The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

The Pebble: An Allegory of the Holocaust by Marius Marcinkevičius, illustrated by Inga Dagilė Thames & Hudson, 2023 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Rebecca Greer   Buy at Bookshop.org Eitan is a young boy living in a ghetto in Lithuania. Although they cannot leave the ghetto, everyone tries to make the best of what they have. People still gather to laugh, bake food, and hold events at a theater, including a violin performance by Eitan. While they try to go on with their lives, the threat of the Nazi soldiers in their town looms over them. Eitan’s father was taken “to work” and never returned. Illustrations chiefly use blacks, browns, and military green over white and gray backgrounds, producing a dreary and somber mood. The main exception is yellow, reflecting the yellow stars Jews were forced to wear, and which all the Jewish characters have on their chests. Light blues surround Eitan's best friend Rivka, with whom he can still be a kid, before they are ripped apart when he

Bring Back the Babka! by Marilyn Wolpin, illustrated by Madison Safer Barefoot Books, 2023 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Rebecca Greer Buy at Bookshop.org Sammy and Sol go on a mission to help their mother find her missing “just-baked babka” for Shabbat. As they search the neighborhood with their dog Mazel, they meet kindly neighbors who offer samples of their own homemade food. The boys get offered leftovers to take home and they invite everyone to their house for dinner. Told with repetition that makes it easy for kids to follow along and know what's coming next, the boys explain what they’re looking for and how it’s their favorite kind of babka, “cinnamon” with “golden-brown crust and sugar-sweet filling.” Simple artwork brings a rustic, homey feeling to the book, inviting readers in with scenes of cooking and walking around a neighborhood. At the end is a recipe for “Mama’s Missing Babka” with detailed step-by-step directions. Additionally, there is a pronunciation guide an