Tzimmes for Tzipporah
by Megan Hoyt (Author) Christine Battuz (Illustrator)
This count down to the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah explores life and celebration on a family farm through the eyes of a young girl allowed to help with preparations for the first time.
It's just three days until the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. A young girl and her family are getting ready for the traditional holiday feast.
Family and friends gather to help harvest and clean the fall root vegetables, mix them with honey and dried fruits, and cook them into the traditional sweet vegetable stew, called tzimmes, 'for a sweet new year.' It's hard but satisfying work that leaves everyone with aching arms, sore feet and happy hearts. When Rosh Hashanah morning arrives, they join together at the synagogue to hear the shofar, the horn that is blown to announce that the holiday has arrived. Back at home on their farm with a diverse group of friends and neighbors, they celebrate both a new year and the joy of being together.
This food and farm-focused story is sweetened by illustrations full of cheerful colors and textured patterns. Award-winning author Megan Hoyt helps readers explore both culturally specific Rosh Hashanah practices and life on a small family farm, while providing a universal message of community and tradition.
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School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2--It's almost time for Rosh Hashanah, and Tzipporah is finally old enough to help! She excitedly puts on her coat and boots and races outside to help her family dig up the root vegetables they planted on their farm. Hoyt (Bartali's Bicycle) thoroughly, but concisely, tells the story of family and friends celebrating Rosh Hashanah, including their time at the synagogue and the blowing of the shofar. The illustrations' colorful, bucolic scenery irrefutably support the text and the happiness Tzipporah feels about celebrating the autumn holiday and being old enough to help make the dish of tzimmes. Her playful brown puppy is in almost all the illustrations, as are many chickens, cats, cows, and other farm animals. The illustrations also show the diversity of Tzipporah's community. The text is a bit confusing at the beginning of the story; when Tzipporah races outside to help her family dig up vegetables, the text says she "races down the rows," but the illustrations show her racing down the stairs. VERDICT A wonderful addition to any collection of multicultural children's literature.--Jennifer Sontag
Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Review quotes
This is a love-ly book to read aloud at the start of a fresh new year. —The Jewish Book Council
JUV039090 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | New Experience
JUV033020 - Juvenile Fiction | Religious | Jewish
JUV050000 - Juvenile Fiction | Cooking & Food
JUV017090 - Juvenile Fiction | Holidays & Celebrations | Other, Religious
Farms
Fasts and feasts
Jewish families
Holidays
Jewish girls
Rosh ha-Shanah
Harvesting
