Chik Chak Shabbat by Mara Rockliff, illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker

Every Saturday, the residents of one apartment building spend the day smelling marvelous smells drifting down from the 5th floor.  And every Saturday evening, everyone gathers on the 5th floor for Goldie’s cholent, a traditional Jewish stew.  But then one Saturday, there was no wonderful smell and when little Lali Omar went up the stairs, she found that Goldie was too sick to get the cholent cooking and it was too late to start the slow-cooking stew.  All is not lost though, as the neighbors look through their own pantries and refrigerators and create a Saturday meal that is not cholent but has many of the same ingredients incorporated into foods from their own personal heritages.  There is Korean barley tea, tomato pizza, potato curry, and beans and rice. 

Rockliff’s Shabbat tale is an amazingly diverse story.  While it follows Jewish traditions in the beginning, including Goldie sharing memories as a little girl of Shabbat with her extended family, the magic comes when Goldie gets ill.  Not only does the reader quickly realize how important this shared meal and time is for the entire building, but suddenly the heritage of each person is shown through their food.  It’s a clever way to show community and diversity in a single situation.

Brooker’s illustrations combine cut paper art with rich thick paint.  The result is the same winning combination of dishes served at the community Shabbat table.  The different textures and colors come together to be something more than their individual parts, creating a dynamic world.

Celebrating community, this book shows how diverse people can come together in friendship and harmony to save the day.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from library copy.