The Mountain Jews and the Mirror

by Ruchama King Feuerman, Polona Kosec (Illustrations), Marcela Calderón (Illustrations)

Yosef and Estrella have spent their whole lives in Morocco's Atlas Mountains. When they move to the city, they face a strange, unfamiliar world. Will their love survive the surprises of their new home? A funny and charming folktale-like story of mistaken identities.

-- "Journal"

Genres: Picture Books, Jewish, Judaism, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2015

About the author

Ruchama King Feuerman was born in Nashville, grew up in Virginia and Maryland, and when she was seventeen, bought a one-way ticket to Israel to seek her spiritual fortune. Seven Blessings (St. Martin’s Press), her celebrated first novel about match-making, earned her the praise of the New York Times and the Dallas Morning News, and Kirkus Reviews dubbed her "the Jewish Jane Austen." She wrote her second novel, In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist, with the help of grants from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and it will be published in September 2013 by NYRB Lit, a new e-book series from the New York Review of Books devoted to publishing contemporary books of literary merit from around the world. Her stories and essays have appeared in numerous places, including the New York Times, and she is a winner of the 2012 Moment Fiction contest, judged by the novelist Walter Mosley.

Reviews

[Oriyah N · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm torn about this one. I really wanted to like it. From the get-go I was encouraged. The illustrations were beautiful, the characters were drawn modestly, and the author had a rather frum-sounding name, so, unlike many PJ library books, this one showed promise. I even took a gamble and read it to my preschooler sight unseen.

I wish I hadn't. The content itself isn't particularly Jewish other than then characters and the mention of a chuppah at the beginning. And although it is couched in "did he take another wife?" essentially this is a book about a couple suspecting that each of their respectively spouses has been unfaithful, which IMHO has ZERO place in a young children's book.

And everyone is focused too much on looks.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A newly married couple moves to Casablanca in order to get work and through a series of events thinks that the other one has taken another spouse. Would be a very interesting book to read to kids today, because the story is based around the idea that the husband and wife have never actually seen a mirror.

[B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a charming folktale about Jews who aren’t worldly and so they mistake their own reflection in a mirror for another spouse. In the end this is a lesson about insecurity and the faithful love of two people. Loved it.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
A young Jewish couple from the mountains moves to the city and when given a wardrobe with a mirror they are convinced that one another is cheating.

[Syntaxx · Rating 1 out of 5]

this story certainly doesnt do the mountain jews any favors branding-wise

[The Transmuted Tree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Red 3rd

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is kind of rude to Jewish people .It makes them sound dumb .