Chil­dren’s

Invis­i­ble Book

Bar­cha Goetz; Pat­ti Argoff, illus.
  • Review
By – March 14, 2012
As a boy and his moth­er run errands through town, he notes that many things can­not be seen, even though he knows they are there, includ­ing air, elec­tric­i­ty, grav­i­ty, and wind. Feel­ings can’t be seen, but they are real.” Thoughts, includ­ing the boy’s bub­bled mus­ings about piz­za, his gold­fish, and giv­ing char­i­ty, are on the list, as well as mag­net­ism, voic­es, sounds, and smells. The two most impor­tant invis­i­ble things, the neshama (soul) and Hashem (God) com­plete the list. A sim­ple rhyme scheme and col­or­ful but unso­phis­ti­cat­ed illus­tra­tions make this a pleas­ant book for very young read­ers who often ask philo­soph­i­cal ques­tions about things they can­not see. While there is a build up describ­ing God, there is no dis­cus­sion of the soul. The Hebrew words are nei­ther explained nor defined, and the illus­tra­tions depict only the Ortho­dox style of dress, which makes this a good choice for Ortho­dox read­ers. Pre-school – age 5.
Kathe Pinchuck, M.L.I.S., is the librar­i­an of Con­gre­ga­tion Beth Sholom in Tea­neck, New Jer­sey. She is cur­rent­ly the chair of the Syd­ney Tay­lor Book Award Com­mit­tee of the Asso­ci­a­tion of Jew­ish Libraries.

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