Willow is shy. VERY shy. Her home is in an abandoned mailbox, and she'd rather stay put. Outside kids scream and soccer balls collide, trees look like monsters, and rain is noisy in a scary kind of way. It's much nicer to stay inside, drawing. But then a young boy drops a letter in Willow's mailbox: it's a note to the moon asking for a special favor. Willow knows that if she doesn't brave the world outside, the letter will never be delivered, and the boy will be heartbroken. Should she try? Can she? Cat Min delivers a breathtakingly illustrated story about shyness, the power of empathy, and what it means to make a friend.
Akiva is just a poor shepherd living an ordinary life, until he falls in love with Rachel. Rachel thinks her husband could become a great man of learning—but Akiva can't even read! Is he too old to be a scholar or can he follow the example of the water in the nearby brook? Water is soft, yet drop by drop, it can soften the hardest stone.
Grover does a mitzvah (good deed) by joining his friends to spruce up the neighborhood playground. Even Moishe Oofnik comes out of his trash can to help, eating up all the trash, and separating the cans for recycling.
A lyrical kid-friendly telling of the famous Bible story of baby Moses in his basket being set on the River Nile by big sister Miriam, who continues to watch over him as he becomes the Prince of Egypt
Why is this night different from all other nights? Every year when families gather for the Passover holiday, the youngest child poses that question as part of the poetic Four Questions near the start of the Seder. The answers are no less than the story of a people bound in slavery, their suffering in a foreign land, and their ultimate liberation – the story of Passover. Here the Four Questions are presented in breathtakingly luminous paintings by Ori Sherman. Whimsical animals parade through a unique format that can be read straight through in English or turned upside down to focus on the delicate Hebrew calligraphy and ingenious split-frame pictures. Each side of the Seder table can see its own variation of the richly colored scenes as elephants eat matzoh, monkeys dip herbs into water, and lions recline in newfound freedom. Author Lynne Sharon Schwartz answers the questions with refreshing clarity, providing insight into the symbols and rituals of the holiday. Experience a glorious art book, a beautiful book for the kids who find the afikomen, and a wonderful way to experience Passover and its unique celebration of freedom.
With the help of her Catholic friend, an eleven-year-old Jewish girl creates a provocative local tourist attraction to save her family’s failing motel. Buying and moving into the run-down Jewel Motor Inn in upstate New York wasn’t eleven-year-old Miriam Brockman’s dream, but at least it’s an adventure. Miriam befriends Kate, whose grandmother owns the diner next door, and finds comfort in the company of Maria, the motel’s housekeeper, and her Uncle Mordy, who comes to help out for the summer. She spends her free time helping Kate’s grandmother make her famous grape pies and begins to face her fears by taking swimming lessons in the motel’s pool. But when it becomes clear that only a miracle is going to save the Jewel from bankruptcy, Jewish Miriam and Catholic Kate decide to create their own. Otherwise, the No Vacancy sign will come down for good, and Miriam will lose the life she’s worked so hard to build. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.6 Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narrations. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3 Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.6 Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3 Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6 Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.
"A terrific story, told by a gifted story-teller. Do not miss..." --Amazon review The widow Osnat is a revered quantum scientist, religious scholar, protector of her people, ravishing beauty, and occasionally a genocidal brute. From the Bronze-Age to a dystopian post-modern era she struggles to stop the destruction of her family and tribe. In the Arctic cannibals feast on her husband. In a high-tech city, demons try to prevent her birth. In Mesopotamia a local assassin helps a zealot who promises the destruction of all non-believers. As in Mitchell's Cloud Atlas and Huxley's Eyeless in Gaza, nested stories are woven into an astonishing whole. A hi-tech detective fights alongside her Bronze Age great, great... grandmother. A Bronze Age Mesopotamian shaman protects his teacher in the Stone Age Arctic. A Stone Age Arctic scientist is the savior of a post-modern city-state. Quantum Cannibals draws on the author's studies of folklore, cannibalism, shamanism, Kabbalah, primitive art and communications, as well as his years of experience working for and with Native Americans. "Set over a large span of time: from Bronze Age Mesopotamia to a Post-Modern city-state, this debut of Nathan Elberg is a dazzling expedition into a treacherous past... Elberg's outstanding fluency when writing in various characters' voices, who are born in different time periods is instantly absorbing, and he is brilliant when it comes to developing the mythologies of different cultures and societies. He proficiently balances time travel and magic with precise historical research, complex plot, intricate worldbuilding, and top-of-the-line characterization." --Prairies Book Review "The author pulls it all together, however, in admirable fashion through solid characterization; the sweeping mix of science, mythology, history; and precise, yet metaphor-filled writing"." --Kirkus Reviews
It is 1941. Hedy and her family are Jewish, and the Jew-hating Nazi party is rising. Hedy's family is no longer safe in their home in Hungary. They decide to flee to America, but because of their circumstances, sixteen-year-old Hedy must make her way through Europe alone. Will luck be with her? Will she be brave? Join Hedy on her journey-where she encounters good fortune and misfortune, a kind helper and cruel soldiers, a reunion and a tragedy-and discover how Hedy is both lucky and brave. Hedy's Journey adds an important voice to the canon of Holocaust stories, and her courage will make a lasting impact on young readers.
