A Delicious Story
I love a good bagel story! Some of the most beautiful books I have read and shared are about bagels so when I saw The Bagel King by Andrew Larsen, illustrated by Sandy Nichols and published by Kids Can Press naturally I had to have a look.
Every Sunday, Zaida delivered bagels to Eli, occasionally Eli tagged along but no matter what the weather, Zaida would faithfully deliver bagels right to the front door. One Sunday, however, Zaida slips and falls on some “schmutz” at the bakery and hurts his “tuches” so he won’t be able to do the bagel delivery. How will Eli get his bagels?
Andrew Larsen has created a wonderful story about kindness, tradition, and community. Many of Larsen's stories come from his childhood and life experiences and I would love to know the seed behind this wonderful little tale. He includes some wonderful, familiar Yiddish terms to pepper his story with authenticity and feeling, providing translations at the front to help you read out loud. What a lovely story for our kids to remind them of that special grandparent/grandchild relationship and remind them that can be the helpers to their grandparents. I’m a sucker for a good intergenerational story, having such fond memories of my grandparents and the time we spent together when I was a child. It's an easy to roll off the tongue story. You will grab ahold of it quickly and will be able to read aloud right from the first reading. The illustrations by Sandy Nichols move the story along and are full of vibrancy and eye catching colour. Rendered in acrylic paint with bold outlines, they have a watery feel that jumps straight out of the page.
