A children’s book for Shabbat
Posted on: 11 June, 2012
- In: Book reviews | Shabbat
- 1 Comment
Bim and Bom – A Shabbat Tale by Daniel J Swartz, illustrated by Melissa Iwai.
This is our favourite Shabbat story. Bim and Bom are siblings: Bim (the sister) is a builder and Bom (her brother) is a baker. Each works hard at their job during the week, and on Friday they do mitzvot, something to help others, before rushing to meet each other and welcome in Shabbat.
At the end of the book are the words and tune for the song “Bim Bom (Shabbat Shalom)” which, perhaps unsurprisingly, is one of our favourite Shabbat songs.
Things I like about this book compared to other shabbat books we’ve seen include: the refreshing lack of gender stereotyping or annoyingly trite rhyme, the lovely colours of the illustrations, the way Shabbat is given a context in the week and the emphasis on the kindnesses the siblings show to others rather than just the specific rituals of Shabbat.
I think 3+ year olds would enjoy this story.
17 August, 2012 at 9:40 am
We love this one too. And our kids love that the girl is a builder, because they see me building stuff with tools all the time.