SAN DIEGO — This week I have two peaceful books to recommend. While the topics are different, the text in each will have a calming effect, providing both reader and listener with a quiet oasis away from daily stress.
Shalom Bayit, A Peaceful Home is a sweet, nonfiction book. Author Linda Elovitz Marshall and illustrator Ag Jatkowska take us on a woodland tour of different animals and their homes. This story weaves a path up trees with squirrels and birds, through frog ponds and worm tunnels, then winding up safe and sound in a peaceful Jewish home. A great first book about animals and a relaxing book to read at naptime or bedtime.
The second book, Miriam at the River, is written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Khoa Le. It is the story of baby Moses, left by his sister to float down the Nile. It is told from seven-year-old Miriam’s point of view, using Ms Yolen’s well-loved lyrical prose.
From the very first sentence, “I creep to the riverside in the soft dark of night’s end” readers know they are in for a special treat. And we are not disappointed. Khoa Le fills each page with graceful illustrations that compliment the flowing text. The story weaves through so seamlessly, that the reader floats down the river with baby Moses, taking in the words that follow the small ark on its journey. Miriam at the River will be a treasured book during Passover and all throughout the year.
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Marcia Berneger is a retired elementary school teacher as well as a teacher at Torah school. She is the author of such children’s books as Buster the Little Garbage Truck, and A Dreidel in Time.