Quick! Before the High Holy Days come and go, consider two new children’s books that might enhance the family’s New Year’s celebration.
One, a lift-the-flap book for ages 4 to 8, is aptly titled “Apples and Honey.” It’s sweet and pleasing, a sturdy paperback with rhyming verse about a family’s cheerful celebration of Rosh Hashanah.
“Avram’s Gift,” geared for ages 9 to 12, also focuses on one family’s experience during the holidays. But the story is far more serious. Centering on the theme of remembrance and new beginnings, it traces a boy’s discovery of his family’s roots on Rosh Hashanah and his realization five years later of his dream to blow the shofar in the synagogue at the close of Yom Kippur.
For little ones who may think of Rosh Hashanah as a somber occasion, “Apples and Honey” provides a nice introduction to the celebratory side of the holiday. Author Joan Holub presents a happy family that goes apple-picking together, smiling kids who make greeting cards and congregants who seem to enjoy listening to the rabbi speak and hearing the blowing of the shofar. After services, the family goes home and everyone puts on his or her aprons to help prepare the “feast” to come. The grandparents join them for dinner, and afterward, all retire to the living room for apples and honey and baked treats. Even the family’s cat and dog join in the festivities.
Cary Pillo’s illustrations are playful and light, reinforcing the good-natured spirit of the holiday.
The lift-up flaps make the book that much more fun for kids to read. And a crafts project at the back — on how to make an apples-and honey-serving plate — seems easy enough for even preschoolers to handle.
In “Avram’s Gift,” by Margie Blumberg, 8-year-old Mark has just moved into a newly built home, and is looking forward to starting the third grade with his brand-new best friend, Ari. He’s happy-go-lucky, and excited about the upcoming Jewish holidays.
Mark’s only anxiety, it seems, stems from a very old portrait of his great-great-grandfather, Avram. His father has taken it from the closet, dusted it off and hung it prominently in the hallway — just outside Mark’s room. Wearing a stern expression, a long white beard, dark cap and jacket, Avram looks mysterious and brooding, and Mark avoids looking at the picture whenever he passes by. One day he covers it with a towel, another time he flips it over, but in both instances his parents nonchalantly right the dreaded portrait. Mark doesn’t have the nerve to confess his misgivings, especially as busy preparations begin for Rosh Hashanah.
But Mark’s fears begin to melt at Rosh Hashanah dinner, when Grandpa Morris from Baltimore is coaxed into telling how he and his father left his grandfather in Russia, so the younger generations could start a new life in America.
“Oh, how I miss my zeyde,” Grandpa Morris sighed. “You know, I’ll bet that if you were to look up the word love in the dictionary, you would find my Grandpa Avram’s picture right next to the definition.”
“This man?” Mark thought. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
The story quickly jumps back in time, to the Russia of Morris’ youth. By the time it returns to present day, Mark has not only realized his folly, but has asked to have the old portrait hung in his bedroom, so he can talk to his long-lost ancestor.
His anxiety melted away, Mark can concentrate on the task at hand: learning to blow the shofar.
Blumberg contrives a story that today’s preteens might find difficult to swallow, should they stick with it. But the beautiful illustrations by watercolorist Laurie McGaw are expressive and warm.
Besides the pictures, the other most interesting feature of the book is the author’s afterword. In it, she explains that the shofar-blower in the story is modeled after a real person in her Rockville, Md., congregation. Now in his 40s, he is still blowing strong. Drawing on his expertise, she includes his tips for kids on how to master the art of shofar-blowing.
“Apples and Honey” by Joan Holub (16 pages, Puffin, $6.99).
“Avram’s Gift” by Margie Blumberg (48 pages, MB Publishing, $19.95).