A Sweet Year: A Taste of the Jewish Holidays (bk1) (32 pgs)

Podwal, Mark. A sweet year: a taste of the jewish holidays. Random House. New York, 2003.

Summary:
Mark Podwal visits the Jewish faith with this small book that outlines all the Jewish holidays that involve food. This short read goes through the year explaining the significance of the food eaten for that holiday and even has a section at the end that gives further explanation of the holiday itself.

Author: Mark Podwal
Illustrator: Mark Podwal
Access Features: Section that explains the holidays, Bibliography, Author’s Note
Illustrations: Illustrations are gouache and acrylic paintings that illustrate the important role food plays in Jewish traditions
Curriculum: Social Studies
Use of book in Classroom: This would be a great resource to use in a discussion of the different holidays associated with different types of people and cultures.
Book Design: This is a very small book and is really very basic. The end pages are white and the pages in the book are white with the writing on one side of a two page spread and the illustration on the other. The only design element that I saw was the first letter of every page is larger than the rest and is a color out of the painting on the opposite page, usually a major color in the painting.
Writing Style: Podwal uses very simple language making the book easy to understand. He also uses the Jewish names for the holidays and food but translates and explains what they are.
Credibility of Author: In the author’s note, Mark Podwal explains that he was asked to create an exhibit for a library for this specific purpose. He includes his bibliography with the sources he used to write the book. All of these were books written about Jewish foods or the holidays.
Grade Level: PreK-3
Awards: Notable Social Studies Trade Book 2004
National Standards: Social Studies: Standard 1: Culture; Standard 5: Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
Related Texts: Apples and Honey: A Rosh Hashanah Story -Jonny Zucker: The Sounds of my Jewish Year -Marji Gold-Vukson; The Shapes of my Jewish Year -Marji Gold-Vukson

Response:
A Sweet Year is a very short book, but it is also very interesting. I had no idea that food played such an important role in the Jewish faith. It is very educational and will definitely hold interest because it’s not a subject that many people know much about. The illustrations are also very interesting. They depict the words in the story but not exactly. Podwal incorporates the foods into the paintings in some very unique ways.