Reviews
Nachshon, Who Was Afraid to Swim: A Passover Story
“Jago’s stylized art supplies his characters with Egyptian profiles atop slender bodies; the predominant oranges, yellows and browns, then blues and greens, befit the desert and watery settings, respectively.” —Kirkus Reviews View →
Benjamin and the Silver Goblet
“Well paced and well told, this familiar story makes itself fresh with a folkloric feel and a satisfying ending. Ugliano’s heavily textured, colorful pastel illustrations ably support and extend the text.” —Kirkus Reviews View →
Zvuvi's Israel
“Topaz’s joyfully rendered watercolor scenes accompany a chatty text with both tour guides leading the way.” —Kirkus Reviews View →
Hanukkah Around the World
“Wehrman’s soft muted paintings, which sketch out maps, traditional dress and foods, add a further instructional element to the fictional prose.” —Kirkus Reviews View →
Camp Alien
“generous measures of daffy humor” —Kirkus Reviews View →
Mousetraps
“Rick and Maxie’s thought-provoking story, juxtaposed against Hauser’s renderings of Maxie’s cartoons, is unexpectedly, richly dark, with no easy answers. Both chilling and sweet.” —Kirkus Reviews View →
I Know an Old Teacher
“Gammell’s gleefully messy illustrations give children an original view of teachers’ private lives. His characters are full of personality, and textures seem to leap off the pages.” —Kirkus Reviews View →
Hush Harbor: Praying in Secret
“Banks’s oversized, almost muralistic figures reflect the strength of the Africans’ spirits and their tremendous physicality. The red outlines used throughout evoke both warmth and danger as the characters steal away to their meeting place. Evans handles the issue… View →
Thanksgiving Rules
“an unabashedly joyous celebration of seasonal gluttony.” —Kirkus Reviews View →
Boker Tov!: Good Morning!
“Brown’s deeply colored acrylic paintings offer secular scenes of a multicultural and multiracial neighborhood full of cookie-cutter, round-faced, wide-grinned children all expressing carefree anticipation of the new day’s wonderful possibilities.”… View →
“Basing her tale on legend, Greene provides a smooth, suspenseful view into a rarely depicted portion of Jewish history, when Jews led a dual life and managed to maintain their Judaic rituals by blending in or hiding their beliefs and traditions, sometimes in plain sight.… View →
Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problem
“Monroe’s imaginative illustrations play with composition as well as perspective, offering detail-minded readers endless surprises. The goofball text unfolds with tongue firmly in cheek. . . A winner.” —Kirkus Reviews View →
The Clock Struck One: A Time-Telling Tale
“Hartman’s characters are full of personality – the cat is high-and-mighty while the dog is just plain loopy. Her colors reflect the passing of the day, getting increasingly darker as the sun disappears and the characters become sleepier. With its emphasis on the… View →
Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland
“Readers will be enticed by both the scientific detective work and by the tantalizing mysteries that remain.” —Kirkus Reviews View →
Always an Olivia: A Remarkable Family History
“This will be useful for classroom studies and discussions with a rarely told perspective on families and coming to America.” —Kirkus Reviews View →
Menorah Under the Sea
“Clear, colorful photographs accompany the direct narrative that incorporates research with David’s special way of remembering the significance of Hanukkah by paralleling the survival of the sea urchins with the Jewish people’s own strength and determination.”… View →
Jodie's Hanukkah Dig
“Topaz’s watercolors delineate a freckle-faced little girl whose agility and curiosity parallel the Maccabeean stamina in the struggle. . . Levine provides an intriguing alternative to conventional retellings of the Hanukkah tale, juxtaposing archeology’s importance… View →
“Jules’s fourth Ziz book continues her versions of Midrash stories featuring the giant bird of Jewish mythology. The Ziz is summoned by the wise King Solomon of Israel for a critical job-keeping the Princess Magda company in her lonely tower. Locked up to protect her… View →
Circle the Truth
“This rhapsody on faith, acceptance, patience and the relationship between ‘truth’ and ‘reality’ is an unusual and valuable addition to the pantheon of literature for youth, particularly since faith is so seldom addressed with such neutrality in books for… View →
Sarah Laughs
“Mellifluous full-page spreads in tones of green and blue pastel/crayon media depict the lyrically told story of this Jewish matriarch who believed her childbearing years had passed. An accessible rendition of the ancient biblical text for young religiously oriented… View →
The Art of Freedom: How Artists See America
“Paintings, sculpture and photographs depicting American scenes and people and representing artists and styles from the 18th century to the present are the focus of Raczka’s latest lesson in exposing young minds to viewing and understanding art.”… View →
My Cousin, the Alien
“Family ties and Zack’s unusually well-developed sense of responsibility for his troubled cuz form strong thematic elements in this outing, the first of a projected four. Gorman’s frequent black-and-white cartoon scenes of popeyed preteens in various hazardous… View →
On the Scale, a Weighty Tale
“Gable’s colorful illustrations seethe with motion, as zany cartoon animals (primarily cats) mischievously frolic to illuminate the text. The clear and humorous examples drawn from life enable kids to understand easily and then apply the information. For those just… View →