When (most of) these stories of Danny and the Jewish holidays appeared in Highlights for Children in the Fifties, Sydney Taylor's All-of-a-Kind Family series was almost the only presentation of Jewish family life on library shelves; and to explain the holidays, librarians usually reached for Florence Mary Fitch's all-enlightening One God. The stories are still pleasant, thanks to Taylor's identification with kids and her storytelling skills; but alongside the competition (both fiction and nonfiction), they can't but seem mild, even tepid, and all-too-obvious. Still, gentle fictionalized instruction has never been altogether out of favor with kids (or, certainly, their parents), and may even be making a comeback; so there may be a place for Danny's first, unsuccessful attempt to blow the shofar (on Rosh Hashanah), his decision to patch up a quarrel with good-friend Bobby (on Yom Kippur), his gleeful "theft" of Grandpa's precious piece of matzo (on the first evening of Passover). Much of the content consists, however, of explanation by various adults: "On Hamishah Asar Bishevat," says Sunday School teacher Miss Strum, "we eat the fruits that grow in Israel to show our love for our ancient land." But, again, the warmth of feeling and the general vitality of the telling will effectively counter the didacticism—for many.
Pub Date: Dec. 3, 1981
ISBN: 0525285105
Page Count: 70
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1981
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite.
Humpty Dumpty, classically portrayed as an egg, recounts what happened after he fell off the wall in Santat’s latest.
An avid ornithophile, Humpty had loved being atop a high wall to be close to the birds, but after his fall and reassembly by the king’s men, high places—even his lofted bed—become intolerable. As he puts it, “There were some parts that couldn’t be healed with bandages and glue.” Although fear bars Humpty from many of his passions, it is the birds he misses the most, and he painstakingly builds (after several papercut-punctuated attempts) a beautiful paper plane to fly among them. But when the plane lands on the very wall Humpty has so doggedly been avoiding, he faces the choice of continuing to follow his fear or to break free of it, which he does, going from cracked egg to powerful flight in a sequence of stunning spreads. Santat applies his considerable talent for intertwining visual and textual, whimsy and gravity to his consideration of trauma and the oft-overlooked importance of self-determined recovery. While this newest addition to Santat’s successes will inevitably (and deservedly) be lauded, younger readers may not notice the de-emphasis of an equally important part of recovery: that it is not compulsory—it is OK not to be OK.
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-682-6
Page Count: 45
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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