Mazel Toes by Audrey Barbakoff with illustrations by Annita Soble; Oakland, California: The Collective Book Studio; (c) 2025; ISBN 9781685-555627; 22 pages; $12.95.
SAN DIEGO — This book is more complex than the typical board book. Instead of telling one story, it has three objectives.
One is to tell no matter how much families change, parental love for helpless, innocent babies is boundless.
Another is to introduce readers to the rich vocabulary of the Yiddish language. The stanzas feature such words for body parts as keppie (forehead); pulkes (chubby baby thighs); pupik (belly button); shayna punim (pretty face) and tuchus (butt).
These words are complemented by other Yiddish words including bubala (darling); plotz (explode with strong emotion); schluff (sleep); schmatte (rag, on in this case blanket); and schefele (little lamb).
Finally, the illustrations depict Jewish families assimilating in America through the generations. The first panel depicts a traditional family. The men wear black kippot and beards; the grandmothers wear scarves over their heads; the young boy wears a blue kippah and tzitzit.
In the next panel, the father does not wear any head covering; the mother and children are dressed in the style of the day.
A couple of panels more and one female member of the family has moved to the Southwest, caring for her baby in a desert landscape. In another panel, the Euro-American family is joined by African-Americans. In the following panel the parents are racially intermarried. Next panel depicts a gay couple adoring their child.
The book concludes with a diverse assemblage admiring a newborn child.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.
It sounds like a very interesting story.