Every­body wants some­thing! There are times, though, when chil­dren are dis­sat­is­fied with every­thing. When his bubbe is in the hos­pi­tal, Kai learns about the golem, a folk­loric crea­ture that fea­tures in Euro­pean Jew­ish oral and writ­ten his­to­ry. He won­ders if he can have a golem of his own. A golem could help him express his anger when he does­n’t get what he wants; a golem could knock things down and destroy them. But the golem Kai dreams up is more like a night­mare. He isn’t com­fort­ing or help­ful at all. On the con­trary — he is fright­en­ing and harsh.

When Kai calls his bubbe in the hos­pi­tal, she tells him he has made her feel much bet­ter, that he has done a mitz­vah by try­ing to help her recov­er. His atti­tude changes, and he begins to look at every­thing from a more pos­i­tive point of view. The rain, rather than ruin­ing his day, falls in inter­est­ing pat­terns. The bor­ing oat­meal his dad serves for break­fast can be redeemed by appeal­ing addi­tions. Instead of sim­ply miss­ing his bubbe, he can make her a beau­ti­ful card to delight and enter­tain her. And his imag­i­nary golem does­n’t have to be scary; he can be a friend. When Kai vis­its his bubbe in the hos­pi­tal again, he under­stands more about the mitz­vah he’s doing.

Chil­dren will rec­og­nize them­selves in Kai. Their emo­tions may be over­whelm­ing, but cir­cum­stances can be improved by help­ing oth­ers and by look­ing at events in a more pos­i­tive light. The sweet col­or illus­tra­tions, includ­ing that of the fur­ry, orange golem, enhance the sto­ry and the char­ac­ters. An append­ed note tells read­ers more about golems in Jew­ish his­tor­i­cal tales.