All About Jewish Time

Book Synopsis: A unique way to introduce children to the Hebrew calendar—day and night, the seven-day week, Shabbat, months, seasons, and numbers. Children will gain an understanding of the structure underlying Jewish holidays throughout the year.

Association of Jewish Libraries News & Reviews (October 2021):In this reboot of Emily Sper’s 2006 book, The Kids’ Fun Book of Jewish Time, colorfully and engagingly presents the concept of the Judaic lunar calendar and is replete with information about the days of the week, the Jewish calendar, seasons, holidays, observances, counting, the Hebrew alphabet and quotes from Hebrew text. The bold text includes the Hebrew terms with both transliterations and translations that will allow a reader to share the abundant information in the text easily.

The amount of information contained in this picture book is staggering! Hebrew is introduced, including the pronunciation of the letters and vowels, and the letters’ relationship to numbers. Days of the week and the months of the year are explained. The holidays in relation to the Hebrew calendar are examined both in terms of significance of when they occur as well as the unique observances and history for each. The counting concept in the text includes days, months, and the Days of the Omer and the significance of particular days within that period.

All About Jewish Time is a different reading experience than the 2006 original, absent the fun interactive paper-engineering of flaps, slides, spinning wheels, and hard-back durable pages. However, additional information has been added to this newer version. This updated edition includes more in depth coverage of the holidays beyond Shabbat, which was the main focus of the 2006 edition, and the holidays of Israel Independence Day and Tisha b’Av are included in the 2021 publication as well as text about Geshem (rain) and Tal (dew).

The illustrations are bold and graphic and were designed by the author using Adobe Illustrator and beautifully support the text. Although this is a picture book, the information is appropriate for children of all ages, and even beyond.

The author includes the quote from Kohelet “To everything there is a season, and a time for every experience under heaven,” and “Teach us to count our days so we may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90),” this delightful book shows us how we can accomplish both!

Ellen Drucker-Albert
Co-editor, Children’s and Teen Literature

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