How Dalia Put a Big Yellow Comforter Inside a Tiny Blue Box

At the community center, Mrs. Kahn teaches Dalia and her friends about tzedakah, the Jewish custom of collecting money or otherwise supporting those in need. At home Dalia decorates her own tzedakah box that contains her accumulated coins and small bills. When her little brother, Yossi, asks what's in the box, Dalia's responses—"a big yellow comforter…a butterfly bush…a banana cream pie"—make him think she's teasing, or even lying. But as he observes his sister's altruism around the neighborhood and then tags along on some special errands, he begins to understand the meaning of tzedakah and to realize the satisfaction of helping others. Heller's text effectively gets across the idea of tzedakah for the uninitiated without spelling things out too much for those in the know. Asked repeatedly by Yossi to define the word, Dalia instead speaks in terms of feelings: "Tzedakah means I'm planting a kiss on your cheek…means we're all one big family…means I care for you" (an author's note provides a more concrete explanation). Likewise, McQueen's rich-hued acrylic and oil pastel illustrations radiate warmth; the pictures of Dalia and her rosy-cheeked chums pitching in are cheerfully cluttered, while other images capture smaller, more intimate moments between the siblings. In Judaism tzedakah is considered a moral obligation, and the story shows how even young children can readily fulfill the tenet. Elissa Gershowitz