Shlemazel and the Remarkable Spoon of Pohost [Hardcover]

Ann Redisch Stampler (Author), Jacqueline M. Cohen (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Lazy Shlemazel is convinced he has no luck. But Moshke the tinker promises him that his luck will change if he sets to work using the “amazing, remarkable spoon of Pohost.” Shlemazel gets busy—tilling the poretz’s field, helping the miller, and baking cakes with pretty Chaya Massel. Although “luck” remains elusive, what Shlemazel does find is even better.

Lively Chagall-like illustrations capture the spirit of this traditional Jewish tale, a funny and thought-provoking look at how we make our own luck. Author’s note, glossary.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3–In Yiddish, a shlemazel is someone who has no luck. So how can anyone blame Shlemazel for sitting around all day whittling? That is until clever Moshke the tinker gives him a remarkable spoon that changes his life forever. As the skeptical villagers look on, Moshke convinces lazy Shlemazel to take the utensil and search for his luck in a litter-strewn field, under a mountain of newly ground flour, and in the baker's batter. In the process, he plows the field, bags the flour, learns to bake, and meets his future wife. Employing a lively Yiddish cadence, the text is a storyteller's delight, full of humor, hyperbole, and delicious adjectives that make it a pleasure to read aloud. Jewel-toned panoramic watercolors are infused with a joyful folkloric quality well suited to the story. This clever folktale reminds readers that people make their own luck. Pair it with Isaac Bashevis Singer's Shrewd Todie and Lyzer the Miser, another wonderful spoon story, or A Shlemiel and a Shlimazel in Simms Taback's Kibitzers and Fools: Tales My Zayda Told Me (Viking, 2005).–Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 2. The Yiddish idiom is just right in this shtetl tale, which Stampler heard from her grandmother, who emigrated to the U.S. from Eastern Europe. "Work-smurk" protests sleepy Shlemazel, who insists he is not lazy but unlucky. After he is tricked into getting out and searching for his luck, he becomes a mensch, finding a better life through hard work and love. The irreverent, down-to-earth idiom takes away heavy messages, and the swirling, folk-art watercolors show the community connections as people hire Shlemazel to dig the soil, grind flour, and make challah with sweet Chaya Massel, who eventually marries him. Who needs luck? He's perfectly happy without it. With its wry twist on the trickster tradition, this story, by the creators of Something for Nothing, (2003), will be great for storytelling alongside other tales from Eastern Eurpean Jewish folklore such as Isaac Bashevis Singer's classic tales, Simms Taback's Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (1999), and Nina Jaffe's The Way Meat Loves Salt (1998). Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Clarion Books; None edition (July 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618369597
• ISBN-13: 978-0618369591
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,284,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SHLEMAZEL AND THE REMARKABLE SPOON OF POHOST, October 3, 2006

By 

Jewish Book World Magazine (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shlemazel and the Remarkable Spoon of Pohost (Hardcover)

Delightful! A well-constructed folktale that proves the power of motivation and hard work, a value that the author learned from her immigrant grandmother who first told her this story.
Shlemazel (literally "unlucky") has no prospects. The gift of a "lucky" spoon convinces him that he can dig up his luck. He never finds what he is looking for, but his efforts cause him to inadvertently plow a field, help the miller, and find a wife. "Is that not luck?" cries the neighbor who provided the spoon. "That is work, not luck," replies Shlemazel, who admits that he now has all he needs to be happy - without any luck! The bright illustrations boast a flattened perspective and the blocky boldness of folk paintings. They exactly depict what is described in the text, but add another level of life and detail to the story too. The Jewish content may not be obvious to young readers. However, along with a smattering of Yiddish (defined in the glossary at the back), the story teaches Jewish values. The lucid Author's Note explains that in the course of the story, Shlemazel develops a work ethic, begins to celebrate the Sabbath, and finds a good wife, becoming a "self-respecting and worthy individual through actions that bind him to his community and his heritage." An excellent choice for Jewish folklore and storybook collections. Ages 5-10. Reviewed by Heidi Estrin

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 2007 Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winner for Younger Readers, January 27, 2007

By 

Rachel Kamin "Chair, Sydney Taylor Book Award... (West Bloomfield, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shlemazel and the Remarkable Spoon of Pohost (Hardcover)

Bright, colorful, animated illustrations enhance this delightfully entertaining story of Shlemazel who is so convinced that he is the most unlucky person in the world that he is afraid to get off his front porch. But when Moshke convinces him that he has the amazing, remarkable spoon of Pohost, Shlemazel learns the pleasure of a good day's work, finds a wife, performs a mitzvah, and discovers that he doesn't need luck to be happy. In an author's note, Stampler explains that as with her previous picture book, Something for Nothing, this story comes form her grandmother, a native of Pohost. The glossary also explains Yiddish terms like tsimmes, mensch, poretz and zlotys. A wonderful edition to folklore collections, the story will be enjoyed by both younger and older readers.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Found luck, April 25, 2008

By 

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

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This review is from: Shlemazel and the Remarkable Spoon of Pohost (Hardcover)

A shlemazel is someone with no luck, but in this story, a lazy shlemazel finds luck in the strangest way---by digging for it, and instead of finding any, getting paid for his enterprise.

He wants luck, though, not zlotys, and next he turns to the mill to seek his luck, all the while digging with a magic spoon given to him by a neighbor.

As this story goes to show, work, and luck are both what one makes of them, and even a lazy shlemazel can find both.

A wonderful read for little kids, and grown ups alike.