Cakes and Miracles, by Barbara Diamond Goldin (ages 4 - 10)

If life puts difficult obstacles in your way, can you still follow your dreams? On one hand, this might seem like an overplayed message, but Barbara Diamond Goldin's picture book Cakes and Miracles does a lovely job of showing a young boy overcoming his blindness to help his mother the way he wants to. It's a sweet, inspiring tale - wonderful to share during the Jewish holiday of Purim, or at any time.

Cakes and Miracles:
A Purim Tale
by Barbara Diamond Goldin
illustrted by Jaime Zollars
NY: Marshall Cavendish, 2010
ages 4 - 10
available on Amazon and at your local library
2011 Sydney Taylor honor book for young children

Young Hershel was blind, but "his blindness did not keep him from going to school, or shaking pears from the neighbor's tree, or catching frogs in the river." His mother worked hard to earn money, ever since Hershel's father died: cooking, cleaning, making things to sell in the marketplace. This year, Hershel wants to help make the sweets his mother sells at Purim, the Jewish holiday that honors Queen Esther, but his mother wonders how he could make the delicate cakes if he cannot see them. That night, Hershel has a dream where an angel tells him, "You see when you close your eyes. You see in your dreams." And the next night, Hershel went to the kitchen and made beautiful cakes and cookies, following the shapes he saw in his head.

This sweet story affirms the power that each child has within them to follow their vision, to help and contribute in the way they know they can. At the end of the day, after all the cookies had been bought at market, Hershel smiled with happiness:

"Hershel couldn't see the table. But he could feel the excitement all around him. Purim excitement. Cookie excitement. Talent excitement. And in his head, he could see himself as a man, a baker, perhaps, with bowls of flour all around."

Cakes and Miracles: A Purim Tale, has been recognized with the Sydney Taylor Honor Award for Younger Readers, an award that is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience. Presented by the Association of Jewish Libraries, this is an award that helps bring a wide range of books to a broad audience.

Barbara Diamond Goldin originally wrote and published Cakes and Miracles in 1991. She has shortened the text, and it has been released with new illustrations. I particularly like the warmth and feelings in Jaime Zollars' illustrations.

I am very excited about sharing an interview with Barbara Diamond Goldin on Tuesday here at Great Kid Books, as part of the Sydney Taylor Award Blog Tour. Here are the full details of the blog tour:

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2011

• Carla Jablonski, author of Resistance
  Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at Jewish Comics
• Leland Purvis, illustrator of Resistance
  Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at Shelf-Employed
• Sarah Gershman, author of Modeh Ani: A Good Morning Book
  Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at Biblio File

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2011

• Linda Glaser, author of Emma’s Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty
  Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at ASHarmony
• Claire Nivola, illustrator of Emma’s Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty
  Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at Lori Calabrese
• Evelyn Krieger, author of One Is Not a Lonely Number
  Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at Ima On and Off the Bima

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2011

• Barbara Diamond Goldin, author of Cakes and Miracles: A Purim Tale
  Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at Great Kid Books
• Jaime Zollars, illustrator of Cakes and Miracles: A Purim Tale
  Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at The Book of Life
• Susan Lynn Meyer, author of Black Radishes
  Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category at The 3 Rs – Reading, ‘Riting & Research

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2011

• Howard Schwartz, author of Gathering Sparks
  Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at Boston Bibliophile
• Barry Deutsch, author and illustrator of Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword
  Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Older Readers Category at BewilderBlog
• Dana Reinhardt, author of The Things a Brother Knows
  Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Teen Readers Category at A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2011

• Kristina Swarner, illustrator of Gathering Sparks
  Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Younger Readers Category
• And illustrator of Modeh Ani: A Good Morning Book
  Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category at Alice Pope’s SCBWI Children’s Market Blog
• Sarah Darer Littman, author of Life, After
  Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Teen Readers Category at Into the Wardrobe
• Eishes Chayil, author of Hush
  Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Teen Readers Category at Frume Sarah’s World

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2011

• Morris Gleitzman, author of Once
  Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Teen Readers Category at The Fourth Musketeer
• Sydney Taylor Award Winners – Wrap-Up
  All winners, all categories at The Whole Megillah