Five Alive
PreSchool-Young children describe the things that they see, hear, smell, taste, and touch during observances of Jewish holidays. Tasting apples dipped in honey and hearing the shofar blown are two ways to use the senses during Rosh Hashana. Smelling esrog and hearing the rustle of the lulav occur during the observance of Succos. Other holidays with their sights and sounds to see and hear are Simchas Torah, Chanukah, Purim, Pesach, and Shavuos. The rhymed text is quite ordinary and the children in the cartoon illustrations are unattractive. Clothing and settings portray observant families; the context is likely to be too unfamiliar and not comprehensible to any other readers, despite the glossary. Even Jewish day schools can skip this uninspired offering.Susan Pine, New York Public LibraryCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.