A spin-off of Fairy Tale Feasts... this time featuring 18 Jewish folktales with related kid-friendly recipes... Fun Jewish sayings are sprinkled in, and Shefrin’s textured, collage illustrations add flavor and spice. Meticulous source notes for the retellings and detailed marginalia for each recipe are included... While these stories and recipes can be used independent of each other in classroom and library settings, families will want to pore over them, savor them, and enjoy them to the fullest.”
“These 18 stories reflect a wide representation of Jewish beliefs and oral history, springing not just from Eastern European Yiddish-speaking lands, but also from the Middle East... Yolen carefully documents her research and her rationale for retelling each chosen tale... collage art and paint creates bold, almost abstract figures”kid friendly... valuable as an entree to Jewish literature”the recipes are a nice bonus.”
“Jane Yolen’s gift is to inspire children with stories that are intimately connected with the foods they eat. Jewish Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook is a perfect example. It marries carefully chosen stories with commentary (for parents) and recipes to share together... Jewish Fairy Tale Feasts is a lovely book for the Jewish holidays — or any time of year. It will encourage children to read, to cook, and to enjoy their meals.”
“‘A fun book for family sharing’ is the description on the back cover... and, looking through the book, it really is! The book, which features Jewish folktales paired with a corresponding recipe and beautiful illustrations, is intended for children ages 5-11, but it crosses generations in a way that is unusual — both the stories and the recipes will appeal to adults and kids equally.”
“Renowned storyteller Jane Yolen and daughter Heidi E.Y. Stemple are making magic again. They’ve written another cookbook for kids, and it’s delightful. The authors have designed the book to appeal to all ages for, as they note, recipes and folk tales have always been adaptable. Recipes get tweaked by cooks to suit their taste buds, skills and budgets. So do stories, whether the listener is a toddler or teenager.”
“With plentiful illustrations by Sima Elizabeth Shefrin, the book is colorful and appealing. Yolen retells folk tales — stories that beg to be read aloud — using food as a bridge between the everyday world and the holier and more fanciful one of the legends. The recipes are written in a style that would encourage children and adults to cook together.
With plentiful illustrations by Sima Elizabeth Shefrin, the book is colorful and appealing. Yolen retells folk tales — stories that beg to be read aloud — using food as a bridge between the everyday world and the holier and more fanciful one of the legends. The recipes are written in a style that would encourage children and adults to cook together.
‘A fun book for family sharing’ is the description on the back cover… and, looking through the book, it really is! The book, which features Jewish folktales paired with a corresponding recipe and beautiful illustrations, is intended for children ages 5-11, but it crosses generations in a way that is unusual — both the stories and the recipes will appeal to adults and kids equally.
Renowned storyteller Jane Yolen and daughter Heidi E.Y. Stemple are making magic again. They’ve written another cookbook for kids, and it’s delightful. The authors have designed the book to appeal to all ages for, as they note, recipes and folk tales have always been adaptable. Recipes get tweaked by cooks to suit their taste buds, skills and budgets. So do stories, whether the listener is a toddler or teenager.”
Jane Yolen’s gift is to inspire children with stories that are intimately connected with the foods they eat. Jewish Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook is a perfect example. It marries carefully chosen stories with commentary (for parents) and recipes to share together… Jewish Fairy Tale Feasts is a lovely book for the Jewish holidays — or any time of year. It will encourage children to read, to cook, and to enjoy their meals.”
Gr 4 Up—A spin-off of Fairy Tale Feasts (Crocodile, 2006), this time featuring 18 Jewish folktales with related kid-friendly recipes. Some of the stories are well known and accessible to a wide audience, such as "The Latke Miracle" and "The Three Skillful Brothers." However, many of them ("The Demon Who Lived in a Tree," "The Pastry That Was Eternally Dirty," and others) are rather sophisticated and complex, dealing with death and the world to come, giving the collection an uneven tone. The book is divided into four sections: brunch, soup, main courses, and desserts. Most of the recipes are traditional Eastern European Jewish foods-potato pancakes, challah, blintzes, chicken soup, matzo balls, bagels, noodle kugel, tzimmes, rugalach, and hamantaschen-but a few surprises have been added, like shakshuka, a popular Israeli breakfast dish, pomegranate couscous, and matzo lasagna. Fun Jewish sayings are sprinkled in, and Shefrin's textured, collage illustrations add flavor and spice. Meticulous source notes for the retellings and detailed marginalia for each recipe are included. As the authors explain in their introduction, stories and recipes both change and evolve, "suiting the needs of the maker and the consumer," and they give readers permission to experiment because "recipes and stories are made more beautiful, more filling, more memorable by what you put in them." While these stories and recipes can be used independent of each other in classroom and library settings, families will want to pore over them, savor them, and enjoy them to the fullest.—Rachel Kamin, North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, Highland Park, IL
Veteran storyteller Yolen and her daughter Stemple combine Jewish folklore with culinary tradition in this selection of tales and correlating recipes sure to enhance a Jewish family's celebrations. These 18 stories reflect a wide representation of Jewish beliefs and oral history, springing not just from Eastern European Yiddish-speaking lands, but also from the Middle East. "The Pomegranate Seed" (misspelled in the table of contents) is originally from Morocco, and "Rifka and the Magic Pitcher," a "Red Riding Hood"–type story comes from Iraq. Yolen carefully documents her research and her rationale for retelling each chosen tale. A combination of fabric collage art and paint creates bold, almost abstract figures for both story characters and recipe ingredients. The oversized, glossy-paged volume is divided into four sections: Brunch, Soup, Main Courses and Dessert. Two Israeli recipes, shakshuka (an egg-and-tomato breakfast dish) and pomegranate couscous, give a little Middle Eastern zing to the more familiar offerings, such as challah, noodle kugel and matzo balls. Several of the holidays are also represented: Purim with hamantaschen, Shavuot with blintzes and Hanukkah with latkes. Recipes are kid friendly. More valuable as an entrée to Jewish literature than as a cookbook, but the recipes are a nice bonus. (Folklore/cookbook. 7-10)
