Review: The Magician's Visit
The Magician's Visit by I.L. Peretz, adapted by Barbara Diamond Goldin, illustrated by Eva Sánchez Gómez Green Bean Books Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Kathy Bloomfield Buy at Bookshop.org The classic I.L. Peretz story of a penniless street magician who assists a poor couple in celebrating a truly miraculous Passover has been revised by Barbara Diamond Goldin from her 1993 edition. The language of this version has been brought up to date, for example, the couple Hayim-Jonah and Rivkah-Bailah are now Jonah and Rebecca, and the story text has been tightened. Instead of the dark, oil-based illustrations by Robert Andrew Parker in the 1993 edition, we have lighter, brighter illustrations by Eva Sánchez Gómez, using colored pencils on a white background. This is an excellent update of her earlier work, with all the charm and miracles of the first version. While this may be the classic version of this classic Passover story, and one that should find a place on the Sydney Taylor list...