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Searching... Salem Main Library | J 398.2 Davis 2003 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Benny loves to help out at his grandpa's bakery in the morning, and the customers love the crusty bagels with their soft insides. When Grandpa explains to Benny that God, not him, should be thanked for the wonderful bagels, Benny sets out to do just that. He decides to leave God a bagful of bagels in the synagogue at the end of each week. And each week God eats the bagels -- or so Benny thinks ... Lovingly told, Bagels from Benny explores the values of caring and sharing, building a strong sense of community and finding joy in giving thanks.
Author Notes
Aubrey Davis was born on June 28, 1937, in Canada. He started writing and performing his works in 1970. His award-winning children's books includes A Hen for Izzy Pippik (2012). Bagels for Benny (2003), Bone Button Borscht (1995), and The Enormous Potato (1997). He has conducted workshops throughout Canada and the United States. He also, told stories and performed them. His first published book was Bone Bottom Borscht (1995). It was published by Kids Can Press. Davis also helped create the Institute of Cross-Cultural Exchange. They donated millions of books to children in Canada and Afghanistan. He volunteered for The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge. It is a charitable educational organization. Dedicated to cross-cultural understanding. It brings research on human nature to the general public. Aubrey Davis died on June 2, 2022.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Davis (previously paired with Petricic for The Enormous Potato) successfully updates a centuries-old Jewish folktale (a traditional version can be found in Barbara Diamond Goldin's memorable Hanukkah anthology, While the Candles Burn). Benny's grandfather bakes wonderful bagels, but teaches Benny that it is God, not him, who should be thanked for them ("Aren't bagels made with flour?"... "Doesn't flour come from wheat?"... "And where does wheat come from?"... "And who made the earth?"... "Then thank God for the bagels"). Benny wants to make sure God knows he's grateful, so he decides to thank Him by stashing a big bag of bagels in the Ark at his synagogue; the bagels disappear, leading Benny to think that God has eaten them, so he repeats his gift every Friday. When Benny learns that a poor man has been eating the bagels, he feels disappointed until his grandfather points out that by helping the poor man, Benny has thanked God ("You made the world a little better"). In creating a child protagonist and introducing an intergenerational element, Davis increases the folktale's accessibility to young readers, and his fluid prose, too, is welcoming. Unfortunately, Petricic's illustrations don't match the warmth of the story. Caricatures distance the audience from the emotions and the action, and a predominantly brown palette, although strategically accented with bright colors, dampens the visual interest. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Benny tries to thank God for his grandfather's excellent bagels by placing a bag of them in the Holy Ark at the synagogue each Shabbat. The gift disappears every time. Is God eating them, or someone else? Despite the somewhat heavy-handed resolution, this is a sweet and satisfying story, well written and amusingly illustrated. A brief source note is provided. From HORN BOOK Spring 2004, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A heartfelt gesture of gratitude takes a surprising but altogether proper twist in this retold folktale. When young Benny's beloved Grandpa, a baker renowned for his bagels, suggests that God deserves the main credit for them, Benny mulls it over, then begins leaving a bag of them in the synagogue every week. They disappear, which he takes as a good sign--until one time he sees a poor man come in and take them, with a prayer of thanks. Benny is devastated until Grandpa, who's seen the whole thing, tells him that he's made the world a little better--"And what better thanks could God have?" Petricic supplies sketchy watercolor scenes of bagelish color and shape, featuring an engagingly small, jug-eared lad in jacket and shorts wrestling great bags of steaming bagels into the Holy Ark. Davis doesn't supply a recipe (practically a requirement these days for any story involving food), but he does close with a note on his sources. Even younger readers will have no trouble appreciating either the wisdom that Grandpa offers, or the close relationship between him and his devout grandson. (Picture book/folktale. 6-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
PreS-Gr. 2. Benny says thank you to God, but how does he know that God hears? Why doesn't God answer? Benny works out a plan: in return for working in his grandpa's bakery, Benny asks for a bag of bagels every Friday and he leaves them for God in the Holy Ark in the synagogue. Every week the bagels disappear, and Benny is happy that God has taken them. Then Benny and Grandpa see a ragged man take the bagels from the ark and thank God for feeding him; the man says that he has found work at last, and he promises to help others. Based on an ancient Jewish folktale from Spain, the story of how a small gesture can make a difference is a moving drama of generosity and faith. The casual, cartoon-style watercolors with pencil cross-hatching show the mystery in ordinary things. The pictures, in a circular in shape in the center of each page, are as round as a bagel, as round as the Earth made by God. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2003 Booklist