Chil­dren’s

Ten Good Rules: A Count­ing Book

Susan Ram­ick Topek, Tod Cohen
  • Review
By – April 2, 2012
All Jew­ish chil­dren should be taught the Ten Com­mand­ments, but their com­plex and mature word­ing makes them rather dif­fi­cult to intro­duce to a younger audi­ence. This book makes teach­ing the Ten Com­mand­ments to young chil­dren effort­less and effec­tive. The sim­ple, care­ful­ly word­ed lan­guage and the bright and engag­ing col­or pho­tographs cap­ture the essence and con­cept of each rule.” In addi­tion, cer­tain com­mand­ments have been mod­i­fied using pos­i­tive lan­guage in lieu of neg­a­tive lan­guage in order to make this book age-appro­pri­ate, and allow for eas­i­er com­pre­hen­sion. The excit­ing, full-col­or pic­tures in the typ­i­cal Tod Cohen fash­ion draw the audi­ence in. With the intro­duc­tion of a new rule, the chil­dren in the pho­tographs are shown demon­strat­ing it. For exam­ple, for rule num­ber 4, cel­e­brate Shab­bat” the chil­dren are shown enthu­si­as­ti­cal­ly light­ing wood­en Shab­bat can­dles, mak­ing Kid­dush and HaMotzi. The choice of pho­tos is appeal­ing, and the chil­dren who are depict­ed rep­re­sent a mul­ti­cul­tur­al group that could be seen at any pre-school in the nation. Over­all, Ten Good Rules is an excit­ing, sim­ple, and effec­tive way to intro­duce the Ten Com­mand­ments to young, pre-school age chil­dren, as it is per­fect for use both at home and in the class­room. Ages 3 – 6.
Kendra Fuchs is a Jew­ish edu­ca­tor. She lives in Los Ange­les with her hus­band and her two young children.

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