New Year at the Pier

Author April Halprin Wayland

Illustrated by Stephane Jorisch

Ebook

Penguin Young Readers | Dial Books

On sale Jun 11, 2009 | 32 Pages | 9781101642658

Grades K-3

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Izzy’s favorite part of Rosh Hashanah is Tashlich, a joyous ceremony in which people apologize for the mistakes they made in the previous year and thus clean the slate as the new year begins. But there is one mistake on Izzy’s “I’m sorry” list that he’s finding especially hard to say out loud.

Humor, touching moments between family and friends, and lots of information about the Jewish New Year are all combined in this lovely picture book for holiday sharing.

Winner of the Sydney Taylor Gold Medal for best Jewish picture book of the year!

April Halprin Wayland has been a teacher, a corporate manager, a fiddle player, and a walnut farmer, but she has always been a writer. She is the author of several picture books, among them the critically acclaimed New Year at the Pier, which won the Sydney Taylor Book Award gold medal for the best Jewish children's book of the year, and a young adult novel-in-verse called Girl Coming in for a Landing, which won both the Lee Bennet Hopkins Honor Award for Children's Poetry and the Myra Cohn Livingston Award. April and her family celebrate the new year on a pier near Los Angeles, California. Her website, aprilwayland.com, includes student activities based on her books. View titles by April Halprin Wayland

Stéphane Jorisch has illustrated numerous picture books, including the critically acclaimed Betty Bunny series, New Year at the Pier, Granddad’s Fishing Buddy, The Real Story of Stone Soup, and Jabberwocky, for which he won the prestigious Governor General’s Award, the Canadian equivalent of the Caldecott. Mr. Jorisch lives with his wife and three children in Montreal, Canada. View titles by Stephane Jorisch

Prasie for New Year at the Pier:

"A well-crafted introduction to an alternative aspect of the holiday with room for discussion." --Kirkus Reviews

* "[T]he empathetic, low-key prose makes important points about personal responsibility without pummeling readers." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A child's perspective on atonement and repentance, expressed in meaningful and childlike ways, is sustained throughout a narrative that emphasizes both personal and communal atonement."--Association of Jewish Libraries

"If you are introducing your youngster to the Rosh Hashanah ceremony tashlich, then you'll want to get a copy of New Year at the Pier."--Jewish Woman Magazine

"Believable family interaction, a good sense of community and some lovely language permeate this very now, very real story."--JT News

"[O]ffers an excellent, thorough look at forgiveness during one of the most important holidays of the year."--Jewish Book World Magazine