In this new series, Two Kings, the kings rep­re­sent a young boy’s Yet­zer HaTov and Yet­zer HaRa, his good incli­na­tion and his bad incli­na­tion, based on a para­ble from the book of Eccle­si­astes. As the boy, David, strug­gles with choic­es, the two kings bat­tle with him and with each oth­er, to influ­ence his behav­ior. In the end, when David choos­es to do the right thing, he finds that he is proud of him­self and feels old­er and wis­er. The sit­u­a­tions David faces are appro­pri­ate to today’s young chil­dren, but they feel forced and preachy. In the first book, David strug­gles with want­i­ng to go out­side to play with his friends, when he should be inside watch­ing his baby sis­ter. In the sec­ond book, David’s old­er sis­ter needs to use the com­put­er for a class project, but it is David’s turn to play games on it, and he doesn’t want to give up his fun time. Bright­ly col­ored, sim­plis­tic, car­toon-like illus­tra­tions show the smil­ing Good King and the frown­ing Bad King whis­per­ing in David’s ear and bat­tling each oth­er for con­trol of his actions. For ages 4 – 7.

Sec­ond Title in Review

 



Two Kings: It’s My Turn
Rab­bi Fishel Jacobs
Cam­pus Liv­ing & Learn­ing Shuls, Inc. 2008. 31 pp. $12.95
ISBN: 978 – 0967348148