The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

The Apple Argument by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Anita Barghigiani Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Rachel J. Fremmer Buy at Bookshop.org The Apple Argument is a modern midrash, a backstory to the tales told in the Torah. With richly colored, appropriately lush illustrations by Anita Barghighiani, Jane Yolen spins a story explaining why we must work to coax food from the land. As the fruits bicker over which one of them is best overall, just like people so often do, each cites their strongest quality but fails to recognize that their varied strengths combine to create something better together - a fruit salad perhaps? In a scene relatable to any parent, an exasperated G-d leaves the scene, saying, “I will move far away so I do not need to hear you.” Human laziness - not curiosity - is the driver in this version of the Eden story, resulting in Adam and Eve finding it easier to “pluck the Fruits from the trees and Vines” tha...

Maybe It Happened This Way: Bible Stories Reimagined by Rabbi Leah Rachel Berkowitz and Erica Wovsaniker, illustrated by Katherine Messenger  Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House), 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Jacqueline Jules   Buy at Bookshop.org Did Noah procrastinate when building the ark, hoping that the people would change their ways and there would be no need for a flood? Did Abram and Sarai break idols together? Was Moses ultimately relieved to hand over his leadership duties to Joshua? In Maybe It Happened This Way , authors Rabbi Leah Rachel Berkowitz and Erica Wovsaniker offer readers an opportunity to imagine themselves inside Biblical stories, experiencing the events. The text is poetic. When Eve bites into the forbidden apple, “the taste burst onto her tongue.” Many stories are told in first person, respecting a middle school reader’s ability to understand events through the eyes of an adult. Shifra, one of the midwives who risked her life...

A Basket Full of Figs retoldby Ori Alon, illustrated by Menahem Halberstadt Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Freidele Galya Soban Biniashvili Buy at Bookshop.org Originally published in Hebrew, A Basket Full of Figs is a retelling of a Midrashic tale, in which Emperor Hadrian visits a quiet little village. He sees an old man, who is nearly one hundred years old, planting a fig tree sapling. Emperor Hadrian is astonished at this as he tells the old man he won’t be alive to eat the fruit from the tree. The old man tells him, “Well if I don’t, then my children will. The tree that I am planting is a gift. For years to come, children will visit this place and find a fig tree full of sweet fruit.” He goes on to explain that when he came in to the world, he found lots of trees, wonderful gifts from earlier generations. But the story doesn’t end there. Three years pass and Emperor Hadrian revisits the village, and the old man. The reader then gets to see what indeed happened with the fig tre...

The Book of Secrets by Mat Tonti Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Gigi Pagliarulo Buy at Bookshop.org Author and illustrator Mat Tonti takes readers on a wild and unexpected ride in this fresh graphic novel take on traditional Jewish stories, embedding Jewish tales and folklore from a wide range of sources within a thoroughly modern narrative. Jewish siblings Ben and Rose are pulled into a dangerous mystery when they receive a mystical message from their missing Bubbe. As they discover the mysterious Book of Secrets, they become deeply immersed in its chapters -- a series of stories that will lead them along the path to rescuing their grandparents and preserving the history of their people -- if the Book’s characters themselves don’t take over first! The cryptic and powerful Doughlem, a Golem-like creature with the Hebrew word אמת baked into a crust atop his forehead, is a crucial throughline in this genre-traversing book, which weaves in tales from the Mishnah, the Midrash, Chasidim, ...

A Very Big Problem by Amy-Jill Levine & Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, illustrated by Annie Bowler Cateogry: Picture Books Reviewer: Laurie Adler   Buy at Bookshop.org An argument is piercing through the serenity of God’s garden. Each creation, from rain to earthworms to children, takes a turn to argue why it’s the most important, and refrains that “God should love me the most. It’s only fair.” At the end, God gently intercedes and explains that there is enough love for everyone; each part of nature is crucial to the whole, and “without all of you together, there would be no garden at all.” This gentle story was written to read like a midrash, an ancient Rabbinic story or parable, that expands upon the creation chapters in Genesis. It’s simplicity, alliteration, and repeating refrain will captivate preschool children, while its many ecological facts will broaden their knowledge of our world. Annie Bowler’s bold and colorful illustrations seem to spill out from the pages to perfectly c...

Have You Ever Zeen a Ziz? by Linda Elovitz Marshall, illustrated by Kyle Reed Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Freidele Galya Soban Biniashvili Reminiscent of the style of a Dr. Seuss story, Have You Ever Zeen a Ziz? is about the ziz, a mythological big bird that is referred to in ancient Jewish writings. Reed’s whimsical and colorful artwork that gives the book a fantasy world feel. The reader learns how a ziz looks and behaves, during the day and at night. Written in rhyming verse, the vocabulary is both simple (hat / cat / bat) and more advanced (prehistoric / absurd / creation / lofty). There are also several Seussian words in the book; in this story, real words are replaced by made-up rhyming words beginning with the letter ‘z’ (zis instead of this, zat instead of that, zings instead of sings, zee instead of see). This use of the ‘z’ sound will appeal to younger children, especially when the book is read aloud. Additionally, some of the words are written in bigger font...

Miriam at the River by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Khoa Le Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Kathy Bloomfield This is a beautifully told, exquisitely illustrated midrash about Miriam putting her brother, Moses, into the Nile River to save him from Pharaoh’s death decree. Jane Yolen is a master storyteller, and she once again proves this with simple words, written in free verse as lilting and calming as the river’s water. The reader learns about Miriam and her prophecies regarding Moses. She has seen the Pharaoh’s daughter pick her brother from the water. She has seen the Red Sea part, and while she is not sure what all her visions mean, she knows that her brother will live to become a great man. The illustrations are breathtaking. Using digital methods supplemented by traditional overlays of watercolor and natural textures, and blues, browns and splashes of red - the colors of the river, the strength of Miriam, the calmness of Moses, and the beauty of Pharaoh’s daughter unf...