The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Shoshi's Shabbat by Caryn Yacowitz, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes Candlewick Press, 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Jacqueline Jules Buy at Bookshop.org Six days a week, Shoshi, a little ox, helps Farmer Simon plows his fields. On the Sabbath, she enjoys relaxing and playing with Simon’s grandchildren. Life is pleasant until Farmer Simon feels “the weight of his years” and sells Shoshi to his neighbor, Yohanan. When Shoshi’s new owner expects her to work seven days a week, she plants “her four feet on the ground” and firmly refuses. Yohanan is mystified until he considers how his neighbor Simon enjoys a day of rest with his family each week. Does the little ox understand the importance of Shabbat? Is she trying to teach him something? Shoshi’s Shabbat celebrates the beauty of observing the Sabbath with lyrical language and delightful illustrations. Young readers will fall in love with this adorable little ox who defies her new owner with humorous facial expressions. An author’...

The Hanukkah Magic of Nate Gadol by Arthur A. Levine, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Bridget Hodder Buy at Bookshop.org As we all know, spinning Hanukkah dreidels isn't just about gleeful shrieking over heaps of shiny chocolate coins. The Hebrew letters on each side of the dreidel represent the beautiful phrase, "Nais Gadol Haya Shum"-- "A great miracle happened there." And from this shining holiday thread of words, coins and miracles, author Arthur A. Levine has spun a Hanukkah tale about a magical giver of gifts with eyes bright as coins, whose name, Nate Gadol, echoes the Hanukkah phrase on our dreidels. True to his name, (in Hebrew, Nathan Gadol can loosely translate as "a great act of giving"), Nate Gadol appears in the book as a large smiling fellow with an equally large and giving heart. Nate also happens to be a heaven-sent spirit who answers people's prayers by making crucial things last as long as they are ...