Quickie Question
All right, masses. Riddle me this. Can you think of a single picture book or middle grade novel that discusses, shows, or features a bris?
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About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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There’s a picture book that my library classified as fiction called “Baby’s Bris” by Susan Wilkowski with illustrations by Judith Friedman, told through the eyes of the baby’s big sister.
Ah ha! That’s one! Thanks for the info.
I did an advanced search in worldcat w/ bris as the keyword and juvenile as the audience. There’s only a few books that came up.
BABY’S BRIS was released from a religious publisher and most of the customer comments on Amazon.com refer to this fictional story as a being a “learning tool.” I’d be curious if any mainstream picture books or novels discuss this ceremony not from a “teaching” perspective, but just as a part of Jewish tradition/culture.
Peter
http://www.collectingchildrensbooks.blogspot.com
P.S. The Amazon customer who said he was hoping that BABY’S BRIS would be a pop-up book scares me.
Is this going to turn into a pop-up book joke???
I seem to remember a Pidyon Ha-Ben scene in one of the All-of-a-Kind Family books, but not a bris I don’t think. I think there *must* be one besides Baby’s Bris but can’t identify it despite searching the web catalog of the jewish day school where I used to work–maybe Linda Silver or Heidi Estrin would know?
Back when I was an acquiring editor, a hopeful writer cornered me at a conference to tell me all about his book on the dangers and damage of circumcision. He wouldn’t leave until I offered him some tips.
“… until I offered him some tips.”
No comment. Giggling like an eight-year-old, sure. But no comment.
My book “BLESSINGS:OUR JEWISH CEREMONIES” published by JPS has a poem and an illustration about a Brit Milah or bris. Go figure….
Along with the Wilkowski book, there’s Rosie and the Mole: the Story of a Bris by Judy Silverman published by Pitspopany in 1999, and there’s My Baby Brother: What a Miracle! by Sylvia Rouss published by Jonathan David in 2002.
Try the following (tho’currently OOP):
Rosie & the Mole: The Story of a Bris
by Judy Silverman
My baby brother : what a miracle! / by Sylvia Rouss
My library’s catalog describes it thusly: “Sarah does not understand why everyone says that her new baby brother is a miracle, but then, on the day of his bris (circumcision), she takes another look at him.”