Raisins and Almonds

February 11, 2019
Redheaded Bella hears night noises and heads to her mother, who explains that the source is a little white goat who runs a store under Bella’s bed. The child is intrigued: “Will he have a red bicycle?” she asks. “You never know,” Mama says. Returning to her room, Bella enters an enchanted landscape, rendered by Sánchez (Here I Am) in sweeping, pencil-like textures and velvety colors ranging from earthy to radiant. Bella meets three fellow shoppers—a mouse needing furniture and a mezuzah, a rabbit seeking gardening equipment and a kippah, and a wolf who craves pickled herring, bagels and lox, and pastrami—as text by Tarcov (Maya Prays for Rain) becomes a series of incantatory dialogues, with each animal asking about the goat’s inventory and Bella responding, as her mother did, with “You never know.” Arriving at the goat’s store, the quartet discovers that he sells only raisins and almonds, and the story abruptly stops—readers may even wonder whether the final pages have gone missing. The connection to the titular lullaby is tenuous (even with an explanatory author’s note), but the authors do succeed in conveying what dreaming feels like: marvelously strange and surreally vivid. Ages 3–8.

February 1, 2019
Tarcov sets a traditional Eastern European Yiddish folk song in the present day, employing childlike syntax and dialogue to convey the special luxury of a treat of raisins and almonds.A noise awakens young Bella, sending her running to Mama in fear. Mama reassures her that it's only a little white goat that keeps a store under her bed. Bella imagines amazing delights that could be on offer, but Mama says she must see it for herself. So she tentatively sets out on the journey back to her room. She is soon joined by some magical creatures that have wishes of their own. Among other items, a mouse asks if the goat will have a miniature mezuzah for its door. A rabbit wants a kippa with holes for his ears, and a wolf wonders if he could have pickled herring or a pastrami sandwich. When they arrive at Bella's room, the white goat is standing under her bed selling raisins and almonds. S�nchez's colorful double-page-spread illustrations are fanciful and whimsical, playing up the magical elements. It is never stated that Bella's family (all light-skinned) is Jewish, but references to Jewish items and food are essential to the story and illustrations. Targeting young Jewish readers, the author assumes they will understand the meanings of the kippa and the mezuzah and perhaps know the original song.Delightful and delicious. (author's note, lyrics, QR code link to song) (Picture book. 3-8)

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