Harriet Ziefert

Harriet Ziefert and Karla Gudeon, the author/illustrator team who produced the lovely One Red Apple, return in this gorgeous celebration of Passover. With a simple, informative text, that explains both the story behind the holiday, and the rituals associated with its celebration, as well as breath-takingly beautiful illustrations (I almost gave this five stars, based on the artwork alone!), Passover: Celebrating Now, Remembering Then is a title I can unreservedly recommend to anyone looking show more for high quality Passover picture-books!

I was particularly impressed with the format, in which many of the two-page spreads lay out the "then" and "now" of the holiday. "Now..." begins the text on one page, "We dip the parsley in salt water. We taste the bitter herbs." The facing page depicts the karpas (parsley, celery, potato), the maror (bitter herb/horseradish), and the chazeret (bitter vegetable/lettuce), and then folds out, revealing a two-page spread of "then," when the Israelites slaved in Egyptian fields. Linking the past and the present, this dual narrative structure reinforces the meaning of each part of the Passover celebration, while also providing a fun, interactive reading experience. As already mentioned, Karla Gudeon's artwork is a real delight, with vivid colors, folk-motif type details, and decorative endpapers. All in all, this is a real winner! show less

Harriet Ziefert and Karla Gudeon - the author and artist who created the absolutely gorgeous One Red Apple and Passover: Celebrating Now, Remembering Then - made their picture-book debut, as a team, with this holiday title, which presents eight haiku, one for each night of Hanukkah. Just as with their other two titles, Gudeon's illustrations here are simply breathtaking, with a vivid color palette and a "folksy" style somewhere between a quilt and a mosaic. I loved all the details of art and show more design: the beautiful colors, the parade of objects and people floating across the page, the thick paper itself, the "stepped" pages leading up to the final night of Hanukkah, the overall sense of movement and enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, while the illustrations were top-notch - everything I had hoped, in fact - I found the narrative utterly unconvincing, and almost unrecognizable, as haiku. Harsh though it may be, Hanukkah Haiku would have been a better book, if it has been wordless! I can't help but feel disappointed, given my enthusiastic response to the two other books, but I suppose it's a hopeful sign that this was the first Ziefert/Gudeon venture, and that subsequent books saw an improvement. In any case, despite the less-than-stellar text, this is still a book that can be appreciated for the artwork! I've been poking around Gudeon's website, and see that she creates ketubot (gorgeously illuminated Jewish marriage contracts)! Now that would be something to have on the wall! show less

An enterprising and determined mother manages to get a new coat made for her young daughter despite their poverty in this story set in post-World War II Europe. Although she has no money, Anna's mother has some valuable possessions, bartering Grandfather's gold watch for the wool, a beautiful lamp for the wool to be spun into yarn, her own and Anna's labor in picking lingonberries to dye the wool red, a garnet necklace to have the red wool woven into cloth, and a porcelain teapot to have the show more coat made from that cloth. Now in possession of a beautiful new coat, Anna is pleased when her mother invites all those involved to a wonderful Christmas Eve party...

Apparently A New Coat for Anna is a based on a true story, related to author Harriet Ziefert by one Ingeborg Schraft Hoffman, who many years later still possessed the coat obtained for her by her mother in the post-war years when she was a child. The narrative here is engrossing, highlighting the idea that where there is a will there is a way, but also showcasing the time, effort and skills that go into making a good, solid winter coat. The different people involved—the farmer who raises and sheers the sheep, the spinner who spins the yarn, the weaver who makes the cloth, and the tailor who designs and sews the coat—are each highlighted, teaching the young reader or listener that there is plenty of activity behind the scenes, before they a coat is purchased in a store. The story here reminded me of Elsa Beskow's classic picture book, Pelle's New Suite, which also involved many exchanges in order to get an article of clothing made, although here there is the added interest of the historical setting, and the pleasure of the final Christmas party. I found the accompanying artwork here, done by Anita Lobel, quite lovely, and appreciated many of the different settings and details. This would make a nice bedtime or story hour read in winter, when children themselves are wearing coats, or at Christmas, given the final scenes. show less

Illustrated by the Caldecott Medal-winning Simms Taback, this holiday counting book follows a growing crowd of trick-or-treaters as they make their way through the "dark on Halloween night." Two witches meet up and are soon joined by a small clown, a tall skeleton, a striped cat, a fuzzy bunny, an orange pumpkin, a friendly pirate, a big astronaut, and a pink princess, forming a gang of trick-or-treaters. When they break up, however, one is different from the others, and departs in an show more unusual fashion...

I cannot say that Two Little Witches: A Halloween Counting Story really appealed to me that much, as its simplistic narrative (one and one makes two, add one and then you have three... and so on) left me mostly bored. But for children at the right level, who are just getting going as independent readers, or who are learning their numbers, I can see the repetitive structure really working very well. The pencil, ink and watercolor illustrations, on the other hand, will appeal to anyone who appreciates Taback's zany artwork, myself included. Recommended primarily to younger Halloween celebrants, particularly those at the counting stage, or who are beginning readers. show less