Review: ABCs of Judaism
ABCs of Judaism
by Rachel Tichauer, illustrated by Isabel Foo
Grosset & Dunlap, 2025
Category: Board Books
Reviewer: Ann Koffsky
The ABC’s of Judaism is cheerful board book that uses the structure of an alphabet book to introduce the youngest readers to basic concepts in Judaism. A is for Afikoman, B is for Bar Mitzvah, C is for Challah, and so on. Each item also gets a brief, two sentence explanation. (I suspect many families will find these explanations useful to grown-up readers too.)
The choices of which concepts should illustrate each letter are sometimes lovely and obvious (I knew before turning the page that S would be for Shabbat! ). The surprises are also just lovely: Z is for Zachor, V is for V’ahavta, and Q is for questioning: because, “Judaism is more about the questioning than it is about the answers.”
The illustrations are authentic, bright and charming. They add additional Jewish content that is not overtly mentioned in the text as well, such as items on the seder plate, Moses at the sea, and Hebrew texts that enhance the concept of the page. They also beautifully show Jews of all shades.
The Jewish representation of this book is completely authentic, with Jewish ideas and symbols represented appropriately throughout. Note that it also sometimes chooses to illustrate progressive Judaism’s practices, (eg: shows a female Rabbi with Tallit and Kippah).
The choices of which concepts should illustrate each letter are sometimes lovely and obvious (I knew before turning the page that S would be for Shabbat! ). The surprises are also just lovely: Z is for Zachor, V is for V’ahavta, and Q is for questioning: because, “Judaism is more about the questioning than it is about the answers.”
The illustrations are authentic, bright and charming. They add additional Jewish content that is not overtly mentioned in the text as well, such as items on the seder plate, Moses at the sea, and Hebrew texts that enhance the concept of the page. They also beautifully show Jews of all shades.
The Jewish representation of this book is completely authentic, with Jewish ideas and symbols represented appropriately throughout. Note that it also sometimes chooses to illustrate progressive Judaism’s practices, (eg: shows a female Rabbi with Tallit and Kippah).
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Reviewer Ann Diament Koffsky is the award-winning author and illustrator of more than fifty picture books for children, including PING PONG SHABBAT (Little Bee Books) and THE PEDDLER AND THE PRESIDENT ( Apples and Honey Press.) Ann also creates free, Jewish coloring pages for kids, that you can print at www.annkoffsky.com.
I disagree with the reviewer’s assessment of the Jewish representation in this book as “authentic.” I know it’s a board book, which necessitates simplicity, but I have serious concerns about how the text and illustrations misrepresent the Jewish community and our core values. Several entries present interpretations of Jewish practice or prayer that do not align with the actual meaning or context of those terms. In the artwork, the people shown engaging in Jewish practice are uniformly white. “R is for Rabbi” does depict a woman of color at the pulpit, but on every other page with a rabbi in the illustrations — including the front and back images on the book cover — it’s a white man with a brown beard; it is also one of only three pages featuring people with dark skin in the entire book, and of only two in which those figures are centered.
ReplyDeleteIt is also clear that the creators of this book took great pains to distance Judaism from Israel and Zionism. Hebrew is defined as “the *ancient* language of the Jewish people;” Jerusalem is referred to as “a city in Israel” — not the capital; “the promised land” [sic] is uncapitalized in the story of Exodus; “Z is for Zachor” awkwardly concludes the book with a clumsy sidestep from the more obvious choice; and, perhaps most egregiously, the illustration for “I is for Israel” is of… the Baháʼí Gardens.