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Love And Death
Three children's books explore serious issues.
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
AppleTree Editor
rikas Story by Ruth Vander Zee, with
illustrations by Roberto Innocenti.
Published by Creative Editions
(Mankato, MN.), copyright 2003.
Hardback. 26 pages. $15.95.
While traveling in Germany in 1995, author Ruth
Vander Zee had a chance encounter. She was stand-
ing outside a store that had been devastated by a
recent tornado, and an elderly woman introduced
herself.
Her name was Erika, and she had a story to tell.
Vander Zee was so intrigued by Erika's tale that she
turned it into a book. It's a brief book, but a memo-
rable one.
Erika was just a baby when the Nazis occupied her
village. When her parents were forced aboard a train
headed for a death camp, Erika went with them —
but only part of the way. Somewhere along the jour-
ney, her mother made an incredible decision: she
threw her baby from the train.
Unlike so many stories from the Holocaust, this
one has a happy ending. Erika landed safely on the
grass, was found and was raised by parents who were
good to her. Erika grew up, married and had children
of her own. She dreams of visiting Israel one day.
Much of this text is Erika's wondering: "How
many days were we on that train? How many hours
did my parents stand crushed together?
"I imagine my mother holding me close to protect
me from the stench, the cries, the fear inside that
packed car. By now, she undoubtedly knew she was
not headed to a place of safety
"I wonder where she stood. Was she in the middle
of the car? Was my father next to her? Did he tell her
to be brave? Did they talk about what do to?"
This sparse language runs throughout, and it works
beautifully. Instead of becoming a sappy, sentimental
tale as it might have, it is appropriately haunting in
its bare bones of words.
Equally memorable is the art. Roberto Innocenti's
illustrations are breathtaking; you would be hard-
pressed to find an artist today whose pictures of the
Holocaust are more compelling.
A star theme runs throughout — the Magen
David, a sky filled with stars and a little girl who is
bright like a star.
This is a thoroughly lovely book.
Let's Talk About God by Dorothy Kripke, with illus-
trations by Christine Tripp. Published by Alef Design
Group (Los Angeles), copyright 2003. Hardback. 32
pages. $9.95.
don't have to read this book.
Let's Talk About God originally was published in
1953 and, according to the Alef Design Group, it
has become a "classic resource" used everywhere by
parents and educators. If so, it's no wonder the
Jewish people have so many problems.
Maybe in 1953 stuff like this worked, but kids
today are not going to go for a text that reads, "God
is everywhere all the time. People and things can
be in only one place at one time. If you are in
the house, you are not in your back yard. If you
are in your back yard, you are not in the house.
But God is different. God is everywhere all the
time. God is outdoors and at the same time
God is in every room in your house."
(And yes, it's all in that politically correct style
that means God has no gender. So by the time
you're finished with this book — if you actual-
ly make it through — you're mighty sick and
tired of reading "God.")
Even worse are the illustrations. These Jook
like something you might see from the Cutesy
Pie Card Co. There's so much sugar on every
page you're likely to get a cavity just looking
at the stuff.
Dorothy K. Kripke
illuAvated by Cht-itilie Tfipp
Where Do People Go When They Die? by
Mindy Avra Portnoy, with illustrations by
Shelly 0. Haas. Published by Kar-Ben
(Minneapolis), copyright 2004. Hardback.
24 pages. $15.95.
Mindy Portnoy, a rabbi and graduate of Hebrew
Union College JewishInstitute of Religion, has
written on a subject parents often struggle with:
how to talk about death with children. The result
is a beautiful book that will comfort both chil-
dren and parents.
Throughout the story, children ask their family
members, "Where do people go when they die?"
Each adult offers a different answer, from the
practical ("They are buried in the ground") to
the more spiritual ("They go to heaven, a place
of peace.") Some tell how the dead become part
of the past and yet stay with us in our hearts.
Then a little girl asks her friend, "Where do
people go when they die?" and he responds,
"They go to God. Who is everywhere, in heaven
and on earth, in our minds and in our hearts, in
the past and in the future."
What graceful writing — and on such a diffi-
cult subject.
The illustrations are charming, thoughtful and
inviting. This book also includes an excellent
afterword with advice on how to speak about
death with children and suggestions all parents
will find useful. ❑
Mindy Avra Por ri. oy aotrations by Shelf ty a Ham
.
Let's talk about God? Okay, but only if it means we
3/26
2004
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