Barbara Bietz

This is a great story to teach about settling in the west in the 1800s and 1900s as well as just a little about the Jewish Faith. When a young boy, his papa and mama moved out west to wide open spaces and a new life, they were not entirely sure what to expect. Their new life went well except for one thing, Mama did not like wide open spaces with no family. Every Shabbat, she was sad that she had too much soup and not enough family. They reminisced about the family left in the old home and the young boy decided to do something about it. He ended up inviting members of the community to dinner and they accepted. The next Shabbat, the table was full and the soup pot emptied, and mama was very happy. Some of the customs are demonstrated in the story and the back cover briefly explains the importance of hospitality in the Jewish Faith.

The illustrations, done by John Kanzler are fun, showing lots of emotions and large. Discussion can go on just with the illustrations alone. This is a great book to have in school and classroom libraries to share and read aloud for various subjects such as learning about different cultures, different holidays, values of sharing and friendship and more.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.… (more)