From Publishers Weekly
On the heels of The Littlest Pair's winning the 2002 National Jewish Book Award in the picture-book category comes The Littlest Candlesticks, another title in the Littlest series by Sylvia Rouss, illus. by Holly Hannon. Couplets describe a girl's wish for her own Sabbath candlesticks, like her mother and her older sisters (" `Abby, just wait 'til you're a little older./ You'll have candlesticks,' her mother gently told her"). Abby's patience pays off the next week in preschool (her class is girls only, with all of them in modest dresses), when each girl receives a pair of "see-through glass" candlesticks to paint. Hannon compensates for uneven draftsmanship with radiantly colored compositions that almost shine with Abby's family's warmth.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Sylvia Rouss is an author and educator who has taught preschool in Jewish Community Centers and Synagogues in Los Angeles and Baltimore since 1973. She was awarded the Samuel Glasner Creative Teaching Award in 1989 from the Baltimore Board of Jewish Education. She continues to write for the preschoolers in her classroom and finds they are her best critics.
Raised in Southern California, Sylvia received her Bachelors Degree from California State University, Fresno. Her first book, "Fun With Jewish Holiday Rhymes", was published by UAHC Press in 1992. Three rhymes from this book were also included in the book "Hanukkah, Oh, Hanukkah" published by Bantam Press. In 1993, her second book, "Sammy Spider’s First Hanukkah", was published by KAR-BAN COPIES INC. Because of the book’s popularity, Sylvia was asked to write other Sammy Spider holiday books. There are currently six books in the series, including "Sammy Spider’s First Rosh Hashanah", "Sammy Spider’s First Shabbat", "Sammy Spider’s First Tu B’Shevat", "Sammy Spider’s First Purim" and "Sammy Spider’s First Passover". Sylvia has written a seventh book for the series, "Sammy Spider’s First Trip to Israel", which KAR-BEN hopes to publish next year. "The Littlest Frog" is her first book for Pitspopany Press.
Sylvia has done book readings and parent/teacher workshops throughout the country. Currently, she is scheduled to read "The Littlest Frog" at two Los Angeles museums, The Zimmer Children’s Discovery Museum and the Skirball Cultural Center this spring.
Sylvia has been happily married for 27 years and is very proud of her 3 adult children – a teacher, a magazine editor, and a college student in Israel.
