Happy New Year, Beni [Hardcover]

Jane Breskin Zalben (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up

This Rosh Hashanah, Beni and Sara are going to Grandma and Grandpa's for the holidays. Everyone will be there-- including cousin Max.

Before dinner, Sara lights the candles and Grandpa says the Kiddush. "To a sweet, good year! L'shanah Tovah!" At the temple, Papa blows the shofar and joyfully welcomes in the new year. But Max almost spoils the holiday for everyone-- he hogs all the sweet fruits at dinner and puts creepy surprises under his cousins' pillows. It's only when Grandpa takes a quiet moment to explain the tradition of Tashlikh that Max is willing to start the new year off with a clean slate. Or is he?

Jane Breskin Zalben captures the joy and warmth of this special holiday through her sensitive storytelling and detailed pastel-colored illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, should be an occasion for a pleasant family gathering, but for young Beni, it means a visit with cousin Max, whose relentless misbehavior dampens the holiday mood. In a gentle tone that stresses the coziness of traditional Jewish family life, Zalben ( Beni's First Chanukah ) introduces readers to the sights, sounds and tastes of Rosh Hashanah. The bear family lights candles, hears the shofar at the synagogue and samples homemade rugelach and challah. Above all, the New Year's lesson of forgiveness is brought home when Beni's grandfather explains the ritual of Tashlikh, the casting of bread into moving water to symbolize the cleansing of sins. In the end, the squabbling cousins are able to reconcile their differences--for the time being--and start the New Year with a clean slate. Zalben's sweet-natured watercolor-and-pencil illustrations, in warm roses and golds, portray the festivities in inviting detail, from the table set with lace cloth and candles to the Torah scrolls and prayer shawls in the synagogue. A recipe for raisin challah, included here, might prove daunting to adults, much less children, but otherwise this book provides an excellent, age-appropriate introduction to a venerable celebration. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3-Another entry in Zalben's Jewish holiday series, featuring a neighborhood of gentle, anthropomorphic bears, charmingly rendered in detailed watercolor and colored-pencil paintings. An introduction to the meaning of Rosh Hashanah, the festival commemorating the new year and the beginning of the "Days of Awe," during which Jewish people remember and repent their transgressions of the previous year, this story centers around minor arguments between Beni and Sara and their scrappy cousin Max. The children learn the traditions from their loving parents and grandparents who show, by example, how the ancient customs can help resolve their disputes. The portrayal of the family gathering and religious celebration is on target for young Jewish children and their non-Jewish counterparts, by both explaining important aspects of the holiday and affirming the universal value of these traditions.
Marcia Posner, Federation of New York and the Jewish Book Council, New York City
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (September 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805019618
• ISBN-13: 978-0805019612
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 6.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,553,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New Year sweetness, May 24, 2002

By 

Alyssa A. Lappen (Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Happy New Year, Beni (Hardcover)

This 26-page story helps prepare very young children to celebrate Rosh Hashonah, the Jewish New Year. As the story opens, Beni and Sara came home from school to find a letter from their grandparents announcing that they look forward to seeing the children for the holidays, when their cousins Max, Rosie, Goldie Molly and Sam would also visit.

Later during the week, the children colored Rosh Hashonah cards for their cousins and their friends Leo and Blossom. The morning before Rosh Hashonah, their Papa packed the car while Mama wrapped special cakes and cookies that Beni and Sara had helped to prepare. They couldn't wait to eat all that Rugelach, Mandelbrot and Strudel.

They arrived at their grandparents with hugs and kisses, as always, but as Grandma lit the Holiday candles and said the blessings, Cousin Max tapped Sara on the shoulder and then shot a rubber band at her.

Grandpa said the blessings over the wine (Kiddush) and raisin challah (Motzie) and everyone said "L'Shanah Tovah!" (A good, sweet New Year)

The children fought with their cousins over this and that, including the wet plastic spiders that Max put on everyone's pillows. But the next morning after services, when the children beamed as their Papa blew the Shofar announcing the New Year, they thought about the things they had done in the previous year. In the afternoon, they took a walk to say Tashlich. They threw bits of bread into the brook, to get rid of their mistakes and start fresh. "This is for teasing Sara, and Beni," Max said as he tossed his bread away. And he said sorry to his cousins.

In the next and last five pages, the children learned the true meaning of Rosh Hashonah.

The book includes a two-page recipe for raisin challah and a glossary of transliterated Jewish and High Holiday terms.

A very cute story, but you're better off with Beni's Family Treasury: Stories for the Jewish Holidays, which includes stories for Sukkot, Chanukah, Purim and Passover as well. Alyssa A. Lappen