Miri’s Moving Day by Adam R. Chang and Stephanie Wildman, with illustrations by Dream Chen; Minneapolis, Minnesota: Kar-Ben Publishing (c) 2024; ISBN 9798765-603017; 24 pages; $19.99.
SAN DIEGO — This lovely story tells of a girl growing up in two cultures. Her mother is Jewish and her father is Chinese. On their doorpost is a mezuzah and in front of their apartment building are two guardian lions.
One day Miri, who looks to be of kindergarten age, watches everything familiar being packed up so her family can move to a new apartment. She is distressed. Yeh Yeh, her paternal grandfather, and Mah Mah, her paternal grandmother, comfort her. They often take care of her while her parents are at work.
Yeh Yeh and Miri join Zayde, her Jewish grandfather, on a trip to the new apartment, but first they stop at an ice cream store to celebrate the move. Yeh Yeh surprises her with a present: a new mezuzah, explaining that Zayde had told him that would be a good present for her new home. When they all sit down for Shabbat dinner inside the new apartment, Zayde gives Miri another gift: two small guardian lions that she can put on the chest of drawers by her bed. With the mezuzah on her door and the guardian lions in her room, Miri feels safe.
I liked the fact that the grandparents honored each other’s cultures. Zayde presented the guardian lions; Yeh Yeh gave Miri the mezuzah. Mutual respect and affection are needed in any marriage, and especially in an intermarriage.
Written for children pre-kindergarten through 2nd grade, this book also can help ease anxiety about moving to a new home, which so many families need to do as the parents take new jobs.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.