Carol Levin

A group of young New Yorkers take an afternoon Rosh Hashanah walk in this seasonal picture-book, thinking about the things they have done wrong over the course of the preceding year. When they come to the water - they are clearly in Brooklyn, looking across the East River toward southern Manhattan - they performs the ritual of Tashlich, casting crumbs into the water to symbolize the casting away of the year's sins...

Published in 1987, A Rosh Hashanah Walk is one of a number of picture-books to address the custom of Tashlich, traditionally performed at Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. More recent examples would be April Halprin Wayland's New Year at the Pier: A Rosh Hashanah Story and Susan Schnur's Tashlich at Turtle Rock. Eric A. Kimmel's powerful Gershon's Monster: A Story for the Jewish New Year also touches upon this practice. Unfortunately, although I was interested to read Carol Levin's story, I found it fairly weak and unappealing. Written partly in rhyme, and partly in prose, the text here felt awkward, particularly when switching between the two, and the narrative itself was unremarkable and uninspiring. The accompanying artwork from Katherine Janus Kahn, who also illustrated Sylvia A. Rouss's Sammy Spider series about the Jewish holidays, is done in an interesting style that mixes photographic and other paper elements. I didn't find it particularly appealing, from an aesthetic perspective, although I was moved by the scene in which the children see the twin towers of the World Trader Center from across the river. That's a sight that is not to be seen today.

All in all, this wasn't particularly impressive, and is not one I would particularly recommend. It isn't terrible, but there are better titles (see above) out there with this theme.… (mais)