{"id":34583,"date":"2020-04-03T03:41:34","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T10:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=34583"},"modified":"2020-04-02T12:00:59","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T19:00:59","slug":"nieces-enjoy-new-kids-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2020\/04\/03\/nieces-enjoy-new-kids-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Nieces enjoy new kids books"},"content":{"rendered":"

I review a lot of books for the Jewish Independent<\/em>. Over the years, that has included many children\u2019s books. I do my best in these instances but, as much as I like to let my inner child run free occasionally and as much as I\u2019d one day like to create a children\u2019s book or two, I\u2019m a grown-up. What do I really know about how enjoyable the single-digit-age set will find a publication? Well, for my latest two reviews, I turned to a couple of experts for advice.<\/p>\n

With COVID-19 causing the shutdown of schools, my youngest nieces \u2013 Fae, 8, and Charlotte, 6 \u2013 were suddenly available to be put to work. With their parents\u2019 blessing, nay, encouragement, I scanned and emailed them two recent books published by Intergalactic Afikoman (see jewishindependent.ca\/new-publisher-set-to-launch<\/a>). The assignment was to read Asteroid Goldberg: Passover in Outer Space<\/em> by Brianna Caplan Sayres and illustrator Merrill Rainey and Such a Library! A Yiddish Folktale Re-imagined<\/em> by Jill Ross Nadler and illustrator Esther van den Berg. As my nieces were new to the reviewing world, I gave them a handful of questions to answer: What did you like about the books? What did you not like? What did you learn? Would you recommend the books to your friends?<\/p>\n

Their mother, Deborah Weiss, sent me summaries of their answers, as well as Fae\u2019s handwritten responses \u2013 I\u2019d asked her to be the family\u2019s scribe for the job.<\/p>\n

They started with Asteroid Goldberg<\/em>, which features Asteroid and her parents on their way home from Pluto for the Passover seder. When the family gets to earth\u2019s orbit, they are not allowed to land (for an unstated reason), so they must make alternate seder plans on the fly (pun intended). A few of Jupiter\u2019s moons for kneidl, a piece of Saturn\u2019s rings for matzah, the Milky Way as their pantry. Who to invite? Family members close by, including Grandma Luna, who was biking on Venus, and Uncle Cosmos, who was hiking on Mars. When they come to the Mah Nishtanah, Asteroid asks, \u201cWhat makes this night so different?\u201d to which the answer is \u201cEverything!\u201d Caplan Sayres couldn\u2019t have known how relevant her Passover story would be this year.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Fae\u2019s note on what her mother, Deborah (D.), thought of the book Asteroid Goldberg: Passover in Outer Space.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both Fae and Charlotte loved the story and the artwork. Even though Charlotte found it a bit too long, Fae recommended it for kids 7 and under.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like this book because it was a rhyming book and because it had lots of play-along words,\u201d wrote Fae, who explained to her mom that \u201cplay-along words are words with multiple meanings.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for lessons learned, Fae \u201cdid not learn anything.\u201d However, her sister, who can be a pistol, said she learned that one should \u201cnever go on a rocket before Passover.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for their mom\u2019s thoughts, Deb said, \u201cI really liked this book. As we get ready for a Passover that will be very different this year, I loved reading about a family that had to change their Passover plans and still had lots of fun and found new ways to celebrate. This really resonated with me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Deb and the girls also enjoyed Such a Library!<\/em> \u201cI thought this was a really clever and imaginative take on a well-known folktale,\u201d said Deb, who noted, \u201cBoth girls liked the funny text, the story and the artwork. We also liked the clever name of the librarian.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Such a Library!<\/em>, Stevie heads to the public library to read his book \u2013 \u201cWith three brothers, two sisters and a baby at home, Stevie\u2019s house was never quiet.\u201d As he starts to read, though, he hears pages turning, computer keys tapping. He tiptoes to the librarian, Miss Understood, and says, \u201cThis library is too noisy.\u201d He tells her, \u201cIt\u2019s like a party in here.\u201d Thinking that a party sounds like a wonderful idea, she opens a book: \u201cHundreds of colourful balloons flew from the pages, followed by party hats and horns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>Each time Stevie goes to Miss Understood to complain, she opens another book and the library becomes a zoo, then a circus, as the characters jump out of the pages of the books she opens and take over the library. Only once the characters are all returned to their books can Stevie enjoy reading his, to the relatively quiet sounds of the pages turning, computer keys tapping.<\/p>\n

Such a Library!<\/em> is an interpretation of the Yiddish folktale about a man who thinks that his small house is too crowded with his wife and many children. The rabbi recommends that the man also bring into the house the family\u2019s cow, chickens, goats, geese and ducks. When the man can\u2019t take it anymore, the rabbi tells him to kick out all the animals, after which, the small house seems quite big and spacious.<\/p>\n

Fae would recommend Such a Library!<\/em>, once again, to kids age 7 and under, while Charlotte really liked it and would recommend it to anyone.<\/p>\n

As for what the girls learned, Deb said, quoting Charlotte, \u201cWe learned that, if you\u2019re looking for a quiet place to read, to not to go to the library when it\u2019s full of acrobats!\u201d<\/p>\n

To order either book, visit intergalacticafikoman.com\/books<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I review a lot of books for the Jewish Independent. Over the years, that has included many children\u2019s books. I do my best in these instances but, as much as I like to let my inner child run free occasionally and as much as I\u2019d one day like to create a children\u2019s book or two, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[4946,9637,6460,400,186],"class_list":["post-34583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-childrens-books","tag-intergalactic-afikoman","tag-libraries","tag-passover","tag-yiddish"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}