This non-fic­tion pic­ture book is a con­tin­u­a­tion of a suc­cess­ful series for the Jew­ish pre-school audi­ence. In it, real young­sters are shown cel­e­brat­ing Israel’s birth­day at their school. The pho­tos and one-line descrip­tions depict actu­al ways chil­dren at Amer­i­can Jew­ish day schools get involved with the cel­e­bra­tion of Israel’s Inde­pen­dence Day, Yom Ha atz’maut. Because each page shows real chil­dren doing real activ­i­ties that are so often a part of a school cel­e­bra­tion of this hol­i­day, the read­er is ​“hooked” by the cute­ness of the chil­dren and the famil­iar­i­ty of the scenes. Some Hebrew words and typ­i­cal tourist sites of Israel are depict­ed and the chil­dren look like they are enjoy­ing the cel­e­bra­tion. For exam­ple, chil­dren choose dif­fer­ent ingre­di­ents at the falafel stand, vis­it the shuk (mar­ket) in Jerusalem, pick fruit on a kib­butz, and even place a prayer into the ​“cracks” at the Kotel. The sim­plic­i­ty and charm of this book is that it makes younger chil­dren feel com­fort­able with the pho­tos because these pho­tographed chil­dren are doing the same kinds of activ­i­ties that the read­er might do at his/​her own school. Because chil­dren like famil­iar­i­ty, the young read­er will be able to relate well as the teacher reads the basic text and shows the pho­tos while stop­ping for dis­cus­sion on each page. The teacher can use this book to elab­o­rate more ful­ly on the dif­fer­ent aspects of Israel life and cul­ture in terms of spe­cial region­al foods, impor­tant cities, shop­ping, and most impor­tant­ly, the feel­ing of ​“Am Yis­rael Chai.” This sim­ple book will become a first choice for pre-school edu­ca­tors and even for young non-Jew­ish chil­dren as an intro­duc­tion to the cul­ture of Israel and the cel­e­bra­tion by Jew­ish chil­dren of this impor­tant day for the Jew­ish peo­ple.

Read­ing Guide