the color so saturated it is thick as fudge. But there is something else lurking in the illustrations, something Claymation-tangible, which may arouse the urge to bring them home and introduce them to mother. If one of the objects of an early-early reader is to keep the reader focused, this artwork immeasurably helps.
Traffic jams, it turns out, can be good fun, and children might even learn a word or two. (Early reader. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-195819-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
Leave this one behind when packing kids for their summer-camp experience.
An irksome version of the traditional cumulative tale adds little to the collection of Jewish literature.
At Camp Knish, a ball of clay escapes the arts-and-crafts cabin, vowing never to be cut. It rolls through the camp as a growing group of look-a-like campers with names like Mira Farfelbottom and Mose Plotznik, along with Rabbi Shmaltzbaum give chase. Not wanting to be formed into a menorah, dreidel, kiddush cup or even a yad (pointer for reading Torah), the bedeviled ball of clay manages to get to the bank of Camp Knish Lake. Once there, he is “more like a pancake of clay…dented, dinged, and dirtied; stained, pebbled, and pounded” but still able to brag about his escape. One last roll has him sinking to the bottom, never to be seen again by the likes of Tali Nudgeblatt and her fellow campers. Colored-pencil drawings of typical camp scenarios with wooden cabins, soccer games, Israeli circle dancing and vegetable gardening along a green-hued meadow landscape provide a stereotypical background for the tale. The ball of clay itself is a tumbling, gray, lumpy mass with a snarky expression. The vexing choice to use faux-Yiddish names exacerbates its tiresome effect. This poorly executed adaptation is utterly lacking in ingenuity.
Leave this one behind when packing kids for their summer-camp experience. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7614-6142-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
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