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Question of the Week:
Can you name the former conductor of the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra who also was the son-in-law
of author Mark Twain?

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A new children's book by Elie Wiesel,
and why you won't want to meet up with God in this garden.

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Reviews by Elizabeth Applebaum,
AppleTree Editor

King Solomon and is Magic Ring by
Elie Wiesel, with illustrations oy Mark
Podwal. (Greenwillow Press, 1999;
$16.)

The charm of this book lies in its gentle,
yet colorful text, written much like one
would actually hear a story. It begins,
"Come, children. Come and listen. I
want to share with you strange yet mar-
velous tales of a very great king whom
the world admired. Only the demons
were jealous of him ...
The book tells of the life of King
Solomon, focusing on many familiar sto-
ries and legends (such as how the king
decided the identify of the real mother
when two women both claimed a
child), as well as some less well-known
tales, too. But even when they're famil-
iar, the stories are intriguing (there's a
reason they've been around for so
long).
With only 51 pages, this is not meant
to be the definitive biography of King
Solomon. But it is the kind of book you'll
want to read again and again, which is
more than can be said for most chil-
dren's texts these days.

Hello, Hello, Are-You There, God? by
Molly Cone, with illustrations by Ros-

aline Charney <aye. (UAHC Press,
1999; $12.)

Being a reviewer and getting this gem
of a book is like being a kid and
securing the prize from a box of cere-
al. Yes, live had to endure a great
ceal to get to this point, but here is a
book that makes it worth the effort.
Hello, Hello is beautifully writ-
ten and illustrated. There are
no huge, multicolored
splotches that try to pass as
pictures, found in so many
books today, which invite
the reader to "make your
own interpretation."
Instead, Hello, Hello con-
tains carefully drawn pic-
tures that are both artistically
pleasing and full of emotion.
Each story in Part I answers a
child's question: "Why Can't I See
God?" or "Does God Know Me?" Sub-
sequent sections focus on belonging to
the Jewish people and learning.
Remarkably, Ms. Cone manages to
do what few authors today can: convey
a profound, heartfelt idea without being
trite or oh-so-politically correct.

MOLLY CONE

WHO KNOWS TEN?

:4 Children's Tales of
the Ten Commandments

liiustruted by Robin liri.:kman

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P. 0 I) W A L

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The God Around Us: A Child's Garden
of Prayer by Mira Pollak Brichto, with
illustrations by Selina Alko. (UAHC
Press, 1999; not priced yet)

9/3
1 999

Detroit Jewish News

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