Lynn Peppas

I really liked this book, but do not know if it would be appealing to most elementary school students. The format of this story reminds me of a short textbook. There are headings and subheadings with a lot of text and very few pictures. The pictures are all real images and there are no drawings. The pictures include captions, which help describe what is happening in each picture and help label Jewish foods. Some students may be overwhelmed by all of the information in this book that is shown through full paragraphs of text. The recommended age for this book is 5-7, but this book would be much better for older elementary school students because of its length of the frequent use of tier III vocabulary words relating to Judaism. These words include “synagogue”, “mitzvah”, and “Hamantasch”. As someone who celebrates Purim, I know that the information in this book is accurate and does a great job of informing people about this holiday. There are no characters to relate to and no real plot, so younger students could get bored and find it hard to retain all of the information in this story. It could also be boring for Jewish students to read. While it is a great representation of their culture, this story would just give these students information they already know without a plot to offer. This book is not solely about food, but there are two long sections titled “The Purim Meal” and “Traditional Purim Foods”. These sections describe traditional Jewish dishes in great detail, which helps students learn about foods that are important in Judaism. Most non-Jewish students know about Chanukah, but do not know Purim exists, so I like that the big idea of this book is to inform everyone about a significant Jewish holiday.… (més)