The Matzo Ball Boy
Kindergarten-Grade 4—This original tale based on the "The Gingerbread Man" misses its mark. An oldbubbeis lonely because none of her children come for Passover anymore, so she makes a matzo ball boy who, of course, runs off, tempting a variety of characters from a shtetl-style village. He outsmarts the fox and swims across the river, but gets eaten in the end. The use of traditional Jewish expressions and guilt clearly speaks to an adult audience, with children likely to miss the humor altogether. The Yiddish terms are translated within the text, which is intrusive considering that there is a glossary in the back; plus, the real audience for this story is likely to know their meanings already. The inclusion of some information about the holiday and a pronunciation guide is nice, although unlikely to make the piece accessible to readers not versed in Judaism. The stylized, folksy cartoon art, with its colorful backgrounds and bell-shaped women chasing the rotund, matzo ball boy, is comical and fun. The entertaining illustrations are likely to appeal to children, but the overly long text and adult humor make the audience unclear. Naomi Howland'sThe Matzah Man(Houghton, 2002) does the same sort of thing more effectively, with more child appeal.–Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT