Awards

• Short-listed for Dance, Sing, Remember: A Celebration of Jewish Hol 2000 (United States)
• Short-listed for The Eight Knights of Hanukkah 2020 (United States)
• Short-listed for The Little Red Hen and The Passover Matzah 2010 (United States)
• Short-listed for Write On, Irving Berlin! 2018 (United States)

Overview

>Adam and Eve greeting the first day and night, where everything is new and they are full of awe >well known Bible story told from a slightly different perspective >lightly feminist book >highlights values of resiliency when facing the unknown; friendship; and faith. >Includes a note to readers to help them make a personal connection 

Full Product Details

9781681156255

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Reviews

KIRKUS STARRED REVIEW  Everything is completely new and unknown on the first day of human existence. Eve’s first day finds her thankful and unafraid. Not even the “brilliant ball of yellow burning above” worries her. She notices a two-legged creature, who seems friendly and calls himself Adam. Together they give names to everything they see. Eve considers Adam’s ideas for names—“dog,” “cat,” “ant”—somewhat boring, while hers are more interesting: “nightingale” and “strawberry,” for instance. Perhaps it’s because God had some practice before he made her. Eve emerges as the more dominant of the two, but she finds Adam kind and beautiful. Relying on faith—and each other—the pair deal with the strangeness of everything, from rain to sundown and night to the miracle of sunrise on their second day. The familiar tale is told in the ancient Jewish tradition of midrash, a way of interpreting and enriching Bible stories. Kimmelman employs soaring, highly descriptive language imbued with gentle humor, imagination, wonder, and awe, brought to vivid life by Avgustinovich’s lush artwork. The brown-skinned duo are nude but covered up by Eve’s thick black hair and, in Adam’s case, a strategically placed leaf. Never demanding belief or denying science, this is a fresh take on the oldest interpretation of the beginning. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Gloriously beautiful and tender. (author’s note) (Religious picture book. 4-9)  --KIRKUS REVIEWS

KIRKUS STARRED REVIEW  Everything is completely new and unknown on the first day of human existence. Eve’s first day finds her thankful and unafraid. Not even the “brilliant ball of yellow burning above” worries her. She notices a two-legged creature, who seems friendly and calls himself Adam. Together they give names to everything they see. Eve considers Adam’s ideas for names—“dog,” “cat,” “ant”—somewhat boring, while hers are more interesting: “nightingale” and “strawberry,” for instance. Perhaps it’s because God had some practice before he made her. Eve emerges as the more dominant of the two, but she finds Adam kind and beautiful. Relying on faith—and each other—the pair deal with the strangeness of everything, from rain to sundown and night to the miracle of sunrise on their second day. The familiar tale is told in the ancient Jewish tradition of midrash, a way of interpreting and enriching Bible stories. Kimmelman employs soaring, highly descriptive language imbued with gentle humor, imagination, wonder, and awe, brought to vivid life by Avgustinovich’s lush artwork. The brown-skinned duo are nude but covered up by Eve’s thick black hair and, in Adam’s case, a strategically placed leaf. Never demanding belief or denying science, this is a fresh take on the oldest interpretation of the beginning. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Gloriously beautiful and tender. (author’s note) (Religious picture book. 4-9)  --KIRKUS REVIEWS Leslie Kim­mel­man and Iri­na Avgusti­novich tell the sto­ry of Adam and Eve — but this time, the tale is recount­ed from Eve’s point of view as she encoun­ters God’s cre­ations for the first time. She names the ani­mals and all nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­na with her own cre­ative touch and encour­ages Adam to do the same. She keeps him calm and reas­sures him with opti­mism when they expe­ri­ence their first fright­en­ing sun­set and night­fall, when they are unsure whether there will be a sec­ond day of light. Eve’s deter­mi­na­tion to face the future with hope will inspire readers. The mag­nif­i­cent col­or illus­tra­tions show the Gar­den of Eden in all its lush and lav­ish abun­dance. There is no snake in this gar­den — just the beau­ty of new expe­ri­ences and an appre­ci­a­tion of the world’s awe-inspir­ing wonder. An author’s note to this mod­ern midrash teach­es young read­ers that while new things can be scary and uncom­fort­able, hav­ing faith in ​“your­self, in the peo­ple around you, or in God” can help you cope with life’s chal­lenges and uncer­tain­ties, and give you the con­fi­dence to antic­i­pate what tomor­row may bring.  --JEWISH BOOK COUNCIL

Author Information

Leslie Kimmelman has written more than 50 children's books.  She was a longtime children’s book editor at various publishing houses, including more than 24 years at Sesame Workshop where she created Julia, the Muppet on the autism spectrum, for the book that first introduced her as a Sesame Street character. She lives in Ardsley, NY. Irina Avgustinovich has illustrated more than 50 books for children. Originally from Belarus, she emigrated to Portugal with her family when war against Ukraine broke out. She currently lives in Stubal, Portugal. 

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