By
– May 29, 2013
In her book Bread, Menucha Fuchs explains where bread comes from; its origin as a seed of grain to its culmination in a tasty carbohydrate. Her book discusses farming, the need for just the right amount of rain and the farmer’s prayers to G‑d for a good harvest.
It explains how those seeds turn into stalks of wheat and how those stalks are harvested and milled. Fuchs outlines the equipment and machinery used to grind wheat into flour, and tells how it was done in years gone by, before such machinery existed. The book is full of answers for curious children, addressing the ways in which bread is made from flour and what other ingredients are required to complete the process.
Each page of text has a facing page of images corresponding graphically to the information being read. Each page is enclosed in a plastic sleeve, as if laminated.
Fuchs is a well-known, religious Israeli writer with more than thirty books to her name, several of them explaining how everyday staples in the home are made, and where they come from. A useful acquisition to a Jewish day school library, it’s easy to imagine Bread being read to a preschool or kindergarten class. The book has an instructional quality to it, and constitutes part of Fuchs’ series, The Living & Learning Encyclopedia for Children. As a result, it’s best use will be in a library or school classroom. In the hands of a teacher, using it to help students understand where food comes from, it will be a valuable and enjoyable resource. Recommended for ages 3 – 6.
Lauren Kramer is a Vancouver-based journalist, wife, and mother with a lifelong passion for literature. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, she has won awards for her writing and reported from many corners of the world. Read more of her work at www.laurenkramer.net.
