The Chelm sto­ries con­tin­ue to stand the test of time. Gen­er­a­tion after gen­er­a­tion, we con­tin­ue to chuck­le at the wild antics and twist­ed log­ic of Chelm’s noto­ri­ous wise men — and each new gen­er­a­tion draws both wis­dom and plea­sure from these clas­sic tales.

The Chelmites por­trayed in The Schlemiel Kids Save the Moon put a new twist on an old theme: the chil­dren are wis­er, savvi­er, and far more log­i­cal than their par­ents could ever hope to be. These Chelmites are por­trayed as a mul­ti­cul­tur­al and multi­gen­er­a­tional group, wear­ing twen­ty-first cen­tu­ry cloth­ing and bear­ing real­is­tic facial expressions.

While the adults are sure that the moon has fall­en out the sky, is now stuck in the lake, and is in need of imme­di­ate res­cue, the down-to-earth chil­dren just shake their heads at the foibles of their par­ents. They rec­og­nize it is once again up to them to improve the sit­u­a­tion. The adults float their usu­al sug­ges­tions and call on the rab­bi for his advice, but Sam and Sarah humor­ous­ly and gen­tly manip­u­late the adults into think­ing that they, the adults, have saved the day — even though the chil­dren know in their hearts where the seat of true wis­dom has resided all along.

A Yid­dish glos­sary is append­ed, along with a note about the endur­ing pow­er of the Chelm stories.