Review: More Than Enough

More Than Enough

by Richard Michelson, illustrated by Joe Cepeda

Peachtree Publishing (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2025

Category: Picture Books

Reviewer: Judy Ehrenstein

 

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Moses’s neighborhood is filled with a rainbow of brown faces, including his own, where poverty, unemployment, and homelessness are not unknown. Even Moses’s own family counts its pennies; getting brand new high tops for his birthday is a rare treat. Yet Mom says there is always enough to share with others who have even less, and months later, the man they helped is now working at the barber shop with a new lease on life. As the seasons pass, more help is extended through the neighborhood and more lives are changed. By story’s end, Moses passes on the lesson to his friend Noah: “it feels better to help than to need help. And little enough is more than enough to share.” Accessible and not preachy, this book will be of value to many, Jewish and not.

Cepeda’s illustrations employ deep, lively colors done in oil over acrylics to show a diverse city neighborhood through the changing seasons. Details include people sleeping on grates and benches, amid overflowing trash cans, and shopping carts full of belongings. Despite these serious details, there is a great deal of love and community depicted on every page, bringing the lessons of the book to the eyes as well as the ears and heart.

This book is quietly Jewish, with only a single “bubeleh” and “tateleh” and a sign proclaiming Shana Tova and a mention of apples and honey. And yet it is very deeply Jewish in its intense exploration of Maimonides's Golden Ladder of Giving and the importance of helping others, with or without recognition of the act. End notes include a brief bio of Maimonides and an explanation of tzedakah (the only time the word is used) which is not just an act of generosity but of justice, fairness, righteousness. Readers can see each rung of the Golden Ladder through the book, inviting repeat readings.

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Reviewer Judy Ehrenstein is a children's librarian in Maryland and the co-editor of children's and teen reviews for AJL News and Reviews.