PreS-Gr 2-Baxter desperately wants to experience Shabbat dinner, the special Friday-night meal that ushers in the Jewish day of rest. He wants to see for himself how "the candles gleam and glow and dance while our sweetest voices lift in song." When he learns that pork is a forbidden food according to Jewish law, he stuffs his face with kosher pickles and raisin challah, hoping to become kosher. He even tries, unsuccessfully, to become a cow. Finally, an encounter with a kind rabbi sets him straight. She explains that while he's not kosher to eat, never will be, and really wouldn't want to be, everyone is welcome at Shabbat dinner. Baxter enjoys a marvelous evening with the rabbi, pigging out on kugel, a Jewish casserole dish, and realizing that it is much better to be a guest than an item on the menu. The delightfully expressive and comical pen-and-ink illustrations are digitally enhanced with photographs of storefronts, deli counters, pickle jars, and traditional Jewish foods. While animals celebrating Shabbat isn't new-think Sylvia A. Rouss's Sammy Spider's First Shabbat (1998), Diane Rauchwerger's Dinosaur on Shabbat (2006), and Jacqueline Jules's Once Upon a Shabbos (1999, all Kar-Ben)-the idea of a pig wanting to become kosher will entertain children and the adults reading to them, especially those familiar with Jewish traditions.-Rachel Kamin, North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, Highland Park, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

When an old Jewish man at a bus stop extols the joys of Shabbat and its traditional dinner, Baxter becomes a pig possessed. All he can think about is how "the candles gleam and glow and dance while our sweetest voices lift in song!" But then Baxter learns that being part of the Shabbat dinner has an entry requirement: you have to be something called "kosher." Stuffing himself with kosher pickles and challah bread, as well as trying his hand at being a cow ("He acquired a handy set of horns. He cultivated a taste for clover"), are a few of the ways Baxter futilely attempts to achieve that goal. Snyder (Inside the Slidy Diner) and Goldin (Go-Go-Go!) go together like matzo balls and chicken soup: the bright, daffy prose and ebulliently goofy cartoon and photo collages will persuade readers that they don't have to be Jewish to enjoy Baxter's spiritual journey-which ends, happily enough, at the Shabbat table of a kindly rabbi. Yes, of course he's a guest. What did you think? Ages 4-8. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

The title says it all: When Baxter hears about Shabbat, when "the candles gleam and glow and dance while our sweetest voices lift in song," from an old man at the bus stop, of course he wants to be part of itbut how? The young man he meets the next week tells him he can't: "You're not kosher!" In pursuit of kosher, Baxter eats kosher dills, pigs out on challah and teaches himself to moo. Finally a kindly rabbi leads him to the truth: "But," she asks, "why would you want to get eaten?" She goes on, however, to explain that "[i]t is a mitzvah to welcome a stranger," so Baxter gets to enjoy Shabbat after all. Goldin's photo-collage illustrations present a suitably goofy-but-sincere cartoon pig dressed in a plaid button-down Oxford shirt and locate him in an urban neighborhood that features an imposing synagogue and a kosher deli. While Snyder's glossary glides a little irresponsibly over the precise meaning of "kosher," this will nevertheless find plenty of use in Jewish homes, particularly among families in which one parent is not Jewish. (author's note) (Picture book. 5-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

An offhand comment by a man in a yarmulke gets inquisitive pig Baxter thinking about Shabbat: the Jewish day of rest when "the candles gleam and glow and dance while our sweetest voices lift in song!" Baxter decides he wants to be part of the celebration, so naturally he's crushed to be excluded ("'YOU?...Part of Shabbat dinner? That's impossible!...You're not kosher!'" says a man in a long white apron. "'Kosher?' asked Baxter. 'What's kosher?'"). He spends the rest of the book trying to answer that question, mistaking the rules of kosher (described in the appended glossary as "food that meets traditional biblical standards for Jewish munching") for the food items themselves; by Baxter's logic, if he eats enough pickles and challah -- or dresses up like a cow ("Cows are kosher!") -- it will make him kosher, thus able to join in the Shabbat fun. The misunderstanding is cleared up when kindly Rabbi Rosen asks the logical question, "But why would you want to get eaten?" (Baxter's response: "Eaten?! Me? Who said anything about getting eaten?"), then invites the piggy to be a guest at the table rather than the main course. In-the-know readers will be tickled pink by mensch Baxter's mistake while the uninitiated will quickly catch on; an appended author's note provides more details. The digital pen-and-ink and collage cartoon illustrations are enhanced by photographs of important Shabbat items (candlesticks; challah) -- but mostly of food. elissa gershowitz (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.