PARENTING

The Remembering, Bar tells the
story of a young boy who spends
every Shabbat with his grand-
mother, Goldina. He loves watch-
ing her light the candles and
eating her tasty food, but most of
all Joshua enjoys his grand-
mother's "memory box," which is
filled with treasures from her
past.
This gentle book is likely to
spark its own fond memories for
anyone who had a close relation-
ship with a grandparent. There
are especially touching scenes
when Josh's grandmother com-
forts him during a storm and
gives him a photograph of her "for
your remembering box."
Finally, Esther Hautzig's Rich-
es (Harper Collins) tells of a
Samuel and Chaya-Rivka who
run a small store in the village
Antokol. They become wealthy
and are satisfied with their lives
— until a rabbi recommends
Samuel become a horse-and-cart
driver.
"It would be pleasing to the
Almighty that I do the simplest
work in our town?" Samuel says,
aghast. "I don't need the money!"
But he follows the rabbi's ad-
vice. In doing so, he first learns
to see the beauty in small things,
telling his wife after work one
day, "There was a birch tree with
leaves that were bright yellow
against its white bark."
Later, he helps a poor woman
to her home and two orphan boys
to their relatives' house in far-
away Volokumpia.
At the end of three months,
Samuel returns to the rabbi who
tells him, "Pray each day, as al-
ways. Give charity, as ever. But
also give ofyourself whenever and
wherever you can."

A

NUMBER OF impressive
books on the Holocaust
have been written for chil-
dren. Two of the pest are The
Children We Remember (Green-
willow Books), by Chana Byers
Abells, and I Never Saw Another
Butterfly (Schoken), which fea-
tures writings and drawings by
children from the Terezin con-
centration camp.
The latter, which has been re-
leased in several editions, is of
course painful to read. But it con-
tains remarkable works, from the
title piece (in which Pavel Fried-
mann, later deported to
Auschwitz, mourns the butter-
flies who cannot be found in the
ghetto) to the haunting "Bird-
song":
He doesn't know the world at
all
Who stays in his nest and
doesn't go out.
He doesn't know what birds
know best
Nor what I want to sing about,

THANK YOU, GOD!

a Jewish child's book of prayers

.„) never saw

another Initterily...

butyl it Groner and Madeline Wikler

illustrated by Shelly O.flea;

These books offer solid values
without sounding condescending.

that the world is full of loveli-
ness.

When dewdrops sparkle in the
grass
And earth's aflood with morn-
ing light,
A blackbird sings upon a bush
To greet the dawning after
night.
Then I know how fine it is to
live.

Hey, try to open your heart
To beauty; go to the woods
someday
And weave a wreath of mem-
ory there.
Then if the tears obscure your
way
You'll know how wonderful it is
To be alive.

I Never Saw Another Butterfly
also features brief biographical
information about the children
whose poems and artwork is fea-
tured, as well as this final note:
"A total of around 15,000 chil-
dren under the age of 15 passed
through Terezin. Of these,
around 100 came back."
The Children We Remember is
a photo essay, with pictures from
the Yad Vashem archives. The
text is simple and brief ("The
Nazis hated the children because
they were Jews."); the photos are
especially impressive because they
often focus on a single child, or a
group of clearly distinctive faces.
Among the unforgettable pho-
tos featured in The Children We
Remember: the picture from the
Lodz Ghetto, with a boy feeding
food from a tin to his tiny sister,
and one of a mother who tries to
protect her young child from a
German soldier even as he rais-
es a rifle to the woman's head.

O

NE OF THE BEST books ents that the shoes must be his
for children - Jewish or oth- alone. "Soon I will be apprenticed
erwise - is The Pair of and then it is I who will bring
Shoes (Dial Press), first published bread into this house ... How am
in 1971.
I to become a man if I cannot
Written by Aline Glasgow and walk in my pair of shoes?"
illustrated by Symeon Shimin,
When Dubbie returns, her an-
The Pair of Shoes is the story of kle is swollen and red. She had
a young boy who learns what it tripped in the too-big shoes.
means to be a man.
Mother sends Jacob for the doc-
Jacob is the eldest son in a poor tor.
family: a mother, Sara Rebecca;
"With what will we pay?" Ja-
a father, Avrum, who has lost the cob asks.
use of his legs; a younger broth-
Noah volunteers, "We could
er, Noah, who cares for the fam- sell Olga," the family cow.
ily's cow; and the little girl,
"No," Sara Rebecca says. In-
Dubbie.
stead, she gives Jacob her only
The family has one pair of remaining treasure, her samovar.
shoes, left from years ago before
The doctor comes and sets
Avrum was crippled in an acci- Dubbie's broken ankle. As he
dent. Sara Rebecca never wears leaves, Sara Rebecca notices that
them, nor does Dubbie or Avrum. the samovar is still there. How,
Noah doesn't wear them yet, but she asks Jacob, did he find mon-
he will need shoes soon, when he ey if he did not sell the samovar?
begins studies with the rabbi.
"I decided to sell the pair of
Jacob is the one who wears the shoes instead," he says.
shoes most often. He takes great
"How then, my son, will you
care of the shoes because, he tells walk to your bar mitzvah?"
his father, "A man is
Avrum asks.
not a man unless he
"I will walk in my
TI PS
walks in shoes."
bare feet," Jacob an-
One evening be- Jewish News
swers. "A man can
fore Shabbat, Sara
walk without shoes and
Pare nting
Rebecca calls Dubbie
still be a man."
Sect ion
to go to the store for
Later that evening,
candles. Dubbie Finding books
Avrum makes an an-
wants the shoes. "I like these, that
nouncement. He gives
am nine years old," teach Jew-
three of his treasured
she says. "I am too ish values,
holy books to Jacob and
old to go into town are not diffi-
tells him to sell them.
without shoes any cult to lo-
The money will be used
longer."
to buy shoes for all of
cate. Many of
Jacob is indignant these children's
the children.
"Why does she need storeis are avail-
"I learned something
them? She is too able at syna-
today," Avrum tells
small to wear shoes gogue libraries,
Sara Rebecca later that
yet. Besides, she is a local bookstores
night. "And I learned it
girl."
from my wife, my sons,
and public li-
As Dubbie leaves, braries.
and from my little
Jacob tells his par-
daughter!"

Chtic".•ti. s

" 4 , 4

Fore

word by Chaim 1;;:;0k

FEW FINAL books that
make great reading: * A
ome for Yosel was written
by Mayer Bendet and published
by the New York-based Ameri-
can Friends of Tikvah Layeled,
the Foundation for Cerebral Pal-
sy Children in Israel. It tells the
story of a homeless man, Yosel,
whom children mock and taunt
"Crazy Yosel" they call him.
One day a boy named David
throws a snowball that hits Yosel
in the eye. The children take him
to a doctor and pay for his bill, but
David's concern continues as his
parents tell him, "Kol Yisrael
areivim zeh lazeh" - all Jews are
responsible for one another.
So David follows Yosel only to
discover he has no home. Then
David sees that Yosel's food is
leftover scraps from a diner.
David invites Yosel to his
house, where the family gives
him a hot meal. Later, Yosel -
who had been orphaned as a child
- takes a bath, gets a haircut and
puts on new clothes. He finds a
job in a bagel store.
Yosel becomes a leading mem-
ber of the synagogue, where he is
known for his eagerness to help
anyone. "I am so grateful for all
that you did for me that I want
to repay chesed with chesed, kind-
ness with kindness," Yosel says.
A Candle for Grandpa,
(Union of American Hebrew Con-
gregations Press) co-written by
Ira Kaufman Chapel funeral di-
rector David Techner and Judith
Hirt-Manheimer, is an excellent
resource for teaching children
about death.
As the book begins, a boy is
lighting a yahrtzeit candle in
memory of his Grandpa Morris.
This triggers a memory of the
grandfather's death and life, and
the different ways family mem-
bers mourned his passing. The
protagonist visits the funeral

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