My Israel and Me

by Alice Blumenthal McGinty, Rotem Teplow (Illustrator)

Overview

Join us on a journey to meet the people of Israel. Throughout history, many have felt a deep connection with this tiny desert land. Everyone leaves a unique mark on Israel and Israel leaves its mark on them. The result is a country with an incredible diversity of cultures and traditions, where Israel means something special to each person. This connection leads everyone, in their own way, to think of Israel as “my Israel.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781735087535
Publisher:	Kalaniot Books
Publication date:	09/21/2021
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	11.41(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

This charming book takes us on a journey to the fascinating country of Israel. Told in verse, from a child’s perspective we Alice Blumenthal McGinty delights in igniting imaginations. As the award-winning author of over 40 children’s books, she makes fiction and non-fiction accessible, engaging, and fun. Books include Kirkus’ Best of 2020, A Story for Small Bear, The Sea Knows, a nonfiction ode to the sea, 2019 Jr. Library Guild Selection, The Girl Who Named Pluto: The Story of Venetia Burney, 2019 Northern Lights Book Award Winner (food category) Pancakes to Parathas: Breakfast Around the World, the 2015 Sydney Taylor Notable book, Rabbi Benjamin’s Buttons, and the 2014 South Asia Book Award honor, Gandhi: A March To the Sea. Eight upcoming titles include The Water Lady (April, 2021) and Bathe The Cat (June, 2021). A frequent presenter at schools and conferences, Alice was awarded the 2017 Prairie State Award for Excellence in Writing for Children.

Editorial Reviews

This is the perfect book for introducing the diversity that exists in Israel. In gentle rhymes and careful detailed illustrations, the young picture book reader is introduced to Israel’s bustling city life, kibbutz life, Bedouin life, Arab/Muslim life, Christian life, and Jewish life, all coexisting. Even the cats in Israel play a part in this book, along with the history of how there came to be so many cats. Theres’s the varied geography of this nation (the size of New Jersey), the Negev’s geography, and the story of Israel’s farms and fields, and animals. A double page spread for the tourist enhances the reader’s inclusion in Israel’s story. Some books have back matter for the parent or teacher; this book offers additional information in a small paragraph accompanying each double page spread, which greatly enhances each section in an immediate way. While not a Jewish book per se, Jewish life is one of the topics covered in this picture book. It’s not a religious book; there’s no mention of the Kotel, but as each ethnicity living in Israel is mentioned, there’s a Jewish family life scene that’s very informative. Inclusive books about Israel are much-needed within the children's literature.

Association of Jewish Libraries / Sydney Taylor Shmooze - Sandy Wasserman

For reasons perhaps better left to speculation elsewhere, Israel-infused kidlit doesn’t appear on as many book lists as it should, in both mainstream and Jewish contexts. But given the current emphasis on diversity and inclusion within both broader cultural discussions and the Jewish-book world itself, stories set in Israel—many of which feature Jews of color, Sephardic and/or Mizrahi Jews, disabled Jews, and more—are particularly worth acknowledgment and amplification. Moreover, the latest data reveal that the plurality of the world’s Jews (6.93 of 15.2 million people) now lives in Israel. Lists that neglect Israel-infused books thus suffer from a dual flaw: They present incomplete pictures of contemporary Jewish life and identity while also foregoing valuable opportunities to enrich important, ongoing conversations. Here [is a] recent picture book worthy of attention in this regard, whether during Jewish Book Month (the 5782/2021 version of which concluded just as the Hanukkah holiday began), or throughout the year. Juxtaposing an especially child-friendly verse narrative with sidebar blocks of nonfiction text, and featuring vivid illustrations, this book presents an array of people who call Israel their own, including city-dwellers, kibbutzniks, Bedouin and other Arab citizens, and immigrants and refugees “from places around the world, including Russia, America, France, and many countries in Africa.” The book also addresses the religious diversity of residents and tourists who follow observances and or visit sites from Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

Jewish Journal - Erika Dreifus

In My Israel and Me, author Alice Blumenthal McGinty uses verse to show how various people who live in Israel feel about their lives there, from a Jerusalem street cat to Ethiopian immigrants, kibbutzniks, and Bedouin and Arab Israeli families. With each page are facts about each group depicted. Rotem Teplow’s wonderful illustrations give graphic representation to each group, all of whom are shown together on the cover and last pages to show the Israeli mosaic.

The Detroit Jewish News - Keri Guten Cohen

In perfectly rhyming, rhythmic quartets and with remarkable color illustrations that evoke spectacular Israeli landscapes, Alice Blumen-thal McGinty and Rotem Teplow express pride in Israel’s many accomplishments, joy in its beautiful scenery, admiration of its diverse population, and respectful recognition of its unique place in both reality and the imagination. The rhyming quartets, told from a child’s perspective, alternate with pithy prose paragraphs that describe Israel and guide young readers through its varied and fascinating features. Bustling modern cities, ancient historic sites, and rural country locales are all appealingly described along with colorful marketplaces, innovative high-tech businesses, and spectacular landscapes. Ethiopian Jews and other Jews of color, nomadic Bedouins, tradition-al Jewish families of many kinds, and proud Arab-Israeli Muslims appear in these pages, drawing a variegated and realistic picture of Israel’s population, each group maintaining its own thriving culture but all joining together as proud Israeli citizens. Israel is portrayed as a special place where biblical stories come alive, preservation of nature is given careful attention, and daily life is pro-ductive and meaningful. In a world in which much inconsistent, incorrect, and badly skewed information about Israel is easy to find, this lyrical-yet-realistic portrayal is a much-needed addition to the picture book genre. The poems, descriptions, and illustrations present an Israel recognizable to those who live there and know it well; a country of complexity that is both ultra-modern and ancient, innov-ative and spiritual, energetic and peaceful.

Jewish Book Council - Michal Hoschander Malen