It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folk Tale

Once upon a time a poor unfortunate man lived with his mother, his wife, and his six children in a one-room hut. Because they were so crowded, the children often fought and the man and his wife argued. When the poor man was unable to stand it any longer, he ran to the Rabbi for help. As he follows the Rabbi’s unlikely advice, the poor man’s life goes from bad to worse, with increasingly uproarious results. In his little hut, silly calamity follows foolish catastrophe, all memorably depicted in full-color illustrations that are both funnier and lovelier than any this distinguished artist has done in the past.

Shlemazel and the Remarkable Spoon of Pohost

A retelling of an Eastern European tale in which Shlemazel, the laziest man in town, is tricked into believing that the lucky spoon given to him by a neighbor will bring him fortune and fame, if it is used in the right way.

 

The Black Dot

Children wake up one morning and find a black dot on their playground. When it isn’t easily removed, each has a different way of coping with it.

There are no currently English translations of this Arabic text available.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 4

Juan Bobo: Four Folktales From Puerto Rico (I Can Read Book 3)

Mama puts Juan Bobo to work whenever he is having a good time. But he always finds a way to make work fun like using baskets instead of buckets to carry water or sprinkling the pig with Mama’s favorite perfume.

After The Flood

This sequel to The Ark traces the establishment and development of communities on earth and offers an original theory for events that followed the Great Flood. Geisert’s beautiful, full-color etchings alternate between panoramic views and detailed glimpses of everything from the ark to Mount Ararat. “With a stroke of originality, Geisert continues the oft-told tale of the Great Flood by imagining life for Noah and his retinue as the waters begin to recede . . . An understated, quietly powerful book.” — Publishers Weekly

Jesus

Gennady Spirin created one original, spectacular oil painting to illustrate thirteen principal events in the life of Jesus: The Annunciation, The Birth, The Baptism, The Child in the Temple, The Fast and Temptation of Jesus, The Marriage at Cana, The Sermon on the Mount, The Transfiguration, The Raising of Lazurus at Bethany, The Last Supper, The Crucifixion, The Resurrection, and The Ascension into Heaven. Each section of Spirin’s painting corresponds to the events in Jesus’ life and has been lifted and reproduced to illustrate the book’s Biblical text. A note about the painting and the book’s innovative design is included.