April Halprin Wayland

April Halprin Wayland, whose New Year at the Pier offered a delightful look at the Rosh Hashanah tradition of Tashlich, returns to the Jewish holidays in this newest picture-book offering, following a family of four as they prepare for and celebrate Passover. Shopping in the market, taking home a kitten in need of a home, making charoset as a family - every activity they engage in is followed by the refrain "Dayenu" ("it would have been enough"), referring to the Passover song which show more celebrates all the blessings of this important time of the Jewish year, and emphasizes the importance of gratitude for those blessings.

Like her earlier title, I enjoyed More Than Enough quite a bit, finding in it a lovely celebration of Jewish traditions at Passover, as they are enacted by one modern city family. There is less of a story here than in New Year at the Pier - the text is shorter, with one sentence per page, followed by the refrain - but there is also more of a feeling of this being a song - a song of joy. The watercolor illustrations by Katie Kath are appealing - naturally, I found the kitten adorable! - and perfectly depict the sense of family fun and togetherness found in the text. All in all, a sweet little book, one I would recommend to anyone looking for Passover picture-books for younger children. show less

Autumn is Izzy's favorite time of year. A time of changes, of apples and honey, and the sound of the Shofar. As Rosh Hashanah draws near, Izzy joins his family in making "I'm sorry" lists, preparing for Taschlich, in which the previous year's transgressions are symbolically cast away. But this year, he has a very difficult apology to make...

April Halprin Wayland's New Year at the Pier, which emphasizes the importance of both repentance and forgiveness in the Jewish New Year tradition, is an show more engaging and believable tale of family, friendship, and community. Izzy makes for an appealing young hero, as fallible as any other young boy, but also sincerely interested in doing right. Stéphane Jorisch's sprightly illustrations add to the sense of fun and celebration. All in all, a very pleasing holiday tale that should appeal to young readers of all religious persuasions. show less

Wayland, April Halprin

Girl Coming in for a Landing: A Novel in Poems

Illustrated by Elaine Clayton. 2002. 144pp. $14.95 hc. Random House Children's Books. 978-0-3758-0158-7. Grades 9-12.

Our narrator takes us through a school year by way of the poems she writes about the many challenges she faces--among them popular girls being cruel, a crush that turns into a relationship that turns into an ex-relationship, and her burgeoning desire to be a writer. Her story reads like the journal of a show more particularly close high school friend, and teens will likely find they have shared some experiences with the heroine at some point in high school. The black and white art bordering the poems adds to the book's journal feel; the collage style of the art makes it seem as though the heroine has clipped the images out of various places and pasted them into her diary. Teens will easily be able to relate to the heroine's emotions and frustrations--not just the big ones, but the small ones, like irritation with teachers and upset at being teased at a drama club meeting. Recommended for poetry fans and those who are looking for a more experimental method of storytelling. show less

Girl Coming In For A Landing was different from most other novels in verse that I’ve read. While all of the poems did work together to tell one story, I felt as if each poem worked better on its own than as one big flowing story. It just felt disjointed to me.

The story was told from first person point-of-view, therefore we never even learned the name of our main character. While there was a small cast of side characters they were not a main focus of the story nor were they memorable enough show more for me to even remember their names. The first person point-of-view did not work to the benefit of the reader. Most of the time whenever the main character would say “we did this” or “we did that” you had no clue which person she was talking about. I was always thinking to myself you did that with who?? WHO ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!

My favorite thing about the book was all of the illustrations, which were done by Elaine Clayton. Each page was like a work of art, tying in with each poem and really helping to bring the words to life. For me, this really added to the overall reading experience.

I feel like this book focused more on the poetic side of things, than telling a complete story. My favorite poem from the book was the passage entitled “TAKING VIOLIN.”

“I open my case
tighten my bow
pluck a string to tune.
I love to listen to it chirp across the echoing room.

My friends are in class
reading about
a famous English King.
But I am training this wooden bird upon my arm to sing.”

Overall, I just wasn’t able to connect with this story. It ended and I was just like huh? It all felt so pointless. Like what did I even just read about for the last hour? show less