When the may­or approach­es Shmu­lik the artist about paint­ing a mur­al in the park for Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s Inde­pen­dence Day, Shmu­lik read­i­ly agrees to do it, but then can­not think of what to paint. Day after day he looks for inspi­ra­tion, in the clouds, in the trees, at the gro­cery store, but noth­ing comes to him. The more he pro­cras­ti­nates, the more dis­tract­ed he gets, so dis­tract­ed that he doesn’t notice that his dog Ezra is a whiz with a paintbrush. 

When Yom Ha’Atzmaut arrives, Shmu­lik goes to the park dread­ing the sight of an emp­ty wall, but instead finds a beau­ti­ful mur­al cov­ered with sym­bols of Israel such as pome­gran­ates, date palms, meno­rahs, and the Israeli flag. The may­or loves it, but when Shmu­lik tries to give Ezra credit…well, ​“Every­body knows dogs can’t paint.” 

Humor­ous illus­tra­tions use black lines and grayscale as a back­drop for Ezra’s bright­ly col­ored cre­ations. This is a light-heart­ed and attrac­tive book that can be used to sup­ple­ment hol­i­day col­lec­tions in libraries and schools and can teach about Israel at home.

Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 4 – 7.