A moving update of a powerful story.
On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, a white Jewish boy receives the unusual responsibility of caring for an old, tarnished horn and wonders if his family’s subsequent good fortune could be the result of how he carries out his charge.
Hard times have hit Gabriel’s neighborhood. Many stores surrounding his family’s antiques shop have closed, though Gabriel hopes the new year will bring a turnaround. Then an African-American soldier knocks and hands Gabriel an old neglected horn that belonged to the enlisted man’s grandfather, requesting that the antiques-store owners keep it during his deployment. Kimmel has updated his story “The Samovar,” which appeared in the collection Days of Awe (1991), about the legendary character Elijah who can take on numerous disguises—like a soldier—to help and influence those less fortunate. The Czarist Russian setting is remade into a contemporary American integrated urban community of Muslims, Jews, African-Americans, Latinos, and Asian residents. Over the years Gabriel engages in tzedakah (acts of charity), and the horn magically brightens each time until its gleaming shine represents Gabriel’s family’s kindness and new prosperity. Kimmel’s shorter, more dialogue-driven narrative carries readers to an understanding of Gabriel’s revelation seven years later, when the soldier returns.
A moving update of a powerful story. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4677-8936-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
An empowering and important tale of bravery.
A Black Muslim boy must summon the courage to ask for a place at school to pray.
It’s Muhammad’s seventh birthday, and Daddy has a special gift for him: a prayer rug that’s royal blue with gold stitching and that smells of incense. Muhammad is now old enough to independently offer the five Muslim daily prayers, or salat. He packs the rug before school the next day and plans to find a private place for salat. But asking his teacher for help feels harder than anticipated—especially after seeing mean passersby jeer at his father, who prays in the open while working as an ice cream truck driver. To claim a space, Muhammad will need to be brave, just like his joyful, hardworking Daddy. Once again, Thompkins-Bigelow (Mommy’s Khimar, 2018) has written a beautiful, positive, and welcome portrayal of Black Muslim families. Her melodic writing captures Muhammad’s feelings as he works to find his voice and advocate for his needs. Aly’s playful, energetic illustrations offer a nod to Islamic art traditions and work in tandem with the text to give readers a glimpse into Muhammad’s hopes, fears, and growth. An author’s note explains what salat is, the times and names of the prayers, how it is performed, and other relevant terms used within the text. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An empowering and important tale of bravery. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9781984848093
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House Studio
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
The title says it all: When Baxter hears about Shabbat, when “the candles gleam and glow and dance while our sweetest voices lift in song,” from an old man at the bus stop, of course he wants to be part of it—but how? The young man he meets the next week tells him he can’t: “You’re not kosher!” In pursuit of kosher, Baxter eats kosher dills, pigs out on challah and teaches himself to moo. Finally a kindly rabbi leads him to the truth: “But,” she asks, “why would you want to get eaten?” She goes on, however, to explain that “[i]t is a mitzvah to welcome a stranger,” so Baxter gets to enjoy Shabbat after all. Goldin’s photo-collage illustrations present a suitably goofy-but-sincere cartoon pig dressed in a plaid button-down Oxford shirt and locate him in an urban neighborhood that features an imposing synagogue and a kosher deli. While Snyder's glossary glides a little irresponsibly over the precise meaning of "kosher," this will nevertheless find plenty of use in Jewish homes, particularly among families in which one parent is not Jewish. (author's note) (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58246-315-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2010
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