Big Dreams, Small Fish

January 10, 2022
Shirley and her white Jewish family have opened up “a new store in a new neighborhood,” and life seems pretty good, except in two respects: no one is buying the homemade gefilte fish (“No one would even TRY it”), and Shirley’s parents think she’s too young to help them solve this vexing business problem (“We didn’t come to this country for you to solve problems,” says her father). But Shirley is full of big ideas, and when she’s left to mind the store, she includes a free sample of gefilte fish with every purchase. Her parents are appalled—but the next morning, the digitally colored pencil drawings show an ethnically inclusive line around the block of people eager to buy “the new neighborhood delicacy.” This Yiddish-punctuated slice-of-life story, Cohen’s picture book debut, wears its nostalgia lightly; the narrator’s voice is as crisp as the illustrations’ black outlines, set in an unspecified era that appears to be the 1930s or ’40s. What really matters here is timeless: an indomitable protagonist and the loving family who dotes on her. Back matter includes a glossary of Yiddish words and a gefilte fish recipe. Ages 4–8. Agent: Christy Ewers, CAT Agency.

March 15, 2022
Grades K-3 Shirley's extended, immigrant family runs a small grocery store where they sell canned goods, produce, and homemade specialty items such as gefilte fish. Unfortunately, none of their customers are familiar with this delicacy, so they aren't buying. One day all the grownups are called away from the shop, leaving Shirley and a snoring Mrs. Gottlieb in charge. Shirley is quick to implement several of her new business ideas, which include gifting every shopper with a free sample of fish. Cohen's slyly comical tale drives home the point that even small people can have good ideas. The digitally enhanced pencil drawings suggest a big city and Depression-era setting and feature blues, grays, and browns prominently. Small details enhance the story: black-and-white photos of relatives from the old country; Shirley's modern marketing ideas (which include a rotating conveyor belt); a Time magazine cover from 1932; and the ever--present family cat, who inserts himself into every activity. Heartwarming but never sappy, this pairs nicely with Barbara Cohen and Joan Halpern's classic, The Carp in the Bathtub. Recipe appended.

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May 15, 2022
A little fish gets a big break! Shirley's immigrant family comes to the United States and opens a new store. However, there is a problem: They cannot sell the gefilte fish, a family specialty, to the customers in their store's neighborhood. Pretty soon the stuffed fish dish piles up, and Shirley's parents lament that they might be eating it forever if they cannot sell some soon. Shirley takes it upon herself to try her best to move gefilte-units. Even though Mama says she is too little to help, one day, when the other adults are busy, Shirley gets the opportunity to step in--and, with a very creative solution, she saves the day. After all, it's Shirley's store, too. The story, which appears to take place around the turn of the 19th century, is a whole family undertaking, with Jewish food and culture at the center. Illustrations, created with pencil sketches that were overdrawn and digitally colored, use plenty of white space, and a sense of warmth pervades the narrative. Yiddish words--like farmisht and keppele--dot the pages and are listed in a helpful glossary that explains that Yiddish was spoken by many Eastern European Jews. Shirley and her family are light-skinned; theirs is a diverse community. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Young readers will enjoy this glimpse of Jewish immigrant life. (recipe for gefilte fish) (Picture book. 5-10)

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March 1, 2022
It's 1931 (per a wall calendar in an illustration), and Shirley's family is struggling to get customers to try their store's speciality: "The neighbors don't know from good gefilte fish," declares Mama. Shirley has "LOTS of big ideas" but is deemed too young to help...until she's left temporarily in charge and gambles successfully on the power of free samples. Initiative-taker Shirley is easy to root for, and the engaging narrative voice ("Shirley wasted no time. She straightened. She decorated. She modernized. She advertised") keeps the tale moving. Loose-lined illustrations (pencil sketches over-drawn and then colored digitally) incorporate collage details that include what are presumably family photos; the author's bio explains that Cohen's grandparents owned a grocery store in a diverse immigrant neighborhood like Shirley's. Back matter includes a glossary for the occasional Yiddish terms, and background on and a recipe for gefilte fish. Try it; you'll like it! Shoshana Flax

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2022
It's 1931 (per a wall calendar in an illustration), and Shirley's family is struggling to get customers to try their store's speciality: "The neighbors don't know from good gefilte fish," declares Mama. Shirley has "LOTS of big ideas" but is deemed too young to help...until she's left temporarily in charge and gambles successfully on the power of free samples. Initiative-taker Shirley is easy to root for, and the engaging narrative voice ("Shirley wasted no time. She straightened. She decorated. She modernized. She advertised") keeps the tale moving. Loose-lined illustrations (pencil sketches over-drawn and then colored digitally) incorporate collage details that include what are presumably family photos; the author's bio explains that Cohen's grandparents owned a grocery store in a diverse immigrant neighborhood like Shirley's. Back matter includes a glossary for the occasional Yiddish terms, and background on and a recipe for gefilte fish. Try it; you'll like it!

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)