Mazel Tov, Baby by Dara Henry with illustrations by Varda Livney; Sourcebookskids.com; (c) 2025; ISBN 9781464-220746; 24 pages; $10.99.
SAN DIEGO — Stages of a baby’s development are integrated with symbols and words of a Jewish lifestyle in this clever 24-page board book that enlarges to 31 pages when flaps of seven pages are flipped open.
“Tummy time on the rug” is the first example, with a child joined by a kitten on the carpet. On the rug with them are a beach ball decorated with letters of the Hebrew alphabet and a six-pointed Magen David necklace. I cringed at that illustration, imagining baby could stab himself with one of the points. Flip open the page and there’s a picture of the boy with his arms outstretched. The legend is “Mazel tov! Here’s a hug.”
In succession, the book alternately shows a little boy or girl. The next illustrations show him playing peek-a-boo; touching different parts of his head; a big sister clapping, waving and blowing kisses; a boy lying under a mobile decorated with a menorah, Shabbat candles and Jewish stars; another boy playing with Hebrew blocks; a girl counting her teeth and wearing a bib proclaiming her to be “our little matzah ball;” a boy having his nose booped by an adult woman (probably his mother), who wears a bracelet with a chai charm; a boy standing in his crib and reaching to shake hands; a girl taking her first steps; and at the end of the book, a mirror to admire how much she and he have grown.
Author Dara Henry is a “former elementary school teacher” and “the author of the picture book Hanukkah Pajamakkahs.”
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.