Chil­dren’s

Time To Start a Brand New Year

Rochel Groner Vorst; Shep­sil Schein­ber, illus.
  • Review
By – June 21, 2016

Bright pri­ma­ry-col­or illus­tra­tions accom­pa­ny metered rhyming text as we watch young chil­dren from vis­i­bly Ortho­dox fam­i­lies pre­pare for the start of the Jew­ish New Year. The Rosh Hashanah sym­bols make their appear­ances: sho­far, pome­gran­ate, apple and hon­ey, New Year’s wish­es, round raisin chal­lah are all there. A trip to a lake to sym­bol­i­cal­ly cast off old sins to teach about the cus­tom of Tash­lich and an empha­sis on the mitzvos that can be done in the com­ing year bring this light rhyth­mic read-aloud full circle. 

Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 2 – 15.


Relat­ed Content: 

Michal Hoschan­der Malen is the edi­tor of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s young adult and children’s book reviews. A for­mer librar­i­an, she has lec­tured on top­ics relat­ing to lit­er­a­cy, run book clubs, and loves to read aloud to her grandchildren.

Discussion Questions