Children aged 2-3 will receive the touching story of friendship ‘Uncle Amos Doesn’t Go to Work’, written by Philip Stead and translated by Natalia Kalyushina. Uncle Amos lives all alone and works as a keeper at the zoo. Every day he leaves the house, gets on the bus at exactly 6 o’clock and goes to his animals. But then one day Uncle Amos gets sick and stays home. Who do you think will give the old man his tea, read him a book and play chess? His animal friends, of course!

 

Readers aged 4-6 will get the book ‘You’ll Understand Me’. It’s one of the last books that the wonderful poet and translator, a great friend of the Pajama Library, Mikhail Yasnov ז “ל, came up with. Originally, these poems, riddles and nursery rhymes were written in Yiddish, the language of Eastern European Jews spoken by our great-grandparents. If Hebrew has always been a language of Jewish scholarship, Yiddish is a language of sad songs and cautionary tales, fairy tales and jokes. Not without reason our ancestors called it “mame-loshn” – the language of mothers. It was used to argue and scold, to complain, to cry, to cradle children, to mock, it was spoken in Jewish villages, whose world has almost disappeared, remaining only on the pages of adult and children’s books.

Older subscribers – children aged 6-8 – will meet the boy Benny and his baker grandfather in the book ‘Benny’s Bagels’. It is written by Aubrey Davies and translated by Valery Genkin. Benny likes to help his grandfather in the bakery. Together they bake and sell bread, rolls and apple strudel. But the best thing they do is bake bagels, as they call them. They’re the tastiest in town, with a crispy crust and irresistible. Customers thank Grandpa all the time, but he thinks it’s not him they should thank, but G-d. But how can they thank Him? It’s not an easy task, but Benny manages it. Once a week he takes the rolls to the synagogue and hides them in the aron a-kodesh, the wardrobe where the Torah is kept. The buns disappear every time. Does G-d himself take them?

The books will soon reach the young subscribers. Read with joy!

*”Pajama Library” – it’s fascinating Jewish fairy tales and stories in Russian for children from 2 to 8 years old. To all subscribers the project gives up to 10 books a year. You can subscribe free of charge here: https://bit.ly/PJlibraryLV

17.11.2021