An Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Honor BookA quiet, joyful story celebrating a Jewish mother’s tradition of making challah with her child merges a lyrical text with stunning illustrations – and includes the author’s favourite recipe.“Draws connections between kitchen chemistry, timeless traditions, and the pleasures of everyday life.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)Melt into the nooks and crannies of this book’s unhurried pages, offering a place to rest and spend time counting your many blessings – current and imminent. Here, a child and a mother measure, mix, knead, shape, and tuck their dough under a towel like a sleeping baby. Then, as they do every week, they wait while their dough rises, soon to be baked and gratefully shared at a Shabbat gathering with loved ones.Whatever their background, readers will be happy to find the author’s go-to recipe for challah at the end, along with a glossary and an author’s note describing the personal meaning of her family’s weekly ritual.“A meditative look at Shabbat preparations. . . . conveying the beauty of taking time to rest and appreciate loved ones.” Kirkus Reviews
A joyful picture book story celebrating a Jewish mother’s tradition of making challah with her child – and includes the author’s favourite recipe.Perfect for children who love to bake, this poetic, meditative narration paired with illustrations full of light and warmth captures the experience of a Jewish family as they make challah – a lesson in patience, slowing down, faith and family.A child and a mother measure, mix, knead, shape and tuck their dough under a towel like a sleeping baby. Then, as they do every week, they wait while their dough rises, soon to be baked and gratefully shared at a Shabbat gathering with loved ones.Includes the author’s own challah recipe, a glossary of terms and an author’s note describing the personal meaning of her family’s weekly ritual.
Community, connection, and a capricious turn of weather each play a role as a family sets out to create a homemade shelter in celebration of the Jewish Sukkot holiday.For one excited family, it’s time to build a sukkah in their backyard—a glorious, sturdy sukkah just for them. They can’t wait to eat, play, and sing in it for seven days and watch the stars through it for seven nights. Everything is perfect until . . . whoosh! A sudden, powerful burst of wind crashes through and ruins everything. But wait, could all those neighbors toting stray branches and other bits and pieces help to make this the family’s—and the neighborhood’s—most special Sukkot yet? With its themes of connection, helping, and sharing food, this sweet story from the creative team behind the award-winning Rising has appeal both to Jewish families who mark this harvest holiday every year and to families just learning about it for the first time. Back matter offers more information about Sukkot and instructions on making a miniature sukkah of your own.
A delightfully illustrated story about passing gas and passing the buck, by a renowned scholar of gastrointestinal humor who has seen and smelled it all.The marriage of flatulence and wordplay is a potent source of pleasure as old as language itself. So says Edward H. Kafka-Gelbrecht, who has spent a lifetime studying the art of the unclaimed fart, from the courtroom to the convent. Now, in this illustrated tour de force, he airs a more personal story about a quiet elevator ride that is shattered by an ignoble gas. Starting with the classic “He who smelt it, dealt it” and the indignant riposte “She who denied it, supplied it,” the repartee heats up as the elevator rises. Can a reek that drives people apart instead bring two hearts together? A Big Stink’s beguiling blend of highbrow and lowbrow humor will delight oversharing families and word lovers alike. Illustrator Sophia Vincent Guy ramps up the fun with elegantly detailed illustrations sprinkled with Easter eggs. Sure to reduce even the most solemn adults to irrepressible giggles, A Big Stink is a ripping good read and a breath of foul air.
