Leo & Blossom's Sukkah - Hardcover

PreSchool-Grade 2-- Following the same graceful style as in Beni's First Chanukah (1988) and Happy Passover, Rosie (1990, both Holt), Zalben introduces Sukkot through the adventures of the Bear family as they prepare for the Jewish holiday. Leo and Blossom decide to build their own sukkah, or hut, next to the family one, but their overzealous decorating attempts go awry. With their parents' help, all is put right, and the holiday culminates in a joyful feast. This gives Papa and Mama the opportunity to explain the origin of the holiday within the confines of the plot. The full-color illustrations in soft hues add gentle humor and warmth, and Zalben deftly integrates Sukkot's meaning and rituals into a story young children will appreciate. This will introduce the holiday to a secular audience, and is geared to a younger audience than Molly's Pilgrim (Lothrop, 1983) by Barbara Cohen. --Micki S. Nevett, Temple Beth Emeth Library, Albany, NY
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In her third picture-book celebration of Jewish holidays, Zalben turns to the harvest festival of Sukkot. Here siblings Leo and Blossom build, with a little help from friends, their own Sukkah--a three- or four-sided booth, with a branch-covered roof open to the stars, in which observant Jews eat all meals during the holiday. Parents pitch in and soon all is ready for a joyous communal feast. Mischievous Leo sprinkles the assemblage with a hose as Mama reminds them that "rain means life." Zalben's characteristically sweet, finely detailed paintings of these thoroughly anthropomorphized bears, who starred in the preceding books, continue to engage. A helpful afterword includes the history of the holiday (it was the antecedent of the Pilgrims' Thanksgiving) and suggestions for decorating a Sukkah. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.