Friday, October 18, 2019

Mr. Tempkin Climbs a Tree by Cary Fagan - OPTIONAL

Mr. Tempkin Climbs a Tree by Cary Fagan, illustrated by Carles Arbat. PICTURE BOOK. Kar-Ben Publishing (Lerner), 2019. $8. 9781541521742


BUYING ADVISORY: EL(K-3) - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Elderly Mr. Tempkin and young Marky are neighbors, and the boy loves to help out around Mr. Tempkin's yard. One morning Mr. Tempkin decides to climb his tree in order to fix his bird feeder, and ends up tumbling to the ground and hurting his ankle. His sprained ankle means Mr. Tempkin must stay off his feet for two weeks, and making his way to the synagogue daily is a real challenge. Marky jumps in to help here too and learns through all of this the great value in helping our neighbors.

This is a simple little book with a straightforward message about the value of helping others. I liked the relationship between Marky and Mr. Tempkin, but overall the book felt a little flat. The characters are obviously Jewish--with words like mensch and mitzvah thrown in casually--so this probably somewhat fits the "own voices" category of story. My favorite part of this whole book are the fun, standout illustrations. In general this book is nice, but nothing to really write home about.

Reviewer: TC

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