Customer Reviews

Cakes and Miracles (Viking Kestrel picture books)

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I was disappointed to see that this book is out of print and hard to get. I read it to a group of children last week that were totally spellbound from the beginning to the end. It is difficult to find Purim books that deviate from the traditional "Esther and Haman" story of the Megillah. This book took a totally different angle, focusing on human worth. The little boy in this story made his disability (blindness) secondary, and showed his town (and the reader) that a disability is only one if viewed as such. He found other ways of contributing to his community. Find this one if you can.

What a disappointment to find out that this book is out of print. It is refreshing to find a book that diverses from the usual Purim tales about Haman or Purim costumes. This story can be used in many circumstances in which a person can overcome adversity to contribute positively in the community around them. Herschel is blind, but finds other ways to be productive in a world that has him labeled. My students were totally spellbound as I read to them. Great story.

Hershel was a bit of a teivele (devil). He was the only boy in his village who could not see, but that did not stop him from making mischief, as boys will do.

He behaved well in school, but grew bored when the others practiced their writing; that was when he pulled a frog from his pocket and let it loose to revel in hearing the teacher, Reb Shimmel, jump up and down and dance around the frog.

He caught his frogs at the river, his favorite place in the town. There he had frogs, water, and friends--and mud to play in besides, He loved building tunnels and mountains in the smooth cool mud, and often came home dirty.

His mother Basha would scold him for getting so dirty, for it made more work on top of all she had to do to keep them clothed and fed since Hershel's father had died.

This year when Purim came, he wanted more than anything to help his mother make the Hamantashen--shaped like Haman's hat--the cakes that they would carry from house to house as sweet gifts to remember the joyful victory of good over evil so long ago in Shushan. His mother told him that to help, a person needed eyes.

Hershel climbed into bed, said the Shema, and whispered his prayer to God, to be able to really help his mother. That night he dreamed of an angel descending on a silver ladder, who bent and spoke to him. "Make what you see," she told him. "But I don't see," he protested. "The doctor from Kotsk said I shall never see again."

When Hershel awoke the next day, he told his mother the story from his dream, and determined to help her shape the Purim cookies that year--by feeling.

Guidelines prevent me from telling precisely what happened in the last 12 pages of this story--but it's quite a tale. And, as the song says, Purim was "a happy holiday, What a happy holiday!"

The book also includes a two-page summary of the Story of Esther and a recipe for Hamantashen. Alyssa A. Lappen

A beautiful tale that made tears spring to my eyes.

Accepting and being happy with what you've got, and turning one's challenges into strengths are essential messages for teaching happiness, tolerance and genuine success in life. This is a great story to spark discussions or just a great story by itself. If you like this story you will love Yussel's Prayer, a Yom Kippur story. Can't read that one without tears in my eyes either.

I loved the earlier edition as the simple joyful illustrations conveyed the meaning and tone of the story. Not sure about the newer version (I just ordered a used copy of the original).