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Book Reviews: The Apple Tree’s Discovery and How Dalia Put a Big Yellow Comforter Inside a Tiny Blue Box

December 30, 2012 by Patrick Beaulier

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In each of us is a star, sometimes it just takes a little while to find it. That’s the lesson the little apple tree learns from G-d in The Apple Tree’s Discovery by Peninnah Schram and Rachayl Davis and illustrated by Wendy Lee.

The little apple tree wants more than anything else to have stars on its branches like those that appear to be hanging on the branches of the big oak trees. The apple tree asks G-d in winter, spring, summer and fall for stars upon its branches because it’s the only way it believes it will feel special.

G-d replies “Be patient, little apple tree.” As a year goes by the apple tree grows apples. And yet the apple tree still isn’t satisfied without the stars on its branches it doesn’t feel truly special. G-d causes a strong wind to blow and causes several apples to fall to the ground and split open. What the little apple tree discovers is what was inside of it all along. The Apple Tree’s Discovery is a beautiful story to share and pass on.

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“Tsadee Daled Kof Hay” Do you know what that spells? Well, Dalia in the book How Dalia Put a Big Yellow Comforter Inside a Tiny Blue Box teaches her younger brother Yossi what this word means. It means Tzedakah. Dalia tells Yossi, “And it means I’m happy when you’re happy.”
This beautiful picture book written by Linda Heller and illustrated by Stacey Dressen McQueen is a unique and powerful book. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it’s one of the only children’s books written about this important mitzvah. It’s powerful because it teaches children and adults alike how giving can change the lives of others and oneself in the process.

After Dalia learns about tzedakah boxes at school, she goes home and makes one herself. She tells her brother Yossi who is curious about the box that a “big yellow comforter” is in the box. As Dalia goes through the week she does good deeds and always remembers to put a little away in her tzedakah box. Dalia keeps adding new things such as a butterfly bush and banana cream pie to her tzedakah box.

Although adding money to the tzedahak box is a great mitzvah, sharing and doing kindness to others is equally as great. Read this book to find out what Yossi, Dalia and her classmates did to warm someone’s heart.

Reviews by Tamara Levine.

Filed Under: Jewish Kids, Jewish Media Reviews Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, How Dalia Put a Big Yellow Comforter Inside a Tiny Blue Box, jewish book review, jewish books, jewish children book, jewish childrens book, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, The Apple Tree’s Discovery

Nathan Blows Out the Hanukkah Candles – Jewish Children’s Book Review

November 25, 2012 by Patrick Beaulier

Have you ever met anyone with autism? Think not? Well chances are you have because one in eighty eight children is affected by this “bio-neurological developmental disability” according to the National Autism Association.

Nathan Blows Out the Hanukkah Candles by Tami Lehman-Wilzig with Nicole Katzman and illustrated by Jeremy Tugeau is a story about Nathan, an autistic boy, and his younger brother Jacob. Jacob worries that his older brother (Nathan) might embarrass him during Hanukkah because he never knows what Nathan will do next.

On the first night of Hanukkah Jacob’s new friend Steven comes over. After the candles are light and blessings said Nathan does the unimaginable, he blows out the Hanukkah candles. Jacob is in fact very embarrassed and days later Steven makes fun of Nathan. Although Jacob seems not to really understand the way Nathan acts, he stands up for his brother, which may be another Hanukkah miracle in this enduring story that combines what it might feel like to be a younger brother of an autistic sibling over the holiday of Hanukkah.

Longtime PunkTorah community member Tamara Levine works in a children’s library and is an amateur artist. She can be found at www.oneshul.org where she attends live, online classes.

Filed Under: Jewish Kids, Jewish Media Reviews Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, jewish book, jewish childrens book, Nathan Blows Out the Hanukkah Candles, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier

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