Five Alive [Hardcover]

Dina Rosenfeld (Author), Hachai Publishing (Author), Tova Leff (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up

By using their sense of sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch, the lively children in this book can always figure out which Jewish holiday has arrived.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Young children describe the things that they see, hear, smell, taste, and touch during observances of Jewish holidays. Tasting apples dipped in honey and hearing the shofar blown are two ways to use the senses during Rosh Hashana. Smelling esrog and hearing the rustle of the lulav occur during the observance of Succos. Other holidays with their sights and sounds to see and hear are Simchas Torah, Chanukah, Purim, Pesach, and Shavuos. The rhymed text is quite ordinary and the children in the cartoon illustrations are unattractive. Clothing and settings portray observant families; the context is likely to be too unfamiliar and not comprehensible to any other readers, despite the glossary. Even Jewish day schools can skip this uninspired offering.
Susan Pine, New York Public Library
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Dina Rosenfeld, a former pre-school teacher from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, began by creating original stories for her young students. Now, she has well over a dozen children s titles to her credit, including the popular Labels for Laibel, Kind Little Rivka, and The Very Best Place for a Penny. Dina lives in Brooklyn, NY where in addition to writing, she has become involved with children s book editing and design.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Hachai Pubns; 1st edition (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929628099
• ISBN-13: 978-1929628094
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,113,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enthusiastically recommended easy reader picturebook, March 11, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five Alive (Hardcover)

Five Alive!: My Yom Tov Five Senses is a charming picture book by Dina Rosenfeld about the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Written especially for Jewish children (as it contains references to Jewish religious traditions and celebrations such as Rosh Hashana), Five Alive! is wonderfully enhanced with friendly full-color artwork by Tova Leff. Five Alive! is an thoroughly delightful and enthusiastically recommended easy reader picturebook for children ages 2 to 5.

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun book that covers ALL the yamim tovim, August 2, 2010

By 

Jennifer M. Macleod "yiddishe supermama" (Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Five Alive (Hardcover)

We like this book - a lot! It does a great job of tying in all the yamim tovim with different senses, and kids love trying to guess which yom tov it is based on the "clues."
I find the rhymes slightly repetitious, and the book is not always the most fun to read. Every single clue ends with "that's how we know that ____ is today." It might have been nice if the author had varied the format slightly, but this is a small thing.
That said, the illustrations are generally sweet and cheerful, and it's hard to find good-quality kids' books that represent ALL of the yamim tovim, not just the well-known ones like Chanukah or the fun ones like Purim.
My kids always seem to have trouble guessing Shavuos, but I appreciate the effort the author has gone to to include every single sense and every single holiday.
Kudos to Hachai Publishing for its quality kids' books - I wish there were more like this one.