Leslie Kimmelman, illus. by Talitha Shipman. Random, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-385-38336-3
As she did with Paris in Everybody Bonjours!, Kimmelman takes readers on an upbeat tour of Israel, propelled by crisp, clever rhymes: “Everybody says shalom/ in a shuk... or catacomb./ Two by two, in the zoo./ Viewing tiny tiles of blue.” (A pink...
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Leslie Kimmelman, Author, Paul Meisel, Illustrator , illus. by Paul Meisel. Holiday House $16.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-8234-1952-4
Such a clever idea! Make the Little Red Hen into a balabusta
(that's Yiddish for a singularly sensational homemaker/matriarch/keeper of the spiritual flame), set the story during the Jewish holiday that turns every home into a sacred space,...
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Leslie Kimmelman, Author, Petra Mathers, Illustrator HarperCollins Publishers $12.95 (30p) ISBN 978-0-06-023143-9
Kimmelman's first book is a tribute to a day in the life of a family and their fruit and vegetable stand (named after Frannie, the family dog). Everyone helps out with the regular customers and the browsers who stop by, from young lovers buying...
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Leslie Kimmelman, illus. by Jorge Monlongo. Albert Whitman, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8075-8061-5
Multiethnic trick-or-treaters dressed as pirates conquer the streets of their suburban neighborhood, led by chief pirate Charlotte Blue-Tongue, who wields a blue lollipop and a glowing jack-o’-lantern. “Pirates sticking out their tongues,/ shrieking
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Leslie Kimmelman, Author, Nancy Cote, Illustrator , illus. by Nancy Cote. Albert Whitman $15.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8075-7131-6
Kimmelman's (Hanukkah Lights, Hanukkah Nights) round-the-table expressions of gratitude in verse bog down with forced rhymes and cloying characterizations. As a large family gathers, young Jesse sets the tone: "They're coming for turkey/
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Leslie Kimmelman, illus. by Stefano Tambellini. Albert Whitman, $13.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-8075-7213-9
Charlie is Sam’s tomboy new neighbor (“I’m warning you: Never call me Charlene,” she tells him) who quickly
becomes Sam’s best buddy. Sam Too is Charlie’s younger sister and is, as the parentheses in the title indicate, mostly peripheral to the...
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Leslie Kimmelman, illus. by David C. Gardner. Sleeping Bear, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-58536-380-3
Kimmelman portrays the life of Irving Berlin, born Israel Isidore Baline to a Jewish family in Russia in 1888—“a bad time and place to be Jewish,” the author writes. The story begins as the family arrives at New York’s Ellis Island. Gardner’s...
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Leslie Kimmelman, illus. by Timothy Banks. Carolrhoda, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5124-3129-2
A menagerie of monsters with tentacles, multiple eyes, and pointy teeth are preparing for Valentine’s Day festivities. And then there’s Frankenstein’s monster. Though he is confident in his tuxedo and “comfortable in his own green skin,” the...
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Leslie Kimmelman, Author, John Himmelman, Illustrator HarperCollins Publishers $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-06-027501-3
The creators of Hanukkah Lights, Hanukkah Nights, hit a high note with this picture book about the traditions surrounding the Jewish High Holy Days, or Days of Awe. The house is abuzz with excitement as the relatives gather to celebrate Rosh...
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Leslie Kimmelman, Author, John Himmelman, Illustrator HarperCollins Publishers $12.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-06-024673-0
Both Jewish and Gentile children can enjoy themselves as Kimmelman presents the basic elements of Passover from the point of view of a young Jewish child surrounded by an extended, loving family (including at least six orange tabby cats!). Her...
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Leslie Kimmelman, Author, Lisa McCue, Illustrator , illus. by Lisa McCue. HarperCollins $14.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-06-001200-7
With a tip of the hat to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Kimmelman (Hanukkah Lights, Hanukkah Nights
) and McCue (The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy
) enumerate from one to 20 ("plus one more") all the things a grown-up alligator loves about its...
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Leslie Kimmelman, Author, Adam Gustavson, Illustrator , illus. by Adam Gustavson. Peachtree $16.95 (0p) ISBN 978-1-56145-492-1
Kimmelman's (Everybody Bonjours!
) picture-book biography of Teddy Roosevelt's daughter is as much about her father's accomplishments as it is about Alice's unruly behavior. The conversational narrative emphasizes that soldier,...
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Leslie Kimmelman, illus. by Victor Juhasz. Sleeping Bear, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-58536-830-3
Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady, humanitarian, hot dog lover? Yes, indeed, says Kimmelman in a story built around a 1939 picnic the Roosevelts hosted for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Juhasz’s caricatures provide plenty of humor: during a stuffy
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Leslie Kimmelman, Author, Sarah McMenemy, Illustrator , illus. by Sarah McMenemy. Knopf $16.99 (0p) ISBN 978-0-375-84443-0
Kids may well demand to be taken to the nearest passport office after finishing this light-as-a-soufflé salute to the City of Lights. On vacation with her parents (clearly well-heeled) and little brother, a girl embraces her role as tourist,...
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Leslie Kimmelman, illus. by Jaime Zollars. Marshall Cavendish/Shofar, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7614-6145-6
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...
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Leslie Kimmelman, illus. by Will Terry, Albert Whitman, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8075-7900-8
That's right, it's bully goats—a smart and timely idea for breathing new life into a classic. This time, the hero is the "really nice" guy under the bridge: Little Ogre, who's Shrek green, sports a purple Mohawk, and is "friends with everybody." He...
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Leslie Kimmelman, illus. by Hilli Kushnir. HarperCollins, $19.99 (72p) ISBN 978-0-06324-248-7
Format takes center stage in this novelty picture book, whose covers open to reveal a large menorah with nine pouches (including one for the shamash), each containing a slender volume designed to mimic a candle’s dimensions. On the front cover of...
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Leslie Kimmelman, illus. by Galia Bernstein. Holiday House, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-8234-3958-4
After a dragon causes damage that puts a crimp in preparations for a kingdom-wide Hanukkah party, Lady Sadie charges her ethnically diverse children, the Eight Knights of Hanukkah, with engaging in “deeds of awesome kindness and stupendous bravery”...
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Leslie Kimmelman, illus. by Roxana de Rond. Kar-Ben, $19.99 (24p) ISBN 978-1-72846-022-2; $8.99 paper ISBN 978-1-72846-029-1
Bupkes is a Yiddish word that usually connotes lack of value (e.g., “You know bupkes about that”). But Kimmelman (Write On, Irving Berlin!) and de Rond (Milo and Monty) start on a more expansive, neutral note. Defining the word as simply “nothing”—or
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Leslie Kimmelman, illus. by Jessie Hartland. Random House Studio, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-5934-3365-2
“It’s a BIG DEAL to run in the New York City Marathon,” but conversational prose by Kimmelman (The Eight Knights of Hanukkah) and naïf-style gouache vignettes from Hartland (Alice Waters Cooks Up a Food Revolution) make this world-famous sporting...
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