A Dozen Daisies for Raizy
PreSchool-Grade 2—Raizy is on her way home with a beautiful bouquet of daisies that she purchased in honor of Shavuot. She invites Naomi, a new classmate, to spend the holiday with her family and gives the girl two of her flowers. Raizy also invites elderly Mrs. Schwartz, who had planned to be alone, and gives her two daisies. Then the child offers to help a neighbor with her twin babies so that she can enjoy the worship service in the synagogue. When she finally arrives home, her bouquet is much smaller. However, her grandmother reminds her that because of all of the mitzvos (good deeds) she performed, "It's half as big as it started out, but it's twice as beautiful." An author's note points out that both Ashkenazic and Sephardic characters are featured in the story, each using a slightly different holiday greeting. A detailed endnote provides additional information about the holiday, and a glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish terms is appended. The color illustrations are stiff and flat. While picture books about this holiday are scarce, the obvious, didactic message and plodding plot will limit the book's appeal to those within the observant Jewish community. Barbara Diamond Goldin'sA Mountain of Blintzes(Harcourt, 2001) is a more appealing and accessible story for Shavuot.—Rachel Kamin, Des Plaines Public Library, ILCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.