EARLY FALL SALE The OPen Boo < at 'THE STUDIO ALL r DANCE WEAR .. . SHOES .. . LEOTARDS .. TIGHTS . . UNITARDS .. . 0% OFF] WITH THIS AD L Through October 2nd OPEN SUNDAYS 12-5 855-0650 In Orchard Mall • Orchard Lake Rd. at Maple Our My Window on the WorldTM and Once Upon A Time' programs help preschoolers get a leg up. We provide them with activities in math, reading, science and music. And since young children learn best through hands-on-experience, its a good idea to involve their feet, too. Farmington Hills Farmington West Bloomfield 6615 Middlebelt Road 38325 West 14 Mile Road 25005 Middlebelt Road (248) 477-4040 (248) 855-1963 (248) 661-5850 KinderCare Crosswinds Mall • Adjacent to Caribou Coffee 4301 Orchard Lake Road • West Bloomfield • 248-538-0085 PARCEL ,,,,,mwroggameem PLUS 41.2=1M.15 WiffWeer . Discount Shipping & Packing THE PACKING & SHIPPING EXPERTS I BACK TO COLLEGE SPECIAL. • S S 00 D F F Any Shipping Order ($25 minimum) • INCLUDES FREE PICK UP L CD or IRA Maturing? 14.1 % Return on Capital Monthly Income Provided Call Now For Information, No Obligation GLC Associates Financial Services 9/3 1999 76 Detroit Jewish News Phone: 1-888-908-0300 How often have you come across a painting, a film or a book that you feel like you should like, that you actually wont to like, but it just makes your skin crawl? This is a well-intentioned book with an important goal: teaching children to see the beauty of the world and how to thank God by making a blessing. Included are brachot (in Hebrew and English) to thank God for the sea, for the diver- sity in the world, for bread and for seeing a rainbow. So what went wrong? The first problem is the fact that this book is so gosh-darn ecumeni- cal. Diversity is good. Teaching your children to respect and treat others with kindness is good. But it's so prevalent here (on every page!) that you can't help but get an awful gagging feeling, such as experi- enced when a physician uses a tongue depressor to examine the back of your throat. This can make reading difficult. Secondly, the illustrations — while nice and colorful — are simply weird. I'd describe the style as 1960s mod poster meets someone who just could- n't make it as an illustrator for a sappy greeting-card company. "Read it with someone you love," gushes a reviewer, whose remarks are prominently placed on the back of The God Around Us. My advice? Read this book to that tele- marketer who just won't leave you alone or to that neighbor who never returned your shovel. Molly's Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen, with illustrations by Daniel Mark Du:Y. (Beech Tree Press, 1998; S 3.99.) Originally published in 1983, then made into an Academy Award-win- ning short film, this book has been re-published with new, and really lovely, illustrations. It's the story of Molly, the daughter of immigrants, who is constantly taunted and teased by her class- mates. She is the only Jewish girl at her school, and she longs to return to New York City. One day, Molly's teacher, Miss Stickley, asks the children to pre- pare something special for Thanks- iving. She wants them to make dolls of the Pilgrims. Molly's mother volunteers to help her daughter. In the morning, Molly wakes to find a clothespin doll that looks nothing like the Pilgrims in Molly's book — and everything like Molly's mother. "What is a Pilgrim, shaynkeit?" Mama asked. "A Pilgrim is some- one who came here from the other side to find freedom. That's me, Molly. I'm a Pilgrim." Molly's classmates mock the doll, but not Miss Stickley, who gives it a prominent place on her desk. Molly's Pilgrim is a wonderfully illustrated, delightful story that chil- dren of all ages will love. Sofer: The Story of a Torah Scroll by Eric Ray. (Torah Aura Produc- tions, 1999; $6.95.) Author Eric Ray tells the story of how he came to be a sofer [Torah scribe] and what his duties today entail. This book will serve as a nice introduction to anyone unfamil- iar with how a scribe works, and it offers interesting details about Hebrew letters and the parchment on which a Torah is written. The photographs are sometimes good, sometimes less so. There's one, inexplicably, so poorly cropped that half the author's head is missing from the page; and we could have done without the picture, however modest, of the man in the mikva. Who Knows Ten? Children's Tales of the Ten Commandments by Molly Cone, with illustrations by Robin Brick- man. (UAHC Press, 1998; $12.) Who knows one reason to buy this book?