By
– April 2, 2012
Although there is a real need for bilingual Hebrew-English books, this story suffers from some harsh translations, occasionally using words that are inappropriate for a picture book. Boris, a recent Israeli immigrant (“ole hadash”) from Russia does not yet know Hebrew. The children in his new school speculate on what an “immigrant” is and some are friendly, but the narrator, another boy from his class, calls him a “dummy” among other names, and gets into physical altercations with him. (Another boy in class cries after being called a “show-off”, and in another instance, the word “vomit” is used instead of the proper translation of the Hebrew word, “magil”, meaning “disgusting”.) The conflict is resolved when the narrator’s father goes away to army reserve duty and the young boy realizes that Boris was being hostile because he was unhappy. Unfortunately, he welcomes Boris by throwing pebbles at him. The idea of how to welcome a new student is a universal childhood experience, but the way this situation is handled in this book is not the model most teachers or parents would like our children to emulate. Ages 5 – 7.
Susan Dubin was the first librarian honored with a Milken Family Foundation Jewish Educator Award. She is the owner/director of Off-the-Shelf Library Services and library instructional consultant at Valley Beth Shalom Day School in Encino, CA.