Rise and Shine: A Challah-Day Tale

PreS-Gr 1—Sammy and Sophie find a mysterious piece of paper in the attic, and, showing it to Grandma Gert, learn that it is the family recipe for challah written in Yiddish. The children, Grandma Gert, and several of her retirement-community friends (both cheerful and curmudgeonly) head to the kitchen to make challah for Shabbat, mixing and braiding and spending time together. The cartoon illustrations are lively and clearly show Grandma's neighbor, Grumpy Old Ned, undergoing a change of heart under the influence of the Shabbat spirit. The strong intergenerational message is undercut, however, by the awkward rhyming text and puns. Old Ned ends the tale with a groaner, "Come back next week to make more bread," he pleaded. "Your CHALLAH-DAY visit was just what I KNEADED." A better choice for "challah-day" celebrations is Susan Remick Topek's classic A Holiday for Noah (Kar-Ben, 1990).—Martha Link Yesowitch, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, NC