On One Foot

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Review ------ "This is the story of a young man who challenges the great sage Rabbi Hillel to teach him the entire Torah while standing on one foot. Hillel cleverly responds, 'Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.' That is the whole Torah; 'the rest is just comments and explanations.' This picture book, while not crediting its Talmudic source, is an expansion of that incident, offering motivation for the odd request and showing the student experiencing reciprocal behaviors during his quest for the perfect teacher. The pacing and simple language are well suited to a young audience, and the message is clear without feeling didactic. The collage illustrations are intriguing, if a bit creepy. The characters' noses are covered in Hebrew text, and their hands are photographs of real hands attached to skinny, stretched-out arms. The calm palette and spacious layout somewhat counteract the eerie effect. Bolded text makes the dialogue stand out. VERDICT This excellent introduction to the Golden Rule can be used successfully with Jewish and non-Jewish audiences. Combine with Ilene Cooper's The Golden Rule for a more multicultural approach and Laurie Keller's Do unto Otters for a more playful version." -- School Library Journal (Journal) "A somewhat foolish and impatient young man goes to Jerusalem in search of a great rabbi to teach him the entire Torah while standing on one foot. He meets several rabbis, but each, in turn, laughs at him, yells at him, or shakes his fist at him, until he meets Rabbi Hillel. The gentle, wise Rabbi Hillel calmly answers, 'Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you . . . The rest is just comments and explanations.' After the boy thinks about the answer, he decides to try to behave as instructed, and Rabbi Hillel invites him to study. This well-known Talmudic tale is conveyed through whimsical illustrations of paper, cloth, and colored pencils in a collage appearance, with a vivid text easily understood by grade school students. The large, easy to read text is artistically placed in and around these full page, full color illustrations. Some of the papers used for various rabbis' garments are covered in Hebrew print. While boldface type designates the conversations between the young man and the various rabbis and group of children whom he asked for help, bold, maroon letters focus attention on Rabbi Hillel’s famous answer. The Author's Note gives some historic information about Hillel and quotes his famous 'If [I] am not for myself, who is for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?' (omitted from ARC, hopefully corrected in published copy). It would have been helpful to list Pirke Avot 1:14 for this quote, and to reference Talmud Shabbat 31a as the source for the story told in this book. This is an attractive picture book that would be useful for teaching about Rabbi Hillel and the verse often referred to as the Golden Rule." -- AJL Reviews (Magazine) Read more ( javascript:void(0) ) About the Author ---------------- Award-winning illustrator and graphic designer Nuria Balaguer comes from a family that works with toys, so it wasn't surprising when she began expressing herself with paper and colored pencils. She lives in Madrid, Spain. Read more ( javascript:void(0) )