The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

The Night Before Passover (The Night Before series) by Natasha Wing, illustrated by Nathalie Beauvois Grosset & Dunlap (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Heidi Rabinowitz Buy at Bookshop.org Author Natasha Wing has parodied The Night Before Christmas with 40+ titles in her "The Night Before" series. The Night Before Passover is her second Jewish entry, following The Night Before Hanukkah (2014). Some Jewish readers may find the juxtaposition of Passover with a famous Christmas poem amusing, while others may find it discomfiting. That said, it's always appreciated to find Jewish titles incorporated into a non-Jewish book series. The text follows the pattern of couplets from Clement Clark Moore's original poem, but unfortunately, the meter is uneven and awkward. Forced into the rhyme scheme, concepts lose their meaning, as in this passage: "We sing psalms, recite blessings, / I sip grape juice from my cup. / I already fi...

Hanukkah, Here I Come! by D.J. Steinberg, illustrated by Sara Palacios Grosset & Dunlap (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Jeff Gottesfeld Buy at Bookshop.org The Grosset & Dunlap series gets a peppy, diverse, and fun addition to its collection with this book about Hanukah. Or Chanukah. Or Hanukkah, as this book is entitled. One of the challenges of the holiday for authors is how to spell it in transliteration, so it can be searched for correctly. But I digress. This title has a lot going for it, for both Jewish and secular families. Hanukkah (I'll use the author's spelling) is unpacked in funny and engaging four-line rhyming poems, accompanied by energetic artwork. Everything from an ultra-shortened and ultra-sanitized-for-children history of the rebellions of the Maccabees (not exactly the story of Maccabees 1 and 2), to anticipation of good presents, to the intricacies of playing dreidel, to Team Applesauce or Team Sour Cream...

Passover, Here I Come! by D.J. Steinberg, illustrated by Emanuel Wiemans Grosset & Dunlap (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Karin Fisher-Golton Buy at Bookshop.org Passover, Here I Come! is the kind of book families will bring out each year to introduce or remind children of Passover traditions. This warm, colorful collection of short poems is the Passover addition to author D. J. Steinberg’s Here I Come! series, which includes books on starting preschool to second grade as well as books on other holidays—secular, Christian, and Jewish. Steinberg’s poems come in a variety of structures, including a poetic recipe for matzoh brei! Young readers will be engaged by the poems’ rhyme, rhythm, and humor. Topics include ways families prepare for and celebrate the holiday; child-oriented traditions (such as singing “Ma nishtana” and searching for the afikomen); and a brief version of the Exodus story. Names, vocabulary, and images depict an Ashkenazi ...