The Shabbat Puppy

Kimmelman (The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah) focuses on the tension underlying a sweet tradition shared by a boy and his grandfather. Noah and Grampa take a walk every Shabbat morning. It’s Grampa’s way of finding “Shabbat peace.” Noah wants to bring his dog, but Grampa always says no. Grampa likes to appreciate the small moments of beauty he finds in nature and share them with Noah. “That bouncing, barking puppy?... He’s still too noisy,” Grampa always says. A puppy might destroy the beauties they always find. With deep colors and details sketched in lines and hatchmarks, Zollars’s (Cakes and Miracles: A Purim Tale) illustrations of Noah and his grandfather in the house, in the park, on the street, through the seasons of a year depict their close bond and the joy they find in a ripe raspberry or a butterfly. Will Noah finally get his wish to take his puppy, Mazel, along one day? Perhaps Mazel will lead them to unexpected Shabbat peace. A PJ Library selection. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)