The Boy Who Stuck Out His Tongue: A Yiddish Folk Tale

by Edith Tarbescu, Judith Christine Mills (Illustrator)

When the widow asks her son to light the fire, he just sticks his tongue out at her. ... But when he gets himself into a sticky situation, the kind folk of the little Hungarian village are quick to rally around. The butcher, the baker, the cobbler, the carpenter,and the cook gather up the tools of their trades and offer their well-meaning support to the boy, cheered on by a sympathetic crowd.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute little story about a boy who does not care to listen to his mother. Sticking his tongue out goes from being a sign of defiance to realizing it can put you in a sticky situation. The book has a good moral, not only for the boy but also for the town village.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picture book about a selfish boy who learns a lesson when he needs the help of others. A cute moral, but my kid found it predictable and it failed to hold her interest.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Yiddish folk tale of a selfish boy who never helped anyone, but when he got his tongue stuck to an iron gate in the winter, he realized how much the town folk tried to help him, and how selfish he had been. Having received his comeuppance, he had a change of heart toward others from that day forward.