Jewish Festivals

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6--Buddhist Festivals are introduced and quotes from two children provide additional information. The writing style is very dry, though the authors attempt to make the book child-friendly by including stories from the Jataka Tales. So much material is included that the presentation is confusing, especially for readers with no background in this religion. In Jewish Festivals, a boy in Jerusalem and a girl in Chicago explain how their families honor the holidays. Celebrate: A Book of Jewish Holidays (Platt & Munk, 1992) by Judith Gross and Malka Drucker's The Family Treasury of Jewish Holidays (Little, Brown, 1994) cover similar material. Each book has a time line of the religion's important dates along with a secular calendar for comparison. Interspersed with the texts are full-color photographs and artwork, as well as poetry or prose sections printed over photos of a symbolic cloth--a technique that makes for difficult reading.--Elaine Lesh Morgan, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR