The Boy Who Stuck Out His Tongue: A Yiddish Folk Tale [Hardcover]

Edith Tarbescu (Author), Judith Christine Mills (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

When the widow asks her son to light the fire, he just sticks his tongue out at her. ... But when he gets himself into a sticky situation, the kind folk of the little Hungarian village are quick to rally around. The butcher, the baker, the cobbler, the carpenter,and the cook gather up the tools of their trades and offer their well-meaning support to the boy, cheered on by a sympathetic crowd.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 1-This retelling falls short of the mark with flat language and ill-fitting illustrations. In a Hungarian village, a young boy refuses to come in and light the stove for his mother, and sticks out his tongue. He falls down and his tongue sticks to an icy iron fence. A variety of bewildered townspeople try to help to no avail. "The woman looked from one to the other. Maybe it was true what people said; maybe this town was full of fools." Ultimately, the boy is freed, but not before he repents and changes his attitude. The story is slight, and the message is heavy-handed. Tarbescu's language is overly modern and entirely uninspired. "Promise, schmomise, I'm too busy." The acrylic illustrations are awkward at times; the boy is overly cute and the villagers are all pink-cheeked. While their simple, warm clothing is appropriate and the decorative carpetlike borders add interest, no amount of clever workmanship can make up for the lackluster text with its overstated moral. Stick with the wealth of Jewish folktales retold by authors such as Eric Kimmel and Isaac Singer.
Amy Lilien-Harper, Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Set in a small Hungarian village, this is a lively Jewish folktale in the tradition of the fools of Chelm. "Promise, Schmomise, I'm too busy," the widow's son says when his mother asks him to light the fire. She chases him, he sticks out his tongue at her, and when he falls in the snow, his tongue sticks to the iron fence. All the villagers, including the shoemaker (who thinks he knows about tongues), the butcher, the baker, and the carpenter, try to free the boy, but it's a traveling blacksmith who finally works out the solution: he starts a fire to warm the iron and set the boy free. The ending is a little flat--the boy learns to be helpful next time--and lacks the wry humor of Singer's retellings. The fun is in the quarrel, the trap, and the silly bumbling of the villagers. Tarbescu tells it with verve, and Mills' big, colorful acrylic pictures in folk-art style show the slapstick action and the warmth of the schlemiels who mean well. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Barefoot Books (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841480673
• ISBN-13: 978-1841480671
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,355,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Charming Folk Tale, January 11, 2001

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Boy Who Stuck Out His Tongue: A Yiddish Folk Tale (Hardcover)

The son of the peddler's widow is a lazy and unhelpful boy. When his mother calls him in from playing in the snow to help her light a fire in the stove, he sticks out his tongue and runs away from her. As she chases him, he trips and falls in the deep snow and his tongue sticks to a cold iron fence. The poor boy is stuck and his mother doesn't know how to set him free. She runs into the village and enlists the help of first the cobbler, then the butcher, the baker and even the cook. As a crowd grows, no one in the village can figure out a way to free her son. The boy, stuck to the fence begins to feel a little guilty and starts to cry. All these good townspeople care about what happens to him and all he has ever done is refuse to help them when they've asked. Soon a traveling blacksmith comes along and solves the problem and the boy is free, promising to be helpful whenever the villagers need him..... Edith Tarbescu has written an amusing folk tale that will delight and charm youngsters with it's silly humor and subtle wisdom. Judith Christine Mills beautiful, expressive and detailed artwork adds just the right touch and compliments the story perfectly. Together they have produced a warm and wonderful story your kids will want to read again and again. Perfect for children 3-8, The Boy Who Stuck Out His Tongue is a great addition to all home libraries.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A laugh-aloud story, February 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Boy Who Stuck Out His Tongue: A Yiddish Folk Tale (Hardcover)

I thought I was the only person whose tongue got suck to a frozen popsicle. I read "The Boy Who Stuck Out His Tongue" and laughed aloud at the funny predicament. I also read it to my younger sister and she found it amusing, too. I hope Ms. Tarbescu writes more funny bks. I also loved "Bring Back My Gebil," and read that to my sister, too. If you want to laugh, order this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sugar and medicine, September 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Boy Who Stuck Out His Tongue: A Yiddish Folk Tale (Hardcover)

This is yet another tale told in this writer's delightful style. I highly recommend this and all of her books. The reviewer from the American Library Association seems disappointed that the boy learns his lesson. Come on now!!! Helping adults and children learn from our mistakes is why folktales and fables have lasted for centuries. A lot of new stories do well to last a decade. This rendition should be around for quite some time. She gives the ending just the right touch in my opinion. I work in the public schools and I'm greatly concerned about the need to help children to learn civilized behavior. Children can learn from it but there is nothing preachy about it at all. It's like a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.