Beni's Tiny Tales: Around the Year in Jewish Holidays

by Jane Breskin Zalben

Overview

Join Beni and his family as they celebrate a year in Jewish Holidays, including all their favorite craft activities, recipes, songs, and stories for each occasion. The perfect gift book that gives all year long.

Chronicling a full year of Jewish festivities—from Rosh Hashanah through Shavuot, with every momentous occasion in between—this one-of-a-kind treasury includes homespun family stories, origin notes, craft activities, songs, and recipes for each holiday.  With ideas on how to make masks for Purim, recipes to bake fresh honey-dipped challah to mark the new year, and so much more, this interactive holiday collection begs to be revisited again and again.
 
Beautifully crafted and with the right balance of factual details interspersed with fictional stories, this Jewish treasury is a welcome introduction to each holiday in the calendar year, and it is all told through the lens of Beni’s bear family. For parents who grew up reading Beni’s Family Treasury and Beni’s Family Cookbook, the family tradition lives on in this much anticipated compendium for contemporary readers.

"Mouthwatering recipes, activities, and songs round out the chapters.... Young readers and their grown-ups will find much to savor here." —Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316331777
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	08/08/2023
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	257,746
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jane Breskin Zalben is the acclaimed creator of the beloved Beni book series, including Beni’s Family Treasury and Beni’s Family Cookbook for the Jewish Holidays, which was an ALA Notable Children's Book and a CBC Not Just for Children Anymore pick. She is the recipient of four Sydney Taylor Book Awards, most recently for A Moon for Moe and Mo. Jane has written and illustrated more than fifty books—picture books through young-adult fiction—over a four-decade career. Also a painter of contemporary abstract art, she splits her time between Long Island City and Port Washington, New York. She welcomes you to visit her website: www.janebreskinzalben.com.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Beni's Tiny Tales:

"This handsomely designed treasury revisits Zalben’s loveable anthropomorphized bear family who made their picture-book debut 35 years ago…. Reminiscent of looking through a scrapbook, Zalben’s warmhearted watercolor-and-pencil illustrations have a cozy, nostalgic feel…. From Rosh Hashanah to Shavuot, new (and old) generations of readers will enjoy celebrating the holidays with Beni and his extended family."
 —Booklist

"Mouthwatering recipes, activities, and songs round out the chapters.... Young readers and their grown-ups will find much to savor here."—Kirkus

"What a charming way to learn about the Jewish holidays! I can't imagine more appealing guides than Beni and his family of bears. This book is filled with joy and wonderful recipes."—Ruth Reichl, New York Times bestselling author of My Kitchen Year and Tender at the Bone, and the recipient of six James Beard Awards

"I'm so happy that Beni the Jewish Bear is back, and that he is once again sharing his family recipes with us through his human scribe, Jane Breskin Zalben. Jane's illustrations are as sublime as ever, tenderly welcoming us into this magical, delicious place of comfort, tradition, and joy."—Mollie Katzen, New York Times bestselling author of The Moosewood Cookbook and Pretend Soup

"Rarely have I seen something this simultaneously cozy and contemporary all at once. Jewish holidays each get their time to shine in the sun in this all-purpose, yearlong collection. Warning: Don’t read if you’re feeling hungry. An abundance of recipes and crafts await!"—Betsy Bird, Director of Collections at Evanston Library and Fuse #8 blog creator at School Library Journal

"With warmth and wit, Jane Zalben has breathed new life into her iconic cast of characters. Beni's Tiny Tales offers big ideas to parents and children alike on ways to make Jewish holidays meaningful and delicious. With classic recipes, creative craft projects—even song sheets—deftly woven into the adventures of Beni and his sweet family, there's something to savor on every page of this lovingly illustrated work."
 —Adeena Sussman, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of Cravings, as well as Sababa and the upcoming Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals From My Table To Yours

"A cozy, family-oriented Jewish sensibility permeates every page as these sweet bears wend their way through the calendar year celebrating with family, learning from one another, and subtly teaching gentle lessons to the children who read about them."

—Jewish Book Council

"If you love Beni the Jewish bear and his extended family as much as my children and I did, and have often wondered whatever happened to them, wonder no more. Here, in a charming and lovely—and love-filled—gift book of holidays and Holy Days, is just what you have been waiting for. It’s a pleasure and a treasure."—Jane Yolen, author of the Caldecott Medal winner Owl Moon and recent winner of the Sydney Taylor Body-of-Work award

"As a kid growing up, I loved reading books by my cousin Jane—they inspired me to think about family and friends using the kindest parts of my heart and mind, and helped me understand the deep connection food has in our family history and culture. Always thoughtful and ever-inclusive, Jane’s latest book is sure to entertain and inspire new hearts and minds for years to come."—Lee Zalben, founder and CEO, Peanut Butter & Co

From the Publisher

2023-05-24
Join Beni the bear and his family as they celebrate a full year of Jewish holidays.

On the first night of Hanukkah, Beni and his observant Jewish family share food, remembrances, and presents for all the young ones. Beni gives each cub a calendar highlighting the Jewish holidays. His plan is to introduce each holiday in turn and make up a “tiny tale” for each one, beginning with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, which usually occurs in September. Beni starts the discussion of every holiday with information about its meaning and origins and the manner in which it is observed. These facts are followed by the promised tiny tale describing an amusing holiday memory and emphasizing loving, multigenerational family dynamics involving everyone from great-grandparents down to babies; often, a gentle moral is included. Mouthwatering recipes, activities, and songs round out the chapters. The clear, simple, and accessible narration is peppered with Yiddish and Hebrew expressions that add zest to the proceedings. Softly hued, detailed artwork subtly depicts the bears’ emotions and provides touches of humor as they take part in rituals and celebrations and interact at home, in the community, and in the synagogue. An illustrated holiday calendar, a family tree, and a portrait naming all the members of Beni’s family add depth to the work. Young readers and their grown-ups will find much to savor here.

Family, food, and festivities—what more could readers want? (glossary, index) (Activity book/religion. 5-10)

Kirkus Reviews