Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-This book is about a ball of clay with attitude. It belongs in the arts and crafts cabin at Camp Knish, but when it overhears the campers' plans to use it, it decides to make a break for the door. And so it goes, picking up speed as it passes campers dancing, playing soccer, and picking vegetables for Shabbat dinner. As it travels along, it loses its perfectly round shape, ending up on the shores of the lake, flat as a pancake. When a camper decides to make it into a ball of clay, it flip-flops into the lake and makes its escape. The book is set in a Jewish camp, and this emphasis adds an unusual twist to the traditional "Gingerbread Man" tale. As the ball of clay passes the campers, they all envision what they could make from it, such as a mezuzah or a kiddush cup. All of the signs throughout the camp are lettered in Hebrew and English, giving the setting more impact as well. The vivid blue skies and bright green grass of summer help the sassy ball of gray clay stand out. The ending seems abrupt and a little flat, but then again, so is the ball of clay.-Susan E. Murray, formerly at Glendale Public Library, AZ (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
At Camp Knish a ball of clay does not want to be made into a mezuzah, a dreidel, a kiddush cup, or anything else. In this bland gingerbread-man-inspired story, the ball of clay rolls past Violet Shtickler, Rabbi Shmaltzbaum, and others, then throws itself into the lake in an anticlimactic ending. The campers all look alike in the cartoon-style illustrations. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
An irksome version of the traditional cumulative tale adds little to the collection of Jewish literature. At Camp Knish, a ball of clay escapes the arts-and-crafts cabin, vowing never to be cut. It rolls through the camp as a growing group of look-a-like campers with names like Mira Farfelbottom and Mose Plotznik, along with Rabbi Shmaltzbaum give chase. Not wanting to be formed into a menorah, dreidel, kiddush cup or even a yad (pointer for reading Torah), the bedeviled ball of clay manages to get to the bank of Camp Knish Lake. Once there, he is "more like a pancake of claydented, dinged, and dirtied; stained, pebbled, and pounded" but still able to brag about his escape. One last roll has him sinking to the bottom, never to be seen again by the likes of Tali Nudgeblatt and her fellow campers. Colored-pencil drawings of typical camp scenarios with wooden cabins, soccer games, Israeli circle dancing and vegetable gardening along a green-hued meadow landscape provide a stereotypical background for the tale. The ball of clay itself is a tumbling, gray, lumpy mass with a snarky expression. The vexing choice to use faux-Yiddish names exacerbates its tiresome effect. This poorly executed adaptation is utterly lacking in ingenuity. Leave this one behind when packing kids for their summer-camp experience. (Picture book. 3-5) ]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.