(2) K-3 Illustrated by Vesper Stamper. A boy in Isfahan, Iran, learns how to design and make a rug with his grandmother. The new rug will replace the old frayed one in the main room of the house, which the boy’s grandmother made with her grandmother. The young narrator learns about rug-making, from shearing sheep to carding and spinning wool, dying yarn, and drafting a design from local design motifs of personal significance. Though the boy fixates on the idea of perfection and wants to make “the best rug in the world,” his grandmother gently suggests that the flaws are what make the rug beautiful. Depictions of Persian rugs are central to the soft-hued watercolor illustrations: a colorful, intricately designed rug is shown in use on the floor, while the new rug is shown on the loom, contrasting the beauty and usefulness of the finished product with the painstaking method of creating it. In this tender story, creating a rug becomes not just a moment when traditions can be passed down from one generation to the next but also an example of the beauty of the process and of the importance of family relationships. An author’s note gives more information on Persian and Middle Eastern rug-making

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2025

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Vesper Stamper. This picture-book biography tells the story of Cahan (1860–1951), cofounder and later editor of the Forverts, the Yiddish newspaper known in English as The Jewish Daily Forward. Finkelstein's clear text traces Cahan's journey from the Pale of Settlement -- he fled after being questioned by czarist police over his support of workers -- to New York, as well as his experiences as a new immigrant before the paper's founding. The book's depiction of Cahan's work on the paper emphasizes his understanding of and advocacy for the needs of other Jews, immigrants, and workers. Stamper's bustling street scenes, classrooms, and newspaper offices include plenty of instances of print to pore over in multiple languages (Cahan "loved words" in English, Russian, Hebrew, and Yiddish). Back matter includes more information on Cahan and on Yiddish, an author's note, a timeline, a bibliography, and suggested further reading.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Vesper Stamper. A gentle third-person text shares a grandfather’s thoughts about how the art he creates, the stories he tells, etc., for his grandchildren are nothing out of the ordinary—but readers will likely arrive before he does at the conclusion that even if he told the kids he was just average, “it probably wouldn’t matter.” They’d still see him as “the greatest grandfather in the world.” Richly hued watercolor-and-gouache illustrations are full of details about the family’s life, including, along with the text, welcome references to their Jewish identity.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax