The Rosh Hashanah Recipe

by Laura Gehl, Olga Ivanov (Illustrator), Aleksey Ivanov (Illustrator)

Overview

Ruby creates apple recipes for the Jewish New Year.

Ruby and her family go apple picking before Rosh Hashanah but they end up with more apples than they need for the holiday. So Ruby and her cousins come up with new apple recipes for the Jewish New Year. Will the apple dishes they make become family favorites?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807571712
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	09/15/2022
Series:	Ruby Celebrates!
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD580L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Laura Gehl is the author of more than thirty picture books, board books, and early readers, including Delivery Bear and Always Looking Up: Nancy Grace Roman, Astronomer. She lives with her husband, four children, and large stash of dark chocolate in Chevy Chase, MD. Visit Laura online at LauraGehl.com.

Olga and Aleksey Ivanov are a team of children’s book illustrators who have collaborated on more than one hundred books using an unusual approach wherein both artists conceive, sketch, design, and paint. They work and live with two dogs in their studio in Evergreen, Colorado.

Olga and Aleksey Ivanov are a team of children’s book illustrators who have collaborated on more than one hundred books using an unusual approach wherein both artists conceive, sketch, design, and paint. They work and live with two dogs in their studio in Evergreen, Colorado.

Editorial Reviews

09/05/2022

Buoyed by gentle humor, this first slice-of-life installment of the Ruby Celebrates! series opens with the eponymous protagonist and her cousins picking far too many apples to solely dip in honey or to bake a single apple cake. In the Ivanovs’ straightforward, animation-style art, the kids, portrayed with varied skin tones, present a solution: they enlist two adults as sous chefs, create their own recipes, present themselves as “Chef Appleman,” “Chef Applestein,” and “Chef Appleberg”—hosts of “Cooking with the Cousins”—and whip up apple pancakes, pizza, and lasagna. After Rosh Hashanah services (“They pray, sing, and listen to the shofar,” Gehl writes) and a festive meal, the prospect of more apple-eating is too much: they gift a pretty basketful to a grateful neighbor and let family dog Boaz finish off the rest. Recipes and a holiday overview conclude. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

06/01/2022

PreS-Gr 2—Ruby and her cousins go apple picking just before the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. While they will need apples to dip in honey to symbolize a sweet New Year and to make the traditional apple cake, they realize that they have picked far too many. So the cousins decide to host a cooking show to try new recipes such as apple lasagna, apple pizza, and apple pancakes. When they still have apples left over, they make up a basket to give to their neighbor. Cheerful cartoon illustrations depict a three-generation contemporary Jewish family who also observes the holiday by attending synagogue. "A Note About Rosh Hashanah" is appended, but oddly begins by explaining the custom of eating a sheep's head or fish head, which is not common in the United States. Ruby's Savory Apple Pizza Recipe and Sweet Apple Pizza Recipe are also included. VERDICT Jewish and non-Jewish readers will relate to Ruby's family outing to the apple orchard. However, with no real conflict or suspense, there's not much of a story here. An optional purchase.—Rachel Kamin

School Library Journal