Shabbat Is

PreS-Gr 2–A picture book that attempts to show that the Sabbath can be celebrated in different ways by different people, even if they attend the same synagogue. A dark-haired girl walks to temple with her mother and father on a Friday night in preparation for the Jewish Sabbath. She appears to be the narrator of this first-person story, but by the third page turn, the illustrations show a completely different family, a poetic detail that may prove confusing for children. This family includes a blond-haired boy shopping for groceries with his mothers and sister. On the next page, a family with dark skin and dark hair gathers in the kitchen and plays cards in the living room. A transgender child who appears to be from this family appears a few pages later, celebrating their b’nei mitzvah ceremony and reading from the Torah scroll. The illustrations are appropriately childlike and well done, but they match the entangled story line, where the use of rhyme scheme is erratic and uneven.