Children's Shabbat Books

These various children's books all center around the Jewish theme of Shabbat.  In "Shabbat Shalom" by Douglas Florian, kids enjoy a wooden book with bright colors walking them thru preparation for a delicious Shabbat dinner.  In "Chik Chak Shabbat" by Mara Rockliff, young readers see how a whole community comes together to make food for their cholent chef when she is ill.  In "On Shabbat" by Cathy Fishman, kids are walked thru Shabbat customs with a keen eye for tradition.  In "Around the World in One Shabbat" by Durga Bernhard, children see how families all around the globe celebrate Shabbat differently.  In "Soosie the Horse that Saved Shabbat", kids are delighted to see a horse deliver challah all around town.  In "Dinosaur on Shabbat" by Diane Rauchwerger, little ones laugh along at a dinosaur's clumsy attempts at celebrating Shabbat.  In "The Shabbat Princess" by Amy Meltzer, girls vicariously live thru the Shabbat Queen as they dress up in their finest attire.  All in all, these children's books are rather delightful.  They are an excellent way to take a relaxing break on any Shabbat of the year.  Enjoy!

"Midnight Sun" by Stephenie Meyer

 I remember years ago reading the Twilight Series as a teenager.  The story of a girl falling in love with a vampire was very popular.  Four books and four movies later, the author was an international sensation.  All of the books from the original series are written from the perspective of the female protagonist--Bella.  I recall years ago there were musings that the author was writing a parallel book telling the same story but this time from the male vampire's perspective--Edward.  Unfortunately, someone leaked a few chapters from the manuscript onto the internet.  Upset from this betrayal, the author Meyer halted all work and publication of the book.  Much to my surprise, I discovered she recently changed her mind.  Meyer both finished and published her book.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Although, it should be noted that this book is really just the first Twilight book from Edward the vampire's perspective.  It does not cover Edward's side of things throughout all four books of the original series.  Nevertheless, it does give readers enough of a window into his mind to understand how he feels.

"Miraculous Living" by Rabbi Shoni Labowitz

Beautifully written and thoughtfully organized, this book takes readers on a guided journey of kabbalah thru the ten gates of the tree of life.  Each of the ten "gates" is preceded by a summary of the gate.  Each subsequent chapter (only a few pages at a time) starts off with double quotations.  One quote is from Jewish sources while one quote is from Taoist / Buddhist sources.  The author weaves traditional Judaism in with eastern religious principles.  Though each chapter is quick enough to read in ten minutes, readers will find themselves mulling over the words time and time again.  The book is written in such a concise yet profound way.  There is no "fluff" or paragraphs for the sake of paragraphs.  Rather, each sentence is carefully crafter to lure the reader deeper into their own soul awakening.