Book Description
for Alef-Bet by Michelle Edwards
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
A family composed of two adults and three children that might live in contemporary Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, New York or Amsterdam introduces daily uses of modern Hebrew in a nearly wordless picture story. Signs of home-created entertainment, especially that involving the arts and play-acting, are everywhere, showing this to be a priority for the down-to-earth, energetic, affectionate household. Outside activities vary with the seasons while everyone has a visible role in sledding, leaf gathering and night sky-watching. One of the three happily active children uses a wheelchair to move from place to place. A letter of the Hebrew alphabet appears in the upper left corner of each page, and Hebrew words with phonetic pronunciations are shown on the lower left of each page. Roman transliterations and English translations are also provided. Edwards succeeds in developing a fresh approach to presenting the concept of a family and to creating a book about a specific language. (Ages 2-8)
CCBC Choices 1992. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 1992. Used with permission.