Review: A Sukkah for Bella

A Sukkah for Bella

by Jodie Sadowsky, photos by Frannie Wilson

Lovevery, 2025

Category: Picture Books

Reviewer: Julie Ditton

 

Buy at Amazon.com

 
This cute nonfiction early reader introduces children to the holiday of Sukkot. Bella explains to the reader that her family is Jewish and she is excited to help the family build a sukkah, and we follow along as they build it together. Bella describes the holiday, the sukkah, and a few of the customs to the readers. Her explanations are appropriate for the intended reader who would be in early elementary school. A few of the sentences are written in a simpler, bigger font allowing emergent readers who are listening to the book to read a few sentences for themselves. A few words are written in large colorful font which will appeal to these youngsters. However, there are also a few fine print insets which give parents further explanations and definitions of the few Hebrew words. Kids will identify with Bella because she wants to help, but she is too small for most of the tasks. But then she finds something that she can do! She teaches her family to make colorful paper chains to decorate the sukkah. Photographs of Bella and her happy family show them in action.

This easy reader would be a welcome addition to any Sukkot book collection. Jewish kids would be happy to have a holiday nonfiction book that describes one of their holidays. However, this book is part of an easy reader program and is specifically written as a “window” that shows the reader about the Jewish holiday. In the author’s note, she explains that there are many ways to be Jewish and just as many ways to build a sukkah. She expresses her hope that the book helps readers learn about and maybe even celebrate this holiday. 

 

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Reviewer Julie Ditton, The Storybook Lady, is an active reviewer on social media and on her new book blog storybooklady.net. She reviews a variety of genre, however, as her name would imply, her favorite genre is Children’s Literature. About half of the children’s books that she reviews have Jewish themes. She even has a dedicated shelf on Goodreads, Bubbe’s Bookshelf specifically for Jewish Children’s Books and is an active contributor to the Jewish Kidlit Mavens Facebook group.