Children's Books discussion

I hope that we can grow this thread into a wonderful list of books about Purim. Please post reviews of your favorite Purim books below. Thank you!

Please see also this thread that includes books about Purim:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Goldie's Purim
This one is very sweet and inspiring. I'm hoping to get some others soon but I have a feeling they'll be checked out.

Talia and the Haman-Tushies
This story is mainly a vehicle to connect the generations and pass down the story of Queen Esther. It fills in some of the gaps in my knowledge which was good. I loved cooking with my grandmother and having her pass down her stories but I didn't quite get that with this story.

Talia's grandmother asks her to come over and make hamantaschen with her. Talia hears "haman tushies" and refuses to eat one. Grandmother offers a variety of fillings: poppy seed, jam, chocolate kisses, peanut butter. Um yes please all of the above minus the traditional poppy seed! Grandmother relates the story of Queen Esther as they bake. The "haman tushies" do look good but Talia doesn't want to eat something that sounds so gross. She finally asks why they're called "haman tushies". That's the only place the evil Haman is really named and the grandmother doesn't explain how the cookies are in the shape of his hat.

(I think my dad brought me home one from work!)

Purim Play

This was much better than I was expecting. A family prepares for the Purim play. The toddler little sister is an automatic noisemaker, older brother is Mordecai and the main character is Esther. The evil Haman is played by... a special guest- their elderly widowed neighbor the kids don't like. The mom tells the kids they're behaving Haman-ish "hateful, mean and nasty." The kids object to a woman playing a man's part and the mother asks why not? Friends come over and the kids pair up, all except the narrator. Papa says crazy and wonderful things can happen at Purim but she doesn't quite believe him until Mrs. Teplitzky comes over in full costume! She turns out to be quite the surprise.

This story was great. Much better than I expected. It's more about the message of kindness and tolerance than the play. It also elaborates more on the story of Esther, filling in what Talia's story left out. It also introduces the concept Jewish theater in a fun way.

Backmatter includes The Story of Purim and How Purim is Celebrated. Both written for the child audience but not talking down to them.

The illustrations aren't really my cup of tea. They're not as exaggerated as Quentin Blake but remind me of his.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Goldie's Purim
This one is very sweet and inspiring. I'm hoping to get some others soon but I have a feeling they'll be checked out."

Aww, that looks sweet. Our library doesn't have it, unfortunately. I still got several books from the library, more than I was expecting given that we do not have a large Jewish population here, so that made me happy. I will be posting reviews over the next few days but here is the list:

Purim Chicken
A Queen in Jerusalem
Talia and the Haman-Tushies
Is It Purim Yet?

QNPoohBear wrote: "Talia and the Haman-Tushies
This story is mainly a vehicle to connect the generations and pass down the story of Queen Esther. It fil..."

This was my favorite of the ones we read.

Norooz, the Persian New Year is next week (15th and 16th). I know we read some books on that earlier but I'll see if I can find more.

My dad brought home some "Haman-Tushies" a patient made for him. One has a chocolate filling but the rest are lemon or chocolate cookies with lime filling. I can't stand lemon or lime so I may have to go buy strawberry filling and try to doctor them.

Anyway, got some great new books on Purim to review!

A Persian Princess about Purim in an Iranian Jewish family. Did you know until 1979, Iran had a huge Jewish population?

The Story of Queen Esther
The most in-depth retelling I've read so far. The illustrations may be Persian inspired. There's no notes in the back.