Bring Back the Babka!

August 1, 2023

PreS-Gr 2-A freshly baked cinnamon babka goes missing and two brothers, Sammy and Sol, and their dog Mazel are on the hunt. The trio travels through their neighborhood looking for the lost loaf, hoping to find it before Shabbat begins and Rabbi Sally arrives for the meal. The boys and their dog stop by house after house asking their neighbors for any potential sightings. Rather than finding the babka, they get the opportunity to sample the various foods being prepared, highlighting the diversity of Jewish cooking. The diversity extends beyond the cooking to the people themselves. Some of the neighbors are conservatively dressed, reflecting a more orthodox religion, while others are tattooed; an array of skin tones is shown across the population. The mystery of the missing babka is solved by the story's end, and a community feast is shared. Back matter includes additional information about the dishes highlighted in the story as well as a recipe for babka. The illustrations are warm and friendly and have a timeless quality that embraces Jewish traditions as well as celebrates the future of a diverse Jewish community. VERDICT A food-filled mystery that celebrates the diversity of Jewish food and the Jewish community. Readers will be hungry by the story's end!-John Scott

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2023
Rabbi Sally is coming for Shabbat dinner, and Mama's freshly baked babka has disappeared. Young Sammy and Sol's ensuing search around the neighborhood quickly establishes a pattern: their neighbors haven't seen the babka, but each offers the brothers some of what they've been cooking, along with related advice -- cholent, stuffed grape leaves, and gefilte fish are all "a lot like life," it turns out. The "Stone Soup"-style Shabbat solution warmly celebrates food and community. (The cooks exhibit diversity in ethnicity, age, and dress, but all present as women; the author's dedication pays homage to the women in her family.) Illustrations in water-based paints, gouache, and pencil show a cheery neighborhood, especially its kitchens. Information on the dishes in the book, from all over the Jewish diaspora, is appended, along with author and illustrator notes and, of course, a babka recipe. Shoshana Flax

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)