A reader named Lolly recently emailed me asking for recommendations for "good" Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur children's books. I loved her question and thought it was the perfect topic for a timely blog post but, not having any children of my own yet, I wasn't sure where to start. So I sent an email to my friends in the Jewish community asking for their favorite High Holiday children's books. Within a couple days my inbox was filled with tons of ideas and below are the titles that appeared multiple times. Many thanks to everyone who responded to my question!
7 Good High Holiday Books for Children
- Today is the Birthday of the World by Linda Heller. The voice of God narrates this picture book that imagines a celebration of the world's birthday on Rosh HaShanah.
- How the Rosh Hashanah Challah Became Round by Sylvia B. Epstein.
- The Hardest Word by Jacqueline Jules - When the Ziz, a clumsy but goodhearted bird from Jewish legend, accidentally wrecks a garden he asks God for advice and learns about teshuvah in the process. (You can see a preview of the book on Google Books.)
- When the Chickens Went on Strike by Erica Silverman. This book is about the old custom of kapporot as told by a man looking back on his childhood in a 19th-century Russian village. (Kapporot involves twirling a chicken over ones head in order to rid oneself of the year's misdeeds - some Jews still practice this custom today.)
- New Year at the Pier - A Rosh HaShanah Story by April Halprin Wayland - From the author's website: Izzy's favorite part of Rosh Hashanah is Tashlich, a joyous waterside ceremony in which people apologize for their mistakes of the previous year, cleaning the slate for the new year. But there's one mistake on Izzy's "I'm sorry list" he's finding especially hard to say out loud.
- Happy New Year, Beni by Jane Breskin Zalben. A family of Jewish bears celebrates the holidays and illustrates the importance of getting along.
- The Secret Shofar of Barcelona by Jacqueline Dembar. Don Fernando longs to hear the sounds of the shofar on the High Holy Days but since he lives in Inquisition-era Spain he has to hide his Jewish identity. Eventually he and his son Rafael come up with a daring plan to usher in the new year right under the noses of Spanish authorities.
In addition to these books I also received several recommendations for National Geographic's Holidays Around the World: Celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: With Honey, Prayers, and the Shofar. Although not techinically a children's book it does contain beautiful images and friendly explanatory text accompanied by recipes. Jews of different ethnicities are featured in the photos while a map of the world in the index section of the book indicates where each photo was taken.