Shmulik Paints the Town by Lisa Rose (illustrated by Catalina Echeverri); Kar-Ben Publishing; ISBN 978-1-4677-5239-8; 32 pages; $17.99.
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – Have you ever told your child a shaggy dog story? Like the one about the man who convinces the manager of the movie theater to let him and his dog watch the movie from the back row? Reluctantly, the manager agrees. He observes the dog’s actions during the movie, and sure enough, at the happy parts, the dog wags his tail, and at the sad parts, the dog puts his head down and softly whines. Afterwards the manager says to the dog’s owner: “I can’t believe it, your dog really liked the movie!” And the man replied: “The funny thing is he didn’t like the book!”
Shmulik Paints the Town is a story about an artist who is hired to paint a mural celebrating Israeli Independence Day (Yom Ha’Atzma’ut) and to decorate the playground as well. Whereas Shmulik keeps procrastinating, waiting for inspiration, his eyeglasses-wearing dog, Ezra, puts his paws into the buckets of paints and decorates railings, the pagoda, the playground slide, and seesaw with bright colors and bold designs. All the while, Shmulik is oblivious to his dog’s accomplishments, preoccupied as he is with trying to figure out what to paint on the mural.
Finally, a bright and cheerful mural appears, which Shmulik thinks he must have painted in his sleep. But then he notices painted paw prints leading to the mural. He figures out the secret, but the townspeople don’t. They assume the artist must have been Shmulik. After all, doesn’t everyone know that a dog can’t paint?
Geared for children ages 3 to 8, the book has the repetition that youngsters love, and it also is written and illustrated in such a way as to enable the children to figure out what is really happening long before Shmulik does. Is there anything a child enjoys more than knowing something than an adult doesn’t?
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com. Comments intended for publication in the space below must be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the U.S.)