Bergren and Bryant continue their popular God Gave Us series with this entry that addresses adoption from a religious perspective. The characters are a mother fox with traditional rust coloring and her adopted son, a young white fox. The gentle text tells of the adult fox’s longing to become a mother, her long period of waiting and her prayers and faith in God, with the birth mother and her place in the story also gracefully acknowledged. Though the text is lyrical and smooth, the unusual syntax of the repeated refrain “God found us you” interferes with the flow of the story at first reading, though this usage is a focal point of the series. The use of “us” in that phrase is deliberately left ambiguous, as no father fox is shown, making this story suitable for single adoptive mothers or for adoptive families with same-sex parents. Bryant’s appealing watercolor illustrations show the tender love between mother and child against soft-focus backgrounds of a cozy forest and with borders of twining vines. (Religion/picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: June 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-06-113176-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperBlessings/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2009
In the end too much is left unanswered, making this book pleasant but only passable
A mouse searches for and finally finds her missing Seder plate.
Pippa is an industrious house-cleaning mouse. And no wonder—Passover is starting this very evening. Dusting and sweeping finished, she turns her attention to setting the table as a pot of chicken stew bubbles away on the stovetop. But there is one very important object that is missing: the “special Seder plate.” Frantically, the mouse searches through boxes and cupboards and finally ventures into the yard. First she encounters a very large cat and asks if it has seen the plate. “No,” answers the cat and points her to a snake, who sends her to an owl, who directs her to Golda Fish, prettily swimming in the water. Success! Kirkfield’s little tale is written in rhyming couplets with much repetition of “QUIVER! QUAVER! SHIVER! SHAKE!” for emphasis with each interaction with a predator, so readers will be mightily puzzled when the formerly frightful critters join Pippa at the holiday table. Weber’s gouache, crayon, and collage illustrations are sweetly pretty. The final illustration features a Seder plate with transliterated Hebrew and an English translation of the components. Readers familiar with the holiday may find this mildly enjoyable, but others will likely want and need more information.
In the end too much is left unanswered, making this book pleasant but only passable . (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4162-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
Festive fun for the preschool set that serves up good educational fare, too.
A little boy enjoys the delights of the Passover seder.
In a variation of the popular peekaboo game, a White toddler peeps out from behind his fingers and notes all of the items on the dinner table. There are candles, matzah, an egg on the seder plate, parsley, and Elijah’s cup. There’s also a pillow for reclining, a bowl of matzah ball soup, and the Haggadah (a liturgical book that recounts the story of the biblical Exodus). The illustrations provide only a glimpse of each item at first; children must turn the pages to discover what each object is. After all is revealed, the boy and his family—a mother, father, and grandfather—offer up a spirited rendition of “Had Gadya” (“One Little Goat”), a playful, cumulative song traditionally sung at the conclusion of the seder. At the end, readers are invited to identify objects on their own tables. With just one line of text per page and colorful, digital illustrations throughout, this board book can serve as a fun introduction to an important Jewish festival, ideally facilitated by adults who can fill in additional details. The male characters wear kippot, and the mother serves the soup. A delightful element of the visual narrative is the family cat who mimics the boy’s facial expressions.
Festive fun for the preschool set that serves up good educational fare, too. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72842-431-6
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
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