by Sidura Ludwig (Author) Sophia Vincent Guy (Illustrator)
A quiet, joyful story celebrating a Jewish mother's tradition of making challah with her child merges a lyrical text with stunning illustrations--and includes the author's favorite recipe.
Melt into the nooks and crannies of this book's unhurried pages, offering a place to rest and a pregnant pause for counting your many blessings--current and imminent!
Here, a child and a mother measure, mix, knead, shape, and tuck their dough under a towel like a sleeping baby. Then, as they do every week, they wait while their dough rises, soon to be baked and gratefully shared at a Shabbat gathering with loved ones. Author Sidura Ludwig's poetic narration captures the experience of a Jewish family as they make challah--a lesson in patience, slowing down, faith, and family.
Illustrator Sophia Vincent Guy brings light and warmth to the scene, from a sun-bleached, gossamer curtain to the rising steam from the bread, all rendered in delicate, decorative patterns. Whatever their background, readers will be happy to find the author's go-to recipe for challah at the end, along with a glossary and an author's note describing the personal meaning of her family's weekly ritual.
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"I rise with Ima in the early morning," begins the child narrator of this intentionally paced work, and as the light streams into their kitchen, the two begin making dough for two loaves of challah, "steam from both our cups/ rising." Mixed-media illustrations from Vincent Guy, which incorporate patterns, printing textures, and spatters, show how challah-making can't be rushed. "Ima says everything grows in its own time," notes the child as the pale-skinned duo wait for the dough to rise, and Ima's hand on her own rounded stomach suggests that she knows whereof she speaks. An instructional inset that appears on a towel covering the dough shows how, after rising, it is turned into braids. And once it's in the oven, "rising with the heat," Abba helps Ima and the child prep the table for a festive outdoor Shabbat meal with guests. Drawing connections between kitchen chemistry, timeless traditions, and the pleasures of everyday life, Ludwig, making a picture book debut, establishes a subtly enthralling, adagio-like rhythm aptly punctuated with the word rising. Background characters are portrayed with a variety of skin tones. An author's note, challah recipe, and Hebrew glossary conclude. Ages 4-8. (May)
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