The Angel's Mistake: Stories of Chelm

The foolishness of the people of Chelm, a favorite subject of Yiddish folktales, offers choice material for Prose and Podwal, previously paired for Dybbuk. Prose's loose story line first establishes the villagers' silliness, then relates how, after burning down the town in an attempt to provide some light, the people scatter. She adopts a droll, matter-of-fact tone to describe the people's ridiculous logic: for example, after a passerby suggests that it would be easier to roll a rock down a mountain than to carry it, ""they slowly, slowly carried the rock all the way back up to the mountaintop, and this time they let it roll."" Her understated approach finds its counterpoint in Podwal's warm and sunny folk sensibility. His lighthearted, appealingly askew art envisions the houses of Chelm as a kaleidoscope of muted blue and green, mustard yellow, pink and mauve shapes; other pictures pair hot pink and apple green, or turquoise with orange and yellow. A tumble of images includes figures in traditional Eastern European Jewish clothing, motifs from religious art and familiar objects like menorahs, but the general framework is ethnic, not religious, and accessible to a wide readership. An intriguing contrast to Margot Zemach's and Steven Sanfield's Eastern European Jewish folktale adaptations. Ages 5-up. (Apr.)