Ziggy's Big Idea (Kar-Ben Favorites)
Ziggy is an imaginative shtetl boy—always with an idea. Maybe it’s using a cube instead of a ball, which will roll into the street. Or maybe it’s giving stilts to his tiny rabbi, so he can be taller than the bar mitzvah boys. The ideas usually don’t work too well. But then Ziggy puts his mind on the baker’s complaint: his buns are always too soft in the middle. So Ziggy puts his thinking cap on, and the next day, he has a solution. Ziggy shows the baker how to form the ball into a snake, boil it in water, and then put it in the oven. The ring’s shape made sure there was no soft center: “It’s a bracelet; a bagel.” (The informative author’s note explains how bagels may have gotten their names.) The lively artwork—including many full-page images—has elements of collage and an almost three-dimensional look that make the pictures, with a digitized smoothness, pop. A clever tale with amusing elements that transcend any particular place or time. Preschool-Grade 2. --Ilene Cooper--This text refers to theLibrary Bindingedition.