Love is All We Need by Krina Patel-Sage; Northampton, Massachusetts: Crocodile Books © 2024; ISBN 9781623-716929; 26 pages; $18.95.
SAN DIEGO – The two boys hugging in the middle of the adjacent cover image are a Muslim and a Jew – a timely reminder during the fierce Israel-Hamas War that friendships between people of different religions is possible and an ideal. As the cover image suggests, also possible are interracial friendships between two girls and between a boy and a girl.
In rhyming couplets, author and illustrator Patel narrates a story in which parents encourage their children, friends are kind and supportive toward each other, children are respectful and appreciative of adults, and families of different religions celebrate each other’s holidays. The Jewish family has the Muslim family join them for a celebration of Hannukah, and the Muslim family has the Jewish family accompany them in a celebration of Eid, which involves a bountiful meal at the end of the month of Ramadan.
Many ethnicities are portrayed in this happy book for preschoolers and elementary school pupils. In addition to the Jewish and Muslim families, there are families whose ethnicities appear to be East Asian, African-American, South Asian, and Mexican all frolicking together.
There are also babies, senior citizens, and a man who is confined to a wheelchair.
In this book, love encompasses them all.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.