A Review of Cakes and Miracles: A Purim Tale by Barbara Diamond Goldin
Cakes and Miracles: A Purim Tale by Barbara Diamond Goldin, New York: Viking, 1991; new shortened edition, Illustrated by Jaime Zollars, Tarrytown NY: Marshall Cavendish Children, 2010.
This fiction picture book set in a small village focuses on a poor widow named Basha and her blind son, Hershel. Despite his visual impairment, Hershel goes to school and engages in activities that have delighted children for ages, such as “shaking pears from the neighbor’s tree, or catching frogs.” He also plays in the mud near the river and makes sculptures.
Basha tries to support her family by sewing, cooking, and baking cakes and hamantaschen, a Purim pastry. Herschel helps her by doing his chores, but he wants to accomplish more. One night, an angel comes to him in a dream, urging the boy to make what he imagines. (more…)