Bagels from Benny

Based on a Jewish folktale, Davis’ Bagels from Benny introduces readers to a young boy named Benny who wants to show his gratitude to God by taking Him bagels in the synagogue. He initially believes that God eats the bagels and therefore receives Benny’s thanks, but is upset when he discovers

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that a poor man has been taking the bagels instead—how will God know that Benny is thankful? But Benny’s grandfather assures him that by doing a good deed and helping others, he thanks God by making the world better. This moral lesson is simple enough for even very young children to understand, and is a positive message for all readers. While the story is based in Judaism and reinforces Jewish values, it promotes a message of sharing, gratitude and helping others that transcends many religious and cultural boundaries and applies to children of many faiths and backgrounds. Bagels also depicts a strong grandparent-grandchild relationship, showing cross-generational interactions in a positive way.
As a winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award, Bagels is an acclaimed piece of Jewish children’s literature that librarians may want to consider for Jewish or religious children’s collections. However, the book’s colorful illustrations and positive message make it engaging for young readers in general and make it somewhat versatile for use in story times, read-alouds, etc. Given its bagel theme, this book would also lend itself well to related activities involving food or circles, perhaps in theme units for younger children.

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I enjoyed this book. The illustrations are calming. I think that it was really accurate in the way Benny's thoughts progress too. If I were a child, I would think to do the same thing with the bagels, although I might have been more cautious than Benny.

OH GOOD, time to get started on retroactively reviewing 60 kids' books! Well, we must imagine Sisyphus happy, I guess. Um, this is one about how Benny brings bagels for God* because he gets it into his little kid dumbhead that God wants bagels and then it turns out a homeless guy is removing them

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from the ark and eating them and his faith is affirmed of course as also is Benny's when his zayde gets him to see how the whole thing is a clear matter of God's grace and not to be so freakin literal in his little kid dumbhead.

*I originally wrote "G-d" but that seemed crypto-anti-Semitic somehow and maybe that's oversensitive but why not err on the side of not crypto-anti-Semitic?

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