Review: Golda and Ezra's Dinner Dilemma

Golda and Ezra's Dinner Dilemma (Golda & Ezra series)

by Hollie Michaels, illustrated by Claudio Cerri

Picture Window Books (imprint of Capstone Publishing), 2025

Category: Early Chapter Book

Reviewer: Katie Dawson

 

Buy at Bookshop.org

In this installment in the early chapter book series, Golda and Ezra take on the mitzvah of helping their neighbor distribute an enormous basket of vegetables to the local senior center. At first they aren’t sure what to make with the vegetables, but while kneading his challah dough, Ezra is inspired to make pizza. On Sunday afternoon they bring dough, sauce, and toppings to the senior center for the big pizza making event, where they work together to figure out how to keep the pizzas organized for all of the participants and enjoy their delicious mitzvah together.

The book opens with a one page description of Ezra and Golda’s diverse blended family, so that we learn who they are, their backgrounds, and what they love to do. This introductory page is a great way to quickly connect with the characters, giving this short story more context. The sparkling descriptions of the characters are remarkably effective at helping the reader to bond to the family and get oriented in the world that Michaels has created.

This story is structured in a way that will feel familiar to readers who enjoy early chapter books, with low stakes rising action and a cheerful resolution. The illustrations are bright and expressive, and add a layer of joy to the story, keeping readers focused.

Jewish elements of the story are incorporated naturally and unobtrusively. The use of Jewish vocabulary words, such as “mitzvah,” or “oy vey” flow within the story. Many of these words also appear in other Golda and Ezra titles. Like the other books in the series, backmatter contains a small glossary defining these words as well as information about the history of Jewish language, context for the story, questions for discussion, and an activity for readers to engage in.

Readers will enjoy visiting this world and continuing to get to know the family and friends it contains. This particular installment is a satisfying addition to the series as it does not focus on a specific holiday, but on the day to day comings and goings of the family and an activity they do together within their community. It would be a lovely addition, for example, to a pizza themed children’s storytime at a public library.

 

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN REVIEWING BOOKS FOR THE SYDNEY TAYLOR SHMOOZE? CLICK HERE

 

Reviewer Katie Dawson is a MLIS student at PennWest University with a background in education. Her two Jewish children keep her very busy, and her favorite part of the day is "graham crackers and stories." She blogs about children's literature at https://pilesofpicturebooks.com/.