Chil­dren’s

Bubbe’s Got the Beat

Judy Press; Mary Hall, illus.
  • Review
By – March 8, 2018

A young boy cel­e­brates Shab­bat with his extend­ed, mul­tira­cial fam­i­ly in this adorable rhyming board book. Bubbe’s in the kitchen, chicken’s in the pot. Know what I’m sayin’? Time for Shab­bat!” The lit­tle boy helps Bubbe bake the chal­lah, and there’s kugel with raisins on the table. Mom­my bless­es the can­dles, Zayde says the Kid­dush, and Dad­dy recites the Motzi.

While par­tic­i­pat­ing in the tra­di­tion­al Shab­bat prepa­ra­tions and rit­u­als, this Bubbe is styling with a chic hair­cut, hip glass­es, dan­g­ly ear­rings, and red sneak­ers. How refresh­ing to see a mod­ern Jew­ish grand­moth­er por­trayed in a children’s book! A fun read-aloud, this book will cer­tain­ly be enjoyed by grand­par­ents and their young grandchildren.

Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 1 to 4.

Rachel Kamin has been a syn­a­gogue librar­i­an and Jew­ish edu­ca­tor for over twen­ty-five years and has worked at North Sub­ur­ban Syn­a­gogue Beth El in High­land Park, IL since 2008, cur­rent­ly serv­ing as the Direc­tor of Life­long Learn­ing. A past chair of the Syd­ney Tay­lor Book Award Com­mit­tee and past edi­tor of Book Reviews for Chil­dren & Teens for the Asso­ci­a­tion of Jew­ish Libraries News & Reviews, her arti­cles and book reviews appear in numer­ous pub­li­ca­tions. She has been a mem­ber of the Amer­i­can Library Association’s Sophie Brody Book Award Com­mit­tee since 2021.

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