PICTURE BOOK - New Year at the Pier by April Halprin Wayland

Illustrated by Stephane Jorisch

2009, Dial Books for Young Readers

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.98 - 85 ratings

My rating:  4
Endpapers:  Lt. Blue

1^st line/s:  "Izzy loves this changing time of year.  Some days sunglasses, some days sweaters.  Apples, honey, the sound of the shofar, and his favorite part of Rosh Hashanah:  Tashlich!"

My comments: Tashlich is a ritual that is part of the High Holy days of Judaism, the Jewish New Year: Rosh Hashanah.  This story explains what it's all about ("casting away" things you're sorry for) and how it's celebrated.  I've been part of a number of Tashlich celebration.  When I taught at Tucson Hebrew Academy, we'd take the whole school to a local park that had a huge pond of water and we'd sing, chant in Hebrew (pray), and cast away our sins as we threw crackers into the water.  During this whole month prior to the High Holidays, the shofar would be blown every morning as we all gathered in the terrace between classrooms.  A shofar is an ancient instrument made from a ram's horn, and every shofar has its own sound.  A few of the students had their own, or brought in a parent's shofar and joined the rabbis in blowing.  I loved these days at THA!
          This story brought back so many wonderful memories! I like the way that the family really put some thought into what deeds they felt needed forgiving.  This is a wonderful story to explain Tashlich to Jews and non-Jews alike.

Goodreads:  Izzy’s favorite part of Rosh Hashanah is Tashlich, a joyous ceremony in which people apologize for the mistakes they made in the previous year and thus clean the slate as the new year begins. But there is one mistake on Izzy’s “I’m sorry” list that he’s finding especially hard to say out loud. Humor, touching moments between family and friends, and lots of information about the Jewish New Year are all combined in this lovely picture book for holiday sharing.

Winner of the Sydney Taylor Gold Medal for best Jewish picture book of the year!

Poetry Picture Book - Every Month is a New Year by Marilyn Singer

Illustrated by Susan L. Roth

2018 Lee & Low Books

HC $20.95

48 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.57 - 109 ratings

My rating:  4

Endpapers: Solid bright yellow 

Oddities:  The book is read like  calendar - spine along the top.  

My comments:  What a wonderful concept for a poetry book, poems that explain or commemorate New Year celebrations (of all sorts!) in New York City, Scotland, Russia, Iran, Thailand, Jordan, New Zealand, Chile, Ancient Egypt, India, Ethiopia, Israel, Ecuador, Spain, and China!Susan L. Roth's illustration, done in cut paper, are equisite.  A lovely anthology with great resources and information at the end.

Goodreads:  Around the world, people celebrate the start of the new year at midnight when December 31 becomes January 1. But not everyone celebrates on this date. In fact, during every month of the year, some group of people in some part of the world is celebrating the new year. Chinese New Year is celebrated in January or February. Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, is celebrated on March 21. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is celebrated in September or October. Diwali, celebrated in parts of India, falls in October or November. All these celebrations, and many others, have unique traditions and festivities that people observe. This collection of poems pay tribute to several of these fascinating festivities, some well-known and some lesser-known. Go on a whirlwind international tour of these diverse celebrations--enough to fill a twelve-month calendar, and more.

The Year Turns

We chose the date.

From the earth’s movement,

from the moon’s phases,

these clocks and calendars

we create.

Together

in parks and squares,

in temples and houses –

watching

the year

turn,

we

celebrate.

Casting Away Sins
Rosh Hashanah

This morning in the synagogue,
     we heard the shofar's loud, clear sound.
This evening in the house,
     we'll have apples dipped in honey,
          pomegranates with their ruby seeds.
But now, this sunny afternoon,
     we walk to the creek, our pockets full of bread.
"I'll tell you the truth.  I lost the money,"
     my big sister whispers.
"I'll tell you the truth.  I tore the dress,"
     I whisper back.
Then we toss the bread and our sins,
     and watch the flowing water carry them
          far, far away.

Tashlich at Turtle Rock - Susan Schnur & Anna Schnur-Fishman

Illustrated by Alex Steele-Morgan
Kar-Ben Publishing, 2010
$17.95
TPPL
32 pages
Rating: 5
Endpapers: White

On one of the school days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, my whole school goes by bus to Reid Park. Here, in the middle of the desert, is a huge green, treed park, complete with streams, pond, and even trickling waterfall. This is where we celebrate Tashlich.

I am new to Judaism, learning as I go in the Hebrew day school where I teach secular studies. I so enjoy listening to the blowing of the shofars every morning during the month of the high holidays, and I throroughly enjoy throwing away my sins. I'd never ever heard of Tashlich before, and knew next-to-nothing about even the most important Jewish holidays. So when I saw this book I couldn't wait to read it -- it means something to me now. And perhaps if a book like this had been available when I was a kid, I wouldn't be in the dark about so many aspects of Jewish culture.

Susan Schnur, a rabbi, writes this story of a family spending Rosh Hashanah afternoon hiking through the woods to Turtle Creek to shed their sins. Each family member - mother, father, brother, sister, has something special to be thankful for, a promise they want to make for the year to come, and a bad habit they was to rid themselves of. It's an interesting story for a young child. And it makes me realize what a wonderful tradition this family has created.

Wouldn't it be great if we could take one special custom or celebrations from many different cultures, the ones that might have special meaning to us, to make them our own? I plan to add this one to my hoard....well, my hoard of one.....I do celebrate the Day of the Dead. Two cultures, to great traditions.

Alex Steele-Morgan's painting are simple, colorful, and lovely. Actually, it might even be pastels. I can see the texture of the canvas through the colors.

For every family that celebrates diversity!