Chil­dren’s

New Moon

Rab­bi Geela Rayzel Raphael; Susan Cath­cart and Mar­i­lyn Kane, illus.
  • Review
By – March 23, 2017

New Moon, a beau­ti­ful­ly illus­trat­ed book, is the per­fect way to intro­duce the hol­i­day of Rosh Hodesh, the new moon, to ele­men­tary school-aged chil­dren. The author, an unortho­dox” rab­bi, puts the women’s hol­i­day cel­e­brat­ing the moon into the con­text of the Jew­ish cal­en­dar and explains the rit­u­als asso­ci­at­ed with it through the eyes of young Rose, who cel­e­brates with her moth­er and friends each month. 

Rose enjoys dress­ing up for Rosh Hodesh, eat­ing moon shaped fruit and cook­ies, and bless­ing the water in the Miriam’s Cup. She sings and dances with her moth­er and friends, lights can­dles, and hears sto­ries about strong Jew­ish women through­out Jew­ish tra­di­tion. She thinks it’s spooky when the women howl at the moon, but she can’t wait until she had her own Rosh Hodesh group.”

The vibrant­ly col­ored pen and ink illus­tra­tions are beau­ti­ful enough to frame and expli­cate the Rosh Hodesh tra­di­tions, which may be new to many read­ers. A col­or­ing book fol­lows the text, as well as the lyrics to &ldquo:Rosh Hodesh Moon,” a song for the holiday.

High­ly rec­om­mend­ed for 711 year olds and their open-mind­ed families.

Paula Chaiken has worked in a vari­ety of capac­i­ties in the Jew­ish world — teach­ing in reli­gious school, curat­ing at the Sper­tus Muse­um and fundrais­ing for the Fed­er­a­tion — for more than twen­ty years. She also runs a bou­tique pub­lic rela­tions con­sult­ing firm and enjoys read­ing all sorts of books with her three sons.

Discussion Questions