The Blue Glass Heart

by Yona Zeldis McDonough, Chiara Fedele (Illustrator)

Overview

When Sarah accidentally breaks Bubbe’s blue glass bowl, she sets a heart-shaped piece of blue glass on an adventure, touching the lives of children around the world, until it finally—remarkably—finds its way back home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728445526
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Pages:	24
Product dimensions:	10.88(w) x 9.13(h) x 0.31(d)
Age Range:	7 - 8 Years

About the Author

Yona Zeldis McDonough was born in Hadera, Israel, and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Educated at Vassar College and Columbia University, she is the author of eight novels for adults. Her short fiction, essays, and articles have appeared in many national and literary publications. She is the fiction editor of Lilith Magazine, a feminist, Jewish magazine.

Chiara Fedele was born in Milan, where she attended the Brera Academy. Her illustrations have appeared in many picture books, including Yaffa and Fatima: Shalom, Salaam and The Rabbi and the Reverend: Joachim Prinz, Martin Luther King Jr., and Their Fight Against Silence. Chiara also teaches drawing and painting techniques. She lives in Pavia, Italy.

Editorial Reviews

2023-02-25
A shard of glass connects a family through time and distance.

Sarah, a Jewish girl who lives in early 20th-century New York City, accidentally breaks her Bubbe’s glass bowl. She is lovingly forgiven and saves a heart-shaped piece of glass, which she takes with her to Coney Island the next day. Playing in the sand, Sarah loses the piece in the ocean; it travels the waves and currents to Florida and then Venezuela before washing ashore in Tel Aviv, Israel. Yael, playing on the beach, finds it and carries it with her to New York, her new home. It is an alien place to her except for Ruth, a girl who befriends her on the playground. Yael gifts Ruth the glass. When Ruth shows it to her mother, she hears a family story from generations ago about a broken bowl. Is this Sarah’s heart-shaped piece? McDonough has crafted a warm story of family love, intergenerational ties, and friendship. At the crux of it is that beautifully compelling found object. Colorful illustrations gently convey beach scenes and ocean expanses. Those looking for a tale of memories from generations past will find it here. Main characters are light-skinned.

A quiet and loving story that lingers. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews