★ 07/28/2014
Designed to cook unattended for 12 hours over the Sabbath, when observant Jews cannot perform work, cholent is a fragrant stew. Goldie Simcha, a youngish woman living in a big-city apartment building, “doesn’t celebrate Shabbat exactly as my grandma did,” but she honors her memory (the book’s title is a colloquialism for “hurry up”) by inviting her neighbors to feast on cholent every Saturday. The dish (a recipe concludes the book) is such a mainstay of building life that when Goldie gets sick and can’t fix cholent, her neighbors bring dishes from their own homelands—all of which share ingredients with cholent (the Omars, for example, bring a curry made of potatoes). “I think it taste exactly like Shabbat,” declares a grateful Goldie. Rockliff’s (Me and Momma and Big John) lovely, unassuming story of tradition and multicultural community is smartly paired with Brooker’s (The Honeybee Man) oil and collages. At once homespun and stylish, the pictures speak to the possibilities for human connection in a modern, urban setting. Ages 3–7. Author’s agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Sept.)
10/01/2014
PreS-Gr 3—This charming story is a celebration of multicultural America and friendship. Every Friday afternoon, following her grandmother's weekly tradition, Goldie Simcha (simcha means celebration)—now a young woman living on her own—combines vegetables, dried beans, and barley in a large pot of broth that sits simmering on the stove through Friday night and Saturday until the delicious smell tells her and the four families who live on the floors beneath her that the cholent is ready to eat. Then all the neighbors join Goldie at her large table, each one suggesting which ingredient makes the weekly stew so delicious. But Goldie says, "'For me,the taste of cholent is … Shabbat.'" And all agree that it cannot be made in a hurry. Goldie's neighbors have interests as diverse as their ethnicities—novelist, tuba player, collector of china cups—and the foods they bring to Goldie's table on Shabbat when she feels too ill to cook—pizza, beans and rice, potato curry, and Korean barley tea—combine with their concern for their friend to make a wonderful meal even more special than usual. Brooker brings this sweet story to life with full-page, oil-painted, cartoon-style illustrations heavily detailed with clipped-out magazine photos: tableware; cleverly pieced patterned paper clothing; food and dishes. She has infused each character with distinct personality and presents them as a large, caring family, strengthened by their differences, enjoying the Sabbath together. A recipe for cholent is included.—Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Public Library, OH
2014-07-16
Neighbors join together to celebrate a holiday. Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, brings a wonderful aroma to an urban apartment house. All the neighbors stop their activities and happily sniff the air as one door opens and everyone enters to feast on cholent. And what makes this dish so delicious? An Italian neighbor says tomatoes. Barley, says the Korean neighbor. Potatoes, says the family from India. No, it is beans, says the Spanish family. Goldie, a contemporary hostess, explains that cholent is a dish that her grandmother served on Shabbat, and that is what makes it taste special. Then, one Saturday, there is no wafting aroma, because Goldie is sick. Things go awry until the neighbors troop up the stairs with Indian potato curry, Korean barley tea, Italian pizza, and Spanish beans and rice. Goldie is happy because she can share a Shabbat meal. A recipe for vegetarian cholent is appended, but it's too bad there is no note about the origins of the dish, a slow-cooked stew prepared before Shabbat when lighting a fire is not permitted. Also, "chik chak," Hebrew for "quickly," can be inferred but is not translated. Brooker's oil paint and collage art presents a richly textured assortment of folk and apartments. A warm, cozy and loving depiction of shared culinary traditions around an inviting table. (Picture book. 3-6)
Rockliff’s lovely, unassuming story of tradition and multicultural community is smartly paired with Brooker’s oil and collages. At once homespun and stylish, the pictures speak to the possibilities for human connection in a modern, urban setting.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Delightful. ... As warm and comforting as a bowl of cholent, this does a fine job of showing how the American mosaic can also be a satisfying whole. Brooker’s illustrations, which are reminiscent of Gabi Swiatkowska’s work, are full of wit and emotion that bring the story alive.
—Booklist (starred review)
This charming story is a celebration of multicultural America and friendship. ... Brooker brings this sweet story to life with full-page, oil-painted, cartoon-style illustrations heavily detailed with clipped-out magazine photos: tableware; cleverly pieced patterned paper clothing; food and dishes. She has infused each character with distinct personality and presents them as a large, caring family, strengthened by their differences, enjoying the Sabbath together.
—School Library Journal
Brooker's oil paint and collage art presents a richly textured assortment of folk and apartments. A warm, cozy and loving depiction of shared culinary traditions around an inviting table.
—Kirkus Reviews
A warm and cheerful tale of multicultural togetherness centered on the ever-popular subject of food. Brooker’s combination of oil paint and collage evinces its usual tactile dimensionality, with touches of patterning balancing the robust cheer of her characters’ faces and the geometry of the apartment building’s architecture provid- ing structure and a bit of theatricality.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Rockliff and Brooker evoke a cheerful urban setting through small details about the apartment dwellers and their routines... It’s the embodiment of community, warmth, memory, and tradition—in other words, the Jewish observance of Shabbat. Brooker’s oil and collage pictures incorporate many different patterns and real items (candles, potholders, fruits and veggies), adding texture to the comfortably cluttered and convivial scenes. A recipe is included.
—The Horn Book
Mara Rockliff packs a lot of learning into this picture book—from the traditions of eating cholent and Shabbat preparations to diverse last names and food selections from around the world to the concept of welcoming the neighbor. Kyrsten Brooker uses oil paint and collage in the joyful and clever illustrations; the ethnic menu items, for example, stand out in collage. ... Highly recommended for ages 3-7.
—Jewish Book Council
In an uplifting story, Chik Chak Shabbat offers a cholent recipe that keeps Goldie's sharing spirit alive.
—Jewish Advocate
Charming... Rockliff's appealing story is sweet, and Brookner's paint-and-collage illustrations carry it along beautifully.
—Star Tribune
