A poetic chronicle of Jewish holidays all year-round, with lots to learn and enjoy.
This collection of poetry follows one family as they decide to celebrate every Jewish holiday for the entire year.
Some of the forthcoming holidays are well known to the family and observed with long-standing traditions, while others are somewhat new to them. Each holiday, beginning with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, is presented with a poem and an illustration depicting an aspect of the observance and the accoutrements that accompany the activities. The poems are narrated by one of the children in the family and detail each holiday’s traditions, how they play out, and the child’s own experiences (on Yom Kippur, “No cake, no honey / and for me, / no soccer, no TV”). The poet often mentions how “where my cousins live,” some of the holidays are observed differently. On Israeli Independence Day, the family sends the cousins photos with the Israeli flag; last Fourth of July, the cousins sent a similar message with an American flag. For each poem, readers will also find detailed explanations about the holiday, including history, references to the Torah, and definitions. The tone for each holiday is appropriate for the degree of festivity or seriousness. Tisha B’Av recalls the destruction of the Temples in ancient Jerusalem, and Yom Ha Shoah is Holocaust Remembrance Day; the accompanying poem speaks of sadness and lives lost but with a hope for mending and rebuilding. The poems for Purim and Simchas Torah exude joy. The family is light-skinned and dark-haired; their community is a diverse one. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A poetic chronicle of Jewish holidays all year-round, with lots to learn and enjoy. (note about the Jewish calendar, web resources) (Informational picture book/poetry. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-32469-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
A Christmas cozy, read straight or bit by bit through the season.
Neither snow nor rain nor mountains of yummy cheese stay the carrier of a letter to Santa.
So carelessly does 8-year-old Oliver stuff his very late letter to Santa into the mailbox that it falls out behind his back—leaving Winston, a “small, grubby white mouse” with an outsized heart, determined to deliver it personally though he has no idea where to go. Smith presents Winston’s Christmas Eve trek in 24 minichapters, each assigned a December “day” and all closing with both twists or cliffhangers and instructions (mostly verbal, unfortunately) for one or more holiday-themed recipes or craft projects. Though he veers occasionally into preciosity (Winston “tried to ignore the grumbling, rumbling noises coming from his tummy”), he also infuses his holiday tale with worthy values. Occasional snowy scenes have an Edwardian look appropriate to the general tone, with a white default in place but a few dark-skinned figures in view. Less-crafty children will struggle with the scantly illustrated projects, which run from paper snowflakes to clothespin dolls and Christmas crackers with or without “snaps,” but lyrics to chestnuts like “The 12 Days of Christmas” (and “Jingle Bells,” which is not a Christmas song, but never mind) at the end invite everyone to sing along.
A Christmas cozy, read straight or bit by bit through the season. (Fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-983-6
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lackluster collection of verse enlivened by a few bright spots.
Poems on various topics by the actor/screenwriter and his kids.
In collaboration with his now-grown children—particularly daughter Erin, who adds gently humorous vignettes and spot art to each entry—Bob Odenkirk, best known for his roles in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, dishes up a poetic hodgepodge that is notably loose jointed in the meter and rhyme departments. The story also too often veers from child-friendly subjects (bedtime-delaying tactics, sympathy for a dog with the zoomies) to writerly whines (“The be-all and end-all of perfection in scribbling, / no matter and no mind to any critical quibbling”). Some of the less-than-compelling lines describe how a “plane ride is an irony / with a strange and wondrous duplicity.” A few gems are buried in the bunch, however, like the comforting words offered to a bedroom monster and a frightened invisible friend, not to mention an invitation from little Willy Whimble, who lives in a tuna can but has a heart as “big as can be. / Come inside, / stay for dinner. / I’ll roast us a pea!” They’re hard to find, though. Notwithstanding nods to Calef Brown, Shel Silverstein, and other gifted wordsmiths in the acknowledgments, the wordplay in general is as artificial as much of the writing: “I scratched, then I scrutched / and skrappled away, / scritching my itch with great / pan-a-ché…” Human figures are light-skinned throughout.
A lackluster collection of verse enlivened by a few bright spots. (Poetry. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9780316438506
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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