Dusan Petricic

This book was fully unique. We have a queen and her feet do not live in shoes. Honestly, I don’t blame her. Her feet may want to play in the mud, run in the sand, or wear completely inappropriate shoes but the queen still has a job to do. After gathering as many people in the land that know anything about feet as possible, they’ve come up with a plan. What I really like about this book is the story is simple, but fun, but the illustrations. The illustrations remind me of some of the jazz show more sessions of Sesame Street. Things like the number song when they count to 12. That type of atlas illustration. Sometimes that type of illustration can feel old but in this book it the illustration feels unique and perfect for the story. show less

http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2008/02/jewish-literature-challenge-3-of-5.html
Bagels from Benny is a very sweet picture book that tells the story of Benny, a little boy who loves to help out at his grandfather's bakery and wants to find a way to thank God for his grandfather's wonderful bagels. He hits upon the idea of leaving a bag of bagels in his synagogue's ark- where the Torah is kept- because it just seems sensible to leave a gift for God in with His book. A poor man who comes to show more pray finds the bagels- and believes they are from God. When Benny's grandfather finds out what Benny has been doing with his bagels, grandfather and grandson share an important lesson about the transformational power of kindness and generosity. It's a really lovely story with an important lesson, based on an ancient Jewish legend from Spain. Petricic's illustrations in watercolor and pencil are by turns funny and beautiful and echo the emotional tones well. I love Bagels from Benny! show less

I enjoyed this book very much for a few reasons. First, i enjoyed how this book was formatted because the reader could read it forwards or backwards and it makes sense either way. This not only makes the book more entertaining, but it also makes sense. If the reader starts at the front of the book, they get to meet the young boy's father's side of the family first and if the reader starts at the back of the book they get to meet the boy's mother's side of the family first. Both sides of the show more family meet in the middle of the book in a large family portrait. This middle illustration I particularly liked because it showed a very diverse family. The theme of diversity, is apparent in the illustrations of this book. This book executed the theme of multicultural families very subtly but still effectively. From the illustrations and the text, the reader can conclude that the boy comes from both European and Asian backgrounds For example, he calls his father's parents nana and poppop but his mother's parents GongGong and Popo. The large family portrait also includes cousins and uncles of African American descent as well as a homosexual couple, making this an even more inclusive book. One thing that I wish this story had more of, is plot. While the characters and illustrations effectively portrayed the message of multicultural families, a plot that is easy to follow and entertaining may make this book more successful for young children. show less

OH GOOD, time to get started on retroactively reviewing 60 kids' books! Well, we must imagine Sisyphus happy, I guess. Um, this is one about how Benny brings bagels for God* because he gets it into his little kid dumbhead that God wants bagels and then it turns out a homeless guy is removing them from the ark and eating them and his faith is affirmed of course as also is Benny's when his zayde gets him to see how the whole thing is a clear matter of God's grace and not to be so freakin show more literal in his little kid dumbhead.

*I originally wrote "G-d" but that seemed crypto-anti-Semitic somehow and maybe that's oversensitive but why not err on the side of not crypto-anti-Semitic? show less