When his sins threaten the lives of his beloved twin children, a Jewish man finally repents of his wicked ways.
Rather than regret or atone for his everyday mistakes, baker Gershon simply sweeps them into his basement. Once a year on Rosh Hashanah, he stuffs these demon-shaped transgressions in a giant bag and dumps them into the Black Sea. Of course, Gershon must discover sooner or later that his selfish acts cannot be disposed of so easily. In spite of a pointed warning from a rabbi, Gershon refuses to realize that his behavior will come back to haunt him someday. It's only when he is faced with the monstrous bulk of his misdeeds that Gershon finally, truly repents.
Eric A. Kimmel's beautiful retelling of the traditional Hasidic legend for the Jewish New Year captures all the weighty value of responsibility and forgiveness. In his author's note, Kimmel describes the Rosh Hashanah ceremony called tashlikh, in which people gather at the seashore or by a river to recite biblical verses and turn their pockets inside out, allowing bread crumbs to fall into the water--a symbolic casting-off of sins.
Award-winning illustrator Jon J Muth's expressive and luminous watercolors, suffused with the pale golden light of day or oppressed under a lowering coastal sky, are unforgettable, as is the remarkably frightening yet stunning "immense black monster covered with scales like iron plates," on each of which is written one of Gershon's misdeeds. Muth's extraordinary work can also be seen in author Karen Hesse's lovely picture book Come On, Rain! (Ages 5 to 9) --Emilie Coulter
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Kimmel is for Kids- Gershon Shows us his Monster:
This book is very well written and illuminates the annual ritual of casting our sins into the water known as Tashlik [transliteration varies]. My kids are Kimmel fan. Every Synagogue library should stock their childrens section with this amusing and articulate author. There are lessons to be learned and he takes the stories of Sholem Aleichem, among other storytellers and creates a humor worthy of contemplation and praise.
loved it BUT the recommended age group should definitely be older:
I absolutely loved this book! It is very moving and heartwrenching. I must warn, however, that I really do think they misjudged the age group recommendation for this book (4 to 8 years old). The illustrations are incredible but disturbing. I hesitantly chose to read it to a kindergarten class last year during High Holy Days and regretted doing so. Don't get me wrong...the children were glued to the story but I could see them getting scared (and not in a "fun" way). I have no doubt that those images... more info
Disturbing images, not for ages 4-8 at all!!!:
I am disturbed by the number of 5-stars this book has gotten. I would be willing to use this book with older children (6th grade and up!) but not at all with younger ones. The images are dark and disturbing, and the manner in which Gershon "scrubs" himself clean is a bit difficult as well -- repentance shouldn't be because we are forced to do so by terrible black monsters but because we see that it is an important part of working on improving ourselves regularly...I like some of Eric Kimmel's other work... more info
A fable for everyone:
This Jewish fable, retold by Eric A. Kimmel, isn't just for Jewish people. Anybody can relate to Gershon's behavior and its consequences.
The watercolor illustrations by Jon J Muth take the story to an even higher level. I especially love his impish black monsters. Kimmel and Muth are a wonderful pairing; I hope they do more books together!
