The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

The Greatest by Veera Hiranandani, illustrated by Vesper Stamper Random House Studio (imprint of Random House Children's Books), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Freidele Galya Soban Biniashvili   Buy at Bookshop.org   Growing up, our family's Sundays were always set aside for visiting my grandparents: first my mother's parents, and then my father's mother. It was with this memory that I began reading The Greatest, which opens with "The old man sips his coffee and watches the sun come up. It’s Sunday, his favorite day of the week. Sundays are when his grandchildren come to visit." The story goes through different activities in which grandfather and grandchildren engage in during their time together. The grandchildren think their grandfather is the greatest, although he is not sure why they feel that way. By the last sentence in the book, though, he comes to a heartwarming conclusion about why that may be. Noticeably absent from the story is the grandmoth...

Rivka's Presents by Laurie Wallmark, illustrated by Adelina Lirius Random House Studio (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2023 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Shirley Reva Vernick Buy at Bookshop.org Rivka, a girl growing up with her (presumably immigrant) family in the tenements of New York City, can’t wait for her first day of school. But since her father is ill from the flu pandemic of 1918, and her mother is forced to go back to work in a factory, she has to stay home to watch her little sister. Hungry to learn, Rivka resourcefully trades chores for reading, arithmetic, and history lessons from her neighbors. When Papa is well again, her "teachers" throw her a party as a send-off to her long-awaited first day at school. This moving tale blends a family story with accurate historical context to illustrate the importance of family, community, and education. The text, combined with the detailed, realistic illustrations, gently transports readers to Jewish life on the L...