Hanukkah can be celebrated in many different and delicious ways.
As Hanukkah approaches, a young boy is reluctant to let his little sister, who loves to climb, help make dosas, a fried Indian delicacy. The boy attends Hebrew school—his father is Jewish—and shops for Indian food with his Indian mother and grandmother. The only way to get his little sister, Sadie, down from chairs at home and stacks of canned food in the market is to sing a variation of the dreidel song: “I had a little dosa; I made it out of dal.” He is happy in his blended family, happy to help with the food preparations, and happy to keep singing the song to Sadie. A warm-spirited double-page spread of the family unfolds with the many pots and pans needed to fry the dosas sitting on the stove and little Sadie wearing her dreidel costume. When the family goes outside to greet guests, the door locks behind them, and only one small girl can get inside to open the door. The illustrations are bright and cheerful with endpapers that are a mouthwatering display of ingredients for Indian food.
A delightful culinary adventure celebrates traditional Indian food as part of a Jewish holiday. (recipes) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-374-30444-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS FICTION
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BOOK REVIEW
This celebration of cross-generational bonding is a textual and artistic tour de force.
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A young boy yearns for what he doesn’t have, but his nana teaches him to find beauty in what he has and can give, as well as in the city where they live.
CJ doesn’t want to wait in the rain or take the bus or go places after church. But through Nana’s playful imagination and gentle leadership, he begins to see each moment as an opportunity: Trees drink raindrops from straws; the bus breathes fire; and each person has a story to tell. On the bus, Nana inspires an impromptu concert, and CJ’s lifted into a daydream of colors and light, moon and magic. Later, when walking past broken streetlamps on the way to the soup kitchen, CJ notices a rainbow and thinks of his nana’s special gift to see “beautiful where he never even thought to look.” Through de la Peña’s brilliant text, readers can hear, feel and taste the city: its grit and beauty, its quiet moments of connectedness. Robinson’s exceptional artwork works with it to ensure that readers will fully understand CJ’s journey toward appreciation of the vibrant, fascinating fabric of the city. Loosely defined patterns and gestures offer an immediate and raw quality to the Sasek-like illustrations. Painted in a warm palette, this diverse urban neighborhood is imbued with interest and possibility.
This celebration of cross-generational bonding is a textual and artistic tour de force. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-399-25774-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Oct. 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION
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It may be his mothers’ wedding day, but it’s Donovan’s big day in Newman’s (Heather Has Two Mommies, 1989, etc.) latest picture book about queer family life. Centered on the child’s experience and refreshingly eschewing reference to controversy, the book emerges as a celebration of not only Mommy’s and Mama’s mutual love but progress toward equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Readers, however, don't know immediately know why it is “a very BIG day” for Donovan or what the “very BIG job” is that he has to do. In his affectionate, humorous gouache paintings with digital finish, Dutton cleverly includes clues in the form of family pictures in an earlier spread set inside their home, and then a later spread shows Donovan in a suit and placing a “little white satin box that Aunt Jennifer gave him” into his pocket, hinting toward his role as ring bearer. But it’s not until the third-to-last spread that he stands with his parents and hands “one shiny gold ring to Mommy [and] one shiny gold ring to Mama.” He, of course, gets to kiss the brides on the last page, lending a happily-ever-after sensibility to the end of this story about a family's new beginning. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: April 26, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58246-332-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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