Overview

After a day of roly-poly fun and shenanigans, it’s bedtime for maziks, the Yiddish word for pranksters or little mischief-makers, a name Jewish parents may lovingly call their rambunctious little ones. Join the maziks as they joyfully make their way through the day in this fun-filled rhyming tale.

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9781728427942

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A celebration of the sometimes-exasperating, but always entertaining, shenanigans of irrepressibly energetic young children. As Levy explains in a brief introduction, mazik 'is a Yiddish word for a devilish imp or a rambunctious mischief-maker.' The story follows the daily antics of two sibling maziks--cued as female and male--with White human parents. At breakfast time, the maziks--portrayed as happy little monsters with small fangs and pink and green skin--make a huge mess; ditto at crafts time in the living room. On some days, they attend school, where they hide under or jump on the furniture. On other days, they enjoy a rowdy, splashy romp at the pool or have a wild frolic with a multiracial group of neighborhood human kids. At dinnertime, they spill their juice and slip the cat challah bread before having a bedtime pillow fight. The rhyming text is filled with rhetorical questions ('Do they rumble? / Do they fight? / Do they snarl with all their might?' etc.) as the narrator repeatedly wonders, 'What do maziks do each day?' The colorful, busy artwork subtly indicates that this Jewish family observes Shabbat and ends each day with a Sh'ma prayer and that the maziks attend a Judaic school. Non-Jewish readers may miss these details, but the book's depiction of the hectic, demanding life of an active young family will be familiar to all little hellions and their exhausted parents. The mayhem of young family life seen through a positive, whimsical lens. -- Kirkus Reviews -- Journal (1/12/2022 12:00:00 AM)

Lov-ing par-ents have used any num-ber of col-or-ful names to des-ig-nate their out-of-con-trol chil-dren. In Yid-dish, one word for these adorable trou-ble-mak-ers is mazik. Yael Levy and Nabi-la Adani have spun an affec-tion-ate tale defin-ing these incor-ri-gi-ble crea-tures, pos-ing ques-tions about their activ-i-ties and depict-ing their hec-tic, and Jew-ish, dai-ly lives. From start to fin-ish, young read-ers and their care-givers will enjoy accom-pa-ny-ing these play-ing, snack-eat-ing, alef-bet learn-ing, and sh'ma-reciting kids through-out their busy day. Actu-al-ly, these mild-ly destruc-tive imps are not exact-ly chil-dren; they have pink-and-green skin and tiny, non-threat-en-ing fangs and claws. They are an homage to the great Jew-ish children's book author Mau-rice Sendak, whose jour-ney to the wild things ends with a reas-sur-ing trip home. Adani's cov-er shows the small mon-sters with two books. One is a stan-dard alpha-bet sto-ry opened to D is for Drei-del, con-jur-ing the joy of Hanukkah, while the oth-er is a vol-ume of Jew-ish folk-lore. It seems the maziks are acknowl-edg-ing their ori-gins in the rich leg-ends of Jew-ish tra-di-tion. But they live in the here-and-now, wak-ing up in bed-rooms lit-tered with toys, eat-ing a messy break-fast, and going to school where they fol-low all the rules, if only briefly. Chil-dren will iden-ti-fy with their good-natured defi-ance, while par-ents will relate to the chaos of their mak-ing trou-ble, break-ing stuff. Even the rel-a-tive-ly laid-back mom in jeans and a sweat-shirt pos-es with her hands on either side of her head, a uni-ver-sal ges-ture of frustration. The Jew-ish dimen-sion of the sto-ry is unob-tru-sive-ly inte-grat-ed into the over-all theme: there is a shelf in the kitchen with Sab-bath can-dles and kosher salt; the class black-board shows the Hebrew alpha-bet; and their Fri-day evening table includes chal-lah, can-dles, and grape juice, the final item result-ing in a messy spill. These lim-it-push-ing kids and their obvi-ous-ly human par-ents are Jew-ish in a mat-ter-of-fact way, their reli-gious iden-ti-ty pro-vid-ing the mean-ing-ful rou-tines of each day. Levy fol-lows fac-tu-al descrip-tions of what the maziks do with ques-tions, invit-ing chil-dren to ver-i-fy the essen-tial real-ism of these myth-i-cal beings: Do they laugh until they drop? What do maziks do each day? Adani's pic-tures are full of joy-ful and action-filled scenes. Her con-stant-ly smil-ing maziks make it clear that they mean no harm, and their impres-sive ener-gy lev-el cap-tures a part of child-hood that adults can only fond-ly remem-ber. These chil-dren nev-er stop their cre-ative dis-rup-tion, at least until it is time for the respite of sleep. The seam-less tran-si-tion from a wild pil-low fight to the dark peace of moon and stars will help to calm every-one even if those dreams that glide on star-lit thread are sure to include the next day's havoc. -- Website (5/30/2022 12:00:00 AM) A celebration of the sometimes-exasperating, but always entertaining, shenanigans of irrepressibly energetic young children. As Levy explains in a brief introduction, mazik 'is a Yiddish word for a devilish imp or a rambunctious mischief-maker.' The story follows the daily antics of two sibling maziks--cued as female and male--with White human parents. At breakfast time, the maziks--portrayed as happy little monsters with small fangs and pink and green skin--make a huge mess; ditto at crafts time in the living room. On some days, they attend school, where they hide under or jump on the furniture. On other days, they enjoy a rowdy, splashy romp at the pool or have a wild frolic with a multiracial group of neighborhood human kids. At dinnertime, they spill their juice and slip the cat challah bread before having a bedtime pillow fight. The rhyming text is filled with rhetorical questions ('Do they rumble? / Do they fight? / Do they snarl with all their might?' etc.) as the narrator repeatedly wonders, 'What do maziks do each day?' The colorful, busy artwork subtly indicates that this Jewish family observes Shabbat and ends each day with a Sh'ma prayer and that the maziks attend a Judaic school. Non-Jewish readers may miss these details, but the book's depiction of the hectic, demanding life of an active young family will be familiar to all little hellions and their exhausted parents. The mayhem of young family life seen through a positive, whimsical lens. -- Kirkus Reviews -- Journal (1/12/2022 12:00:00 AM)

""The mayhem of young family life seen through a positive, whimsical lens."" — Kirkus Reviews From start to fin­ish, young read­ers and their care­givers will enjoy accom­pa­ny­ing these play­ing, snack-eat­ing, alef-bet learn­ing, and sh’ma-reciting kids through­out their busy day...The seam­less tran­si­tion from a wild pil­low fight to the dark peace of moon and stars will help to calm every­one even if those “dreams that glide on star­lit thread” are sure to include the next day’s havoc.

Author Information

Yael Levy is an author and illustrator who loves creating books for children. Her work is published in a variety of places, most notably in the Jerusalem Post. Nabila Adani was born and grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia. She has loved drawing and telling stories as long as she can remember. She got the idea to illustrate children's books while looking for Indonesian picture books for her son. She lives in Jakarta.

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