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Shlemiel Crooks NewSouth Books Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor Book & Koret International Jewish Book Award Finalist for 2005 “In the middle of the night on a Thursday, two crooks—onions should grow on their navels—drove their horse and wagon to the saloon of Reb Elias Olschwanger, at the corner of 14th and Carr streets in St. Louis. This didn’t happen yesterday. It was 1919.” So begins Anna Olswanger’s charming folktale Shlemiel Crooks, the story of Reb Elias and the thieves who try to steal his Passover wine. Based on a true story, Shlemiel Crooks is an imaginative introduction for young children to the history of Passover, as Pharaoh and a town of Jewish immigrants play tug-of-war with wine made from grapes left over from the exodus of Egypt. A modern-day parable, Shlemiel Crooks has a music all its own. No other children’s book has Pharaoh’s ghost coming back to “pull one over on the Jews,” nosy neighbors making a “shtuss” outside, and a talking horse that sounds like it has a “little indigestion.” In its Yiddish-inflected English, punctuated by amusing curses, young readers hear the language of a Jewish community of another time, while delighting to brilliant illustrations on every page.
Reviews “Shlemiel Crooks manages to be both poignant—and laugh-out-loud funny. A gem.” “Buy this book—you should only have good luck coming out of your ears—and you’ll laugh out loud. A delight!” “Anna Olswanger’s Shlemiel Crooks, told with Yiddish inflection, is a fine addition to the growing number of stories about the Jewish immigrant experience. Mazel tov!” “[Shlemiel Crooks is] delightfully told in a colloquial, folksy style, sprinkled with gentle humor, and beautifully illustrated.” “Two dopey burglars, a talking horse, a wagon loaded in Passover wine, and Pharaoh and Elijah duking it out in St. Louis make for a great Passover story. All we need is W. C. Handy to set it to music: ‘St. Louis Ganovim!’ “A lively tale, a delight for young and old, Anna Olswanger’s Shlemiel Crooks has the enchanting qualities of legend.” “Anna Olswanger’s deliciously funny story and Paula Koz’s colorful art carry a strong flavor of Yiddishkeit as well as a timeless message of the joy and strength of community.” “The distinctive music of the storytelling and the atmospheric illustrations create an early twentieth century urban folk tale with character, humor, warmth, and grit.”
Links Visit Anna Olswanger’s Web site at http://www.olswanger.com/. Visit the Web site for Shlemiel Crooks at http://www.shlemielcrooks.com/. Visit Paula Goodman Koz’s Web site at http://paulagoodmankoz.com/. Also by Anna Olswanger:
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