Rosie Saves the World

June 15, 2017
Rushing around to get everything on her "Save-the-World spreadsheet" done, Rosie gains a better understanding of the meaning of tikkun olam (repairing the world by doing good deeds, or mitzvot.) In Hebrew school, her teacher explains both concepts. Bespectacled Rosie's enthusiastic response exudes her confidence that she can achieve "great deeds" within her own neighborhood. She works on a food drive, participates in a homework-assistance program, performs in a senior center, and babysits a tot whose harried mother must meet a deadline. All the while, her own family keeps requesting her help with analogous activities, but Rosie feels too busy and puts them off for later. Praised by a neighbor for her good work, "I bet you're a huge help at home," Rosie suddenly remembers her family and manages to get home and do all that was requested. She helps her brother with his Hebrew lettering, cleans out the litter pan, calls her grandmother, and finally helps her mother dust. Despite Rosie's ambitious agenda, the story is lackluster and drawn out even as it adequately gets the point across that tikkun olam starts at home with family. Line-and-color illustrations in pale hues depict this Jewish white family in a suburban community that appears to have a sprinkling of Latino, African-American, and Asian residents. Innocuous and utilitarian. (author's note) (Picture book. 5-8)

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