Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

Marilyn Singer’s Minnie’s Yom Kippur Birthday is a great introduction to both (concepts and objects related to) synagogue and Yom Kippur. It contains the story of a little girl, Minnie, whose birthday falls on Yom Kippur this year. She is anticipating a party and even more special merriments, but for her great disappointment she gets none of the above all day. In the afternoon she is taken for the very first time to shul and the concept of atonement and teshuvah is also explained to her (and the target audience of young children) on a level she can understand and practice. The happy end cannot stay away either: after the communal breaking of the fast the whole community celebrates her birthday.

Ruth Rosner’s lively watercolors on every page help bring the story to life. This is as much fun one can bring to Yom Kippur, while the serious nature of the Holy Day was repeated several times to ensure it is not misinterpreted.