The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

When Zissel Got Rich by Maxine Rose Schur, illustrated by Cristina De Liso Lawley Publishing, 2023 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Freidele Galya Soban Biniashvili   Buy at Bookshop.org “Who is rich? He who is happy with his lot.” (Ethics of the Fathers 4:1). This adage comes to mind when reading the appropriately titled picture book When Zissel Got Rich . Zissel and her family lived simply until her husband does well in business and they become rich. That’s when the trouble begins, as Zissel now wants a new ring with a bigger diamond, thinking that then she will have everything her heart desires. After this ring, she wants a new bracelet, followed by a new necklace. Unfortunately, each new piece of jewelry brings it with it disastrous results for Zissel, until a simple beauty in nature is the wake-up call she needs to realize the errors of her ways. Disney fans will especially appreciate the bright and expressive illustrations, as well as the clothing and furniture which are re...

The Circlemaker by Maxine Rose Schur, cover art by Polina Solomodenko Lawley Publishing, 2023 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Jacqueline Jules Buy at Bookshop.org Mendel loves to wake up early and meet his best friend Zalman at the riverbank. They play with toy boats until they must run to arrive at school on time. He is a happy boy in spite of the poverty imposed by antisemitic restrictions in Ukraine in 1852 and a bully named Dovid who calls him K’vatsh, the Yiddish word for coward. Everything changes when the Czar’s soldiers come to his village to kidnap boys for the military. To avoid twenty-five years of conscription, Mendel cuts his earlocks and flees his village with only a vague plan to reach his Aunt Bella in America. His journey through Ukraine to reach the Hungarian border is a fast-paced adventure. Mendel doesn’t know who to trust and one hurdle follows another. When he finds smugglers, he learns that his nemesis, also on the run from the Czar’s soldiers, is being helped b...