

Yet it pales compared to the award-winning, artfully rendered duo by Sarah Gershman, The Bedtime Sh’ma (2007) and Modeh Ani (2010).Ī family book to learn with and share for those inclined to this religious lifestyle.Įmily Pearl, that not-so-helpful but very independent girl, is back in her second outing, this time “helping” at school.Įmily Pearl goes to school and can do lots of things-count to 14, write her name and hit a home run. The right side provides a bordered blank page for children to draw their own corresponding thank-you picture as suggested-“Where do you live? Draw a picture of your house on this page.” Created for an Orthodox audience, this preschool-oriented introduction to daily prayer and gratitude is carefully designed and stands out by presenting a girl for its protagonist. Each thank you is accompanied by a brightly hued watercolor illustration on the left side featuring an observant Jewish family in proper attire, complete with long skirts for girls and yarmulkes for boys. “Hakaras Hatov,” the Jewish daily ritual of thanking God for everyday life, is explicated in simplistic verse in this personalized drawing workbook.īeginning with the Modeh Ani, or morning prayer, a little girl, upon awakening in her bed, thanks Hashem (God) for ”making me, me!” As her day continues, she is grateful for her family, the mitzvos (good deeds) she is able to do, food she eats, her home and possessions, the natural world surrounding her, her health and, at night, once again for her warm bed. Occasional sound effects and comments in dialogue balloons furnish the text for her nightly ramble.Ī dreamy, slightly more visually sophisticated alternative to Peggy Rathmann’s Good Night, Gorilla (1994).

Dressed in a comfy gown and striped socks, Tippy strolls, climbs and drifts in smiling slumber through a succession of flat, sometimes-silhouetted scenes done in restful blues and grays. Interactions among the animals following her add small subplots and side actions: A frog pursues a bumblebee that’s always just out of tongue’s reach a little mole falls in love with a bear that does not reciprocate. Along the way, she unconsciously collects a train of creatures, from a bee to a bear, that all make a new mess for her mother to discover in the morning. When her annoyed mom wonders how her room came to be such a mess, Tippy can only shrug and speculate: “Maybe last night I walked out the door….” In a re-enactment that is also a new adventure, she passes over a dock, through a misty wood, down a deep hole, through a cactus patch and so back home.


A sleepwalking child picks up an animal entourage-every night-in this winsome, circular debut.
