recommended reading

Around the World…in books!

beccakinla around the world, baba wague diakite, caps for sale, graphic literature, international, joann sfar, recommended reading, the little prince Leave a comment

This week, the Family Camp that I organize is following the theme “Around the World.” Here are a few books I recently borrowed from the library that definitely fit right in.

The Hatseller And The Monkeys
Baba Wague Diakite’s The Hatseller and the Monkeys retells the folktale most Americans recognize from Caps for Sale. In this Malian version, we are given a wonderful glimpse into African village life, as well as a moral for the wacky tale. Ages 2-7.
Kampung Boy
The Far East is where the graphic novel first became most popular, and in Southeast Asia, one of the most popular authors of this format is Lat. Lat portrays his boyhood in a small village in Malaysia, circa 1950 in Kampung Boy. I adored both the humor and the loving nostagia Lat imbues the book with. Ages 7 through adult.
The Little Prince Graphic Novel
Many people grew up reading The Little Prince. Joann Sfar recently recreated Saint-Exupery’s French classic in the graphic novel format. The experiences reading the two are very different–why not read both and compare?
Age 9 and up.

Jewish Picture Book Aims to Protect our Children from Harm

beccakinla Jewish, molestation, recommended reading, safety Leave a comment

http://matzav.com/how-do-we-protect-our-children

Safety is–for obvious reasons–a high priority in our community right now. A friend recommended the book described in the link above. The article suggests that it introduces strategies to children so they can avoid being harmed by adults around them, yet approaches the subject in a way that is appropriate in our community.
In the comments section of the article, it makes clear that this book focuses on interactions with malicious strangers. Statistically, most children who are harmed (lo aleinu) are harmed by people they know. The next printing of the book will have this topic added.
Yoni Ploni… Never Talks to Strangers can be acquired directly from the author by dialing 347 393 3670.

The book has endorsements that have led me to place the link here, but I have not read the book myself yet. If you have and have any feedback to share, please feel free to add a comment below.

Good clean reads

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A friend asked me about good clean books (obviously, other than those from reliable Jewish publishers) to share with her preteen and teenage kids during the summer. Here are just a few great books for the (Jewish) kid, all pre-approved by moi. However, you should ALWAYS skim books before letting your kid read them. Even if they are “kosher,” they might not be at the right reading level, for example.

(And you do have to take the following into account:
I allow my kids to read books by non-Jews and about non-Jewish subjects–which some frum moms might disapprove of–and I do allow my kids to read about somewhat controversial topics, as long as they are developmentally appropriate. I’m also a big fan of all those treife animals some people shun–I just don’t eat them.
However, I ditch books with strong language, completely “un-tznua” romantic situations, excessive violence, flagrant racism or xenophobia, or that promote avodah zara, movies or television.
…And, yes, that includes Disney!)

These books are for kids 8 and up:
The Hobbit (Tolkein)
The Courage of Sarah Noble (Dalgliesh)
The Stories Julian Tells (Cameron)
Binky series of graphic books (Ashley Spires)
Hereville: How Mirka Gets her Sword (Deutsch)
The Rabbi’s Girls (Hurwitz)
Baseball Fever (Hurwitz)
The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela (Shulevitz)
Fat Men from Space (Pinkwater)
Fat Men from Space
Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally) (Lisa Yee)
all Henry Huggins books (Cleary)
Ramona, Ramona the Pest, Beezus and Ramona, Ramona the Brave, Ramona and her Mother, Ramona and her Father (Cleary)
Sarah, Plain and Tall (MacLachlan)
Little House in the Big Woods and Farmer Boy (Wilder)
There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom (Sachar)
Sadako and the Paper Cranes (Coerr)
The Princess Tales, Volume I (Levine)
A Single Shard (Park)
The Thief Lord (Funke)


And these are for age 12 and up:
Dealing with Dragons (Wrede)
Searching for Dragons (Wrede)
Tripods trilogy (John Christopher)
The Pool of Fire
Homecoming (Voight)
The Eye, the Ear and the Arm (Farmer)
The Giver (Lowry)
The Cay (Taylor)
Treasure Island (Stevenson)
all the Little House books not listed above
Island of the Blue Dolphins (O’Dell)
Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt)
Un-Lun-Dun (Mieville)
Bud, Not Buddy (Curtis)


For age 15 and up:
Sorcery and Cecilia (Wrede and Stevemer)
Rabbi Harvey vs. the Wisdom Kid (Scheinkin)
Rabbi Harvey vs. the Wisdom Kid: A Graphic Novel of Dueling Jewish Folktales in the Wild West
The Blue Sword (McKinley)
The Graveyard Book (Gaiman)
Dealing with Dragons (Wrede)
Catherine, Called Birdy (Cushman)
The Folk Keeper (Billingsley)
The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury)
I Robot (Asimov)
1001 Arabian Nights
When I Was a Slave: Memoirs from the Slave Narrative Collection (Norman R. Yetman, ed.)
A Wizard of Earthsea (Le Guin)
Things Not Seen (Clements)

P.S. There are many other wonderful books out there…please share your “kosher” reading recommendations for the 8+ crowd in a comment below! Also, don’t assume other books by the same authors as the above are okay. In many cases, they are most definitely NOT.

Books about friendship

beccakinla david ezra stein, friendship, mo willems, recommended reading, reviews, yaffa ganz 1 Comment

In one of those bizarre synchronicity moments you sometimes have at the library, my family borrowed a slew of books all about friendship at our visit yesterday (the first three are by Mo Willems, who is wonderfully engaging). I’ll briefly review each and add several other suggestions on the topic at the end.

My Friend is Sad
My Friend Is Sad (Elephant and Piggie Series) by Mo Willems: Book Cover
A wonderful book for new readers to read on their own about how to comfort a friend feeling down.
City Dog, Country Frog
Teaches how to build a friendship and how to cope with loss of a friend. A charming, even moving read and a stylistic departure for the author Mo Willems.
Leonardo the Terrible Monster
Friendship turns out to be the great purpose in life for Leonardo, a monster unable to scare anyone.
Cowboy Ned & Andy, by David Ezra Stein

Cowboy Ned & Andy (Paula Wiseman Books)
Andy the horse loves his owner, Ned, so much that he wants to give him a birthday cake in honor of Ned’s big day. But what does Ned really need?
OTHER GREAT “FRIENDSHIP” SELECTIONS:
the Mimmy and Simmy books by Yaffa Ganz,
the Toon Book Stinky,
the classic series commencing with Frog and Toad are Friends,
That’s What a Friend Is by P.K. Hallinan,
Little Bear’s Friend by Else Holmelund Minarik,
A Friend for King Amadou by Robert McKissack,
Dog Blue by Polly Dunbar,
Winnie the Pooh books,
Sheila Rae, the Brave and almost any book by Kevin Henkes,
the magical Charlotte’s Web,
anything about Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan,
As Good As Anybody by Richard Michelson
…and for older readers Louis Sachar’s amazing The Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom,
Beth Firestone’s Candles in My Window,
The Sea of Trolls trilogy,
Sorcery and Cecelia,
The Chosen,
and Patricia Wrede’s Dealing with Dragons.

Please Share more “Friendship” books for children–fictional or not–below!