Kelly Terwilliger

When Bubbe Isabella builds a sukkah and bakes a lemon cake, she hopes that someone will come by and celebrate Sukkot (the Jewish harvest festival) with her. She does indeed get visitors, but they are all animals, and are more interested in her Sukkah and its decorations - the roof of leaves, the hanging corn and apples - than in her cake. Eventually however, a boy does come by, looking for flags for Simchat Torah, and Bubbe Isabella, having supplied tasty treats to all the local wildlife, is able to help here as well...

Although Bubbe Isabella and the Sukkot Cake is quite cute in some respects, offering a sweet story of living in harmony with nature, and being kind to local wildlife, it also struck me as a little melancholy. Where are Bubbe Isabella's human family and friends? Is she all alone? Is that cake still edible, by the end of the week? These were all questions I found myself asking, as I read, and I suspect young children will likewise wonder. I've been reading Sukkot stories of late, in honor of the time of year, but I think this is one of the weaker ones, when compared to titles like Eric A. Kimmel's wonderful The Mysterious Guests: A Sukkot Story. There's really nothing wrong here, but if the reader is specifically looking for Sukkot stories in which the animals munch on the decorations, I think I would recommend Susan Axe-Bronk's The Vanishing Gourds: A Sukkot Mystery instead.… (mehr)

I think the forest animals that visit Bubbe Isabella's sukkah and talk to her are supposed to be cute. Living in the suburbs and having raccoons rummage through our garbage occasionally means that I don't have the warm and fuzzy feeling that I think the author wants me to have. Perhaps if there were explanations about the holiday, ushpizin (sukkah guests), the impermanence / planned obsolescence of a sukkah, and the timely link to Simchat Torah (although unless she is in Israel or a Reform Jew, there's a day between them and I'm not sure if removing the sides of a sukkah is halachic ok on or between the two holidays), it might help.… (mehr)