K-Gr 4-In this retelling of a Hasidic legend, the baker Gershon never repents for any of his wrongdoings. Instead, on Rosh Hashanah, he gathers them together and throws them into the sea. When he and his wife seek help for their childlessness, Gershon visits a tzaddik, or "wonder rabbi." The rabbi writes a charm and tells the man it will bring him and his wife twins but due to his careless acts they will die on their fifth birthday. When the day arrives, Gershon is able to save his children from the monster created by his sins by truly repenting. Despite its obvious moral, the story flows well, and Kimmel's language glows, while retaining the flavor of a traditional tale. The watercolor illustrations work well, with the baker's sins represented as small, black, ghoulish monsters and the beast created from the sum of his misdeeds as a looming, serpentine sea monster. Muth brings Gershon to life with a truly human expressiveness. The characters are depicted with the traditional Hasidic side curls and tallith hanging out of their shirts, rooting them firmly in the Jewish tradition. Kimmel's light hand makes the lessons easy to take, and despite repetitions of the message, the telling remains an enjoyable read.-Amy Lilien-Harper, Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kimmel ( Jar of Fools , p. 1287, etc.) is particularly skilled in refashioning the ritual and folklore of Judaism into widely accessible yet faith-filled retellings. Here he recounts a soul-satisfying Hasidic legend and incorporates the persona and teachings of the 18th-century Ba’al Shem Tov (“Master of the Good Name”) Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer. Gershon, rude and self-absorbed “paid no attention to how he treated others and he didn’t care. For he could shed his . . . thoughtless acts like a dog sheds hair.” Before each Shabbat he swept his sins (personified as impish, black creatures) into his cellar. “And once a year, on Rosh Hashanah, he stuffed them into a sack and dragged them down to the sea.” But Gershon and his wife were childless. Always seeking the quick fix, he blunders in to see a tzaddik, a wonder Rabbi. The Rabbi emphasizes with Gershon’s wife but cautions Gershon: “Did you think you could live so thoughtlessly forever? The sea cries out because you have polluted her waters. (Y)our wife . . . will give birth to twins . . . They will be with you five years.” Heedless, the ever-arrogant Gershon is convinced he can stave off the inevitable. Five years pass and his children, Sarah and Joseph, are playing on the seashore. Horribly, Gershon’s sins coalesce into a huge, black sea monster that threatens their fragile lives: “On each scale was written one of Gershon’s misdeeds.” Horrified, he began to plead for forgiveness—for the first time in his life. God was merciful. He acknowledged Gershon’s heartfelt act of t’shuvah—repentance—and the monster was transformed into a cleansing rain. And Gershon? Having returned to his better nature—he made amends, kept “his soul clean” and never saw the monster again. A deft watercolorist, Muth (Come on Rain!, 1999 ) is particularly skilled at limning personality thorough the telling gesture. The dark grays and blacks of Gershon’s sins threaten the soft earth tones, lush greens, sunny yellows. The fluid, clear blues of the sea and the freshened horizon line communicate the gratitude, the exhilaration—and the freedom—of truly placing our sins behind us. Sustaining. (Folktale. 5+)

Gr. 2^-4, somewhat younger for reading aloud. Gershon is a selfish, sinful man, and though his sins are not big, they are plentiful. Each Rosh Hashanah, he throws them in the sea, but he does not repent and so pollutes the water. When Gershon's wife is unable to conceive, he goes to a tzaddik, a holy man, who reluctantly grants his wish for children. Twins are born, and even though Gershon has been warned by the tzaddik that a punishment for his sins is in their young futures, he forgets about the danger until he experiences the sign that the tzaddik foretold. Gershon rushes to the sea, where his son and daughter are playing. A giant wave, black and full of his sins is about to capture them, when Gershon cries out to God for forgiveness, which God in His mercy grants; now Gershon's repentance becomes real. This tale is based on one of the earliest Hasidic legends, and it is in many ways problematic. The themes of sin and redemption don't easily fit into a picture-book format, especially when the main protagonist is thoroughly unlikable. Fortunately, Muth's marvelous watercolors, expertly executed, go a long way toward humanizing Gershon and bringing individual elements down to a child's level. For example, Gershon's sins are shown as nasty imps; in one memorable scene they cover him, pulling at his hair, his beard; he's a man covered in sin. To get the most from the book, it's important to read the author's note, in which Kimmel explains t'shuva, the Jewish idea of repentance, and what it means to fall short of our "best selves." The story will achieve its full impact when children, with adult help, begin to understand why it is so important to recognize the wrongs they've committed and try to right them. Ilene Cooper

This presentation of a Hasidic legend has everything a reader could want: a suspenseful story, an insightful lesson and brilliant pictures that accelerate the delivery of both. Central to the plot is the custom of tashlikh, the ritual casting of sins into the water on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. Gershon the baker, "not always the best person he could be," begins to rely on this practice as a way of dealing with his mistakes: instead of apologizing and making amends, he sweeps his thoughtless deeds into the cellar every Friday and, on Rosh Hashanah, he stuffs them into a sack, drags it to the sea and tosses it in. Of course, he will learn true repentance - but not before he receives a cryptic prophecy from a sage and, much later, faces down the sea monster his sins have created. Relegating words like tashlikh to a meaty author's note (which also describes Jewish principles of t'shuvah, or repentance), Kimmel (Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins) uses everyday language, letting the moral shine through his astute storytelling. The airy watercolor illustrations, loaded with period detail, transcend the particularities of the setting by virtue of Muth's (Come On, Rain!) expansive imaginative vision. He enhances the comedy in the premise by painting the sins as tiny horned imps who jeer as they face Gershon's broom (they grow a bit nastier as the story advances), yet he leaves room for a humane depiction of Gershon, more self-absorbed than wicked, and for a psychologically canny and dramatic portrayal of the monster. A memorable work, welcome at any time of year. Ages 5-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(Primary) Kimmel is ably served by illustrator Muth, whose soft colored blues, grays, and beiges bring alive the watery landscape of Constantsa on the Black Sea in this quietly moralistic Hasidic tale. Muth uses the same gentleness that made Come On Rain (rev. 7/99) so appealing, yet here his washes of color create a range of moods, from indifference to anger, from terror to calm. With characteristic confidence, Kimmel retells the story of Gershon, ""not always the best person he could be,"" who ""shed[s] his mistakes and thoughtless acts like a dog sheds hair."" Muth envisions these mistakes as tiny, inky gray monsters, which Gershon sweeps up and pitches into the cellar. In several dynamic spreads, the black-hatted and suited Gershon bundles up these mischievous-looking misdeeds and drags them, stuffed in a massive sack, down to the sea. The story, sounding very much like a folktale, centers on Gershon and his good wife, who are childless; the arrogant Gershon goes to a ""wonder rabbi"" who intercedes to grant the couple twins-but with a future caution: their fate will be caught up with their father's pride and selfishness. Kimmel and Muth both make much of the contrast between the innocent five-year-old children at the seashore and their father's monster who confronts them. Kimmel accents the meaning of this tale in a thoughtful afterword about the tradition of repentance at the Jewish New Year. s.p.b. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.