The Sabbath Lion: A Jewish Folktale from Algeria

by Howard Schwartz, Barbara Rush, Stephen Fieser

Because of Yosef's devotion to honoring the Sabbath, he is given special protection by a great lion

Genres: Jewish, Picture Books, Childrens, Africa, Young Adult, Fiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Howard Schwartz is Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is a prolific writer who has published fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. In searching for themes and images for his work in various genres, he has often found his inspiration in biblical, midrashic, and kabbalistic lore. Many of his works retell ancient folktales, reflecting his belief in the importance of passing cultural lore from one generation to the next. His poetry frequently reflects the dreamlike and mysterious elements of Jewish mythology.

Reviews

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is hard for me to rate this, since I am an adult, and I am not Jewish, nor religious.
In fact, I am a Canadian Atheist, who is also an adult, so I am very aware that this book was not written for me, and it is geared towards Jewish families.
If I were a Jewish child, I would probably love this book, and the message that it is sending.
The illustrations are great, and the story about a boy, and his Lion protector would appeal to any Jewish Child ( I presume)
That all being said, I rated it a 3 star, to be fair, but if I were a Religious Jewish child, I would probably rate it the full five stars. :)

[Beth Polebaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Shabbat book ever!

[Beverlee Jobrack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story about faith and belief in traditions.

[Cassian Lynne]

It feels odd to give this book a rating? So I won’t. But this was such a sweet children’s book!

[Haim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A North African folktale of a young boy en-route to Egypt with a caravan. Instead of violating the Sabbath, the young boy stays put in the middle of desert, while the rest of the caravan moved on, despite the promise of the caravan leader to the boy's mother. A lion comes along, out of no-where and stays with the boy, not only till after the Sabbath, but helps the boy on his journey to Egypt. A very moving tale of staying true to one's faith and the rewards one benefits. The story is complemented with very beautiful Stephen Fieser.

What is appreciated, is that Howard Schwartz provides the sources for the folktale.

[T. Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of the sabbath lion, a lion sent by the "sabbath queen" to protect a young Jewish boy in exchange for his commitment to the sabbath tradition. There were several themes in the book that stood out, but the values of obedience and faith are highlighted beautifully in this story.

Although this is a Jewish folktale, the story is told by Jews in North Africa and is rich in cultural language. Students would learn basic Jewish terminology associated with foods too!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most beautiful Sabbath book for children that I have seen. The pictures are wonderful, soft, delicious, classic, spectacular. And so is the text.

[Becca Bankston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. One of the things I liked was that, in the book the illistrations usually gave clues to help with understanding what the words were, a lot of the context centers around a Jewish holiday some of the pracrices or words are not common. I think this would be a great book to use in a culture lesson. I think the main traits of this book are Ideas and Organization. I leveled this book using GLE (5.2) and Lexile (900L).