Modern Jewish history lives through the moving voice of one participant.
A dream to return to their Jewish homeland becomes a reality for Ethiopian Jews.
As the narrator watches his brother become a bar mitzvah at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, he remembers his childhood in Ethiopia and the journey to their homeland, Israel. For generations, Yosef tells readers, Jews in Ethiopia believed that they “were the only Jews left in the world!” In his reminiscence, Yosef leaves his mother and sister to take food to his father and brother working in their fields before heading to school. He falls into a deep hole and cannot climb out. In a folkloric turn, Gazelle comes to him in a dream and promises him mountaintop visions of “far-off places.” Hyena then promises meals “of the scraps of others.” Finally, Eagle swoops down and promises him a flight to a new home. When he finally arrives at school, an Israeli official announces that they “can return to the land God gave to the Jews.” Preparations are made, and Yosef’s family boards the eagle, as foretold in Isaiah (40:31)—only now it is an airplane. An author’s note informs readers that in 1991, co-author Naim, the Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia, did in fact organize Operation Solomon, bringing home thousands of Ethiopian Jews. Blumenfeld’s colorful illustrations give the dark-skinned people and the animals personality and set the location memorably.
Modern Jewish history lives through the moving voice of one participant. (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-68115-506-7
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Apples & Honey Press
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Nevertheless, it fills a gap in the marketplace, hopefully paving the way for stronger fare.
Not even the worthy subject matter can overcome the herky-jerky writing in this rare glimpse into everyday Jewish life.
Over four short chapters, a boy and a girl become good friends in spite of misunderstandings. When Sam overhears that the new kid next door is named Charlie, he’s initially thrilled to find a playmate. To his surprise, he discovers that both Charlie and her little sister Sam (or “Sam Too”) are girls. That makes little difference, though, since Charlie’s a stellar buddy. The chapter on “Sharing” tests that new friendship when both Sam and Charlie crave the last prune hamentaschen. They’re closer after Sam aims to cheer up Charlie on “Sick Day,” but “The Bad Haircut” undoes that good with a callous comment. Finally on “I’m Sorry Day,” aka Yom Kippur, the two apologize, and hilarity ensues. The text’s level of difficulty is ideal for the emerging reader taking baby steps into chapter books, but even the great subject matter (the everyday lives of Jewish kids) can’t make up for abrupt transitions between those chapters, lines like “Friendship is the best medicine,” and odd lessons on losing on purpose to keep a friendship going. Tambellini’s illustrations complement the action beautifully but cannot save the weak writing.
Nevertheless, it fills a gap in the marketplace, hopefully paving the way for stronger fare. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8075-7213-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Thoroughly agenda-driven fodder for discussions about values and diversity, but its streak of silliness should draw a few...
Muslim children help out an elderly (Jewish) couple in a British import that creaks but doesn’t quite collapse under the weight of its worthy purposes.
Responding to a want ad seeking housecleaners, the five young teens—Imran from Pakistan, Leila and Sumaya in stylish hijabs, Adam (a Jamaican convert) and Che Amran, a “Malaysian-looking boy” with Asperger’s—meet on the doorstep of Shimon Polonsky. The elderly gentleman has three days to get an outsized house—in which he keeps dogs, goats and other wildlife—cleaned up before his wife gets home from the hospital. Pausing twice a day for prayers, the companions not only learn to work together to do the deed and make a “Welcome Home” banner, but consign the money they earn to charity. When she arrives, Mrs. Polonsky violently orders them out (supposedly not because of their religion, but even younger children will read between those lines) before being humbled by their selflessness. Slapstick encounters with a mud puddle and a crazed washing machine lighten the load, and in Nayzaki’s brightly colored cartoons, the children sport appealingly huge manga eyes.
Thoroughly agenda-driven fodder for discussions about values and diversity, but its streak of silliness should draw a few chuckles. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: June 4, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-86037-454-1
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Kube Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
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