On Friday Afternoon : A Shabbat Celebration
$17.99 USD
hardcover
Friday afternoon turns into a rambunctious adventure, filled with mitzvot and mayhem, as Leelee and Pickles help their family prepare for Shabbat.
There's only three hours until Shabbat, and there's still a lot to be done! But Friday afternoon's plans of cleaning the house and collecting donations go sideways with Leelee and her dog, Pickles, at the helm. With so much to do - and so many distractions - will the family be ready in time for candle lighting?
A rhythmic, silly, and heartwarming glimpse inside a Jewish home as they prepare for Shabbat.
Michal Babay is a former teacher and elementary school resource specialist who decided to follow her writing dreams. She is the author of I'm a Gluten Sniffing Service Dog and The Incredible Shrinking Lunchroom and lives in California with her husband, three kids, three dogs, one cat, and a bearded dragon named Gus Pirate Potato.
Menahem Halberstadt is a freelance illustrator, art director, and cartoonist. He has illustrated many books for young readers and lives in Israel with his wife and children
A girl and her furry sidekick help prepare for Shabbat dinner—in their own way. While helping to clean the house, Leelee and her dog, Pickles, discover items they wish to donate; they empty a flower pot and dresser drawers for tzedakah, a mitzvah (or charitable act) involving donating to those in need. Their other efforts to celebrate the spirit of Shabbat end with similar counterintuitive results. In the end, everyone pitches in to make dinner a success in this upbeat picture book.
—Foreword Reviews
Young Leelee and her dog, Pickles, prepare for Shabbat one busy Friday afternoon.
With the spiraling structure of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (1985), the book follows the duo from one activity to the next. Leelee and Pickles must clean up the crumbs they dropped while eating challah, which leads to them finding loose change under the couch. They decide to donate the money, but the tzedakah boxes are full, so Leelee empties out a flowerpot to use instead. Onomatopoeic interjections, encouraging a read-aloud experience, are included throughout, beginning with the simple clink of a coin and escalating to the “Pah! Bah-bah! Rah!” of a trombone that Leelee finds when searching for a shoe. This discovery leads, naturally, to a parade through the street, with Leelee and Pickles inviting the neighbors and friends they meet home for dinner. The penultimate spread calms both characters and readers with the sights and sounds of candle-lighting before the Shabbat meal begins. Expressive cartoon illustrations depict a brown-haired, olive-skinned Jewish family enjoying a loving, if hectic, afternoon. A close-up of detritus under the couch and a long shot of a mother putting on earrings in a mostly tidy house convey the dynamism of the scene; Leelee’s curly pigtails bring an enormous energy all their own. Repetition and mounting lists create a propulsive rhythm as sunset grows nearer. Leelee’s community is a diverse one.
Warm and lovely. (author’s note)
—Kirkus Reviews
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