Chil­dren’s

Big Bad Wolf’s Yom Kippur

  • Review
By – October 23, 2023

Kids who love fairy tales fea­tur­ing the Big Bad Wolf will be inter­est­ed to see how this par­tic­u­lar wolf observes Yom Kip­pur. He attends syn­a­gogue hop­ing that hav­ing so many of his friends in one place will make for a giant, tasty meal. When he arrives, the warmth and friend­li­ness of the rab­bi and can­tor are sur­pris­ing­ly appeal­ing. He lis­tens to the rab­bi’s inspi­ra­tional speech and begins to think about being kinder to oth­ers. When he meets Lit­tle Red Rid­ing Hood on her way to Grand­moth­er’s house, he has many oppor­tu­ni­ties to be help­ful. When he meets the Three Lit­tle Pigs, he assists them in build­ing a secure home. He strug­gles all day with his evil incli­na­tions, but the desire to be good out­weighs them. As Yom Kip­pur ends, the Big Bad Wolf finds that Lit­tle Red Rid­ing Hood and the Three Lit­tle Pigs have pre­pared a tasty, after-the-fast meal at his home — and he begins to under­stand the ben­e­fits of friend­ship. He focus­es on improv­ing his out­look and behav­ior in the future.

Amus­ing and col­or­ful illus­tra­tions depict the ani­mal char­ac­ters with a charm­ing range of facial expres­sions. An author’s note pro­vides more infor­ma­tion about Yom Kip­pur and the efforts one can make to be a bet­ter, kinder per­son. This cre­ative approach to teach­ing chil­dren about Yom Kip­pur and intro­spec­tion can lead to fur­ther con­ver­sa­tions about the peo­ple they hope to become as they grow up.

Michal Hoschan­der Malen is the edi­tor of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s young adult and children’s book reviews. A for­mer librar­i­an, she has lec­tured on top­ics relat­ing to lit­er­a­cy, run book clubs, and loves to read aloud to her grandchildren.

Discussion Questions