Challah Day!

With verve reminiscent of a vintage musical number, and crisp digital artwork that nods to 1960s animation, a family pools their respective talents to make challah--the twisted egg bread that's a tradition of the Jewish Sabbath. The action, set to rhyming text, focuses mostly on bustling kitchen interplay, occasionally breaking into choreographed flights of fantasy. In one spread, the pale-skinned family's elder child--the book's narrator--dances and leaps across giant containers of sugar, salt, and oil before hopping onto an enormous spoon that extends out of an equally large mixing bowl. Offsay (A Grandma's Magic) and Kirschner (Mr. Particular) don't rush the preparations (they take several frames to show how "the dough will start to rise/ growing till it's twice the size"), nor do they leave anyone on the sidelines (Baby kneads the dough by crawling on it, and the family dog helps tear plastic to cover the bowl). Guests arrive, Grandma "lights the candles bright," and everyone gets to enjoy "Finally--our favorite part--// homemade challah/ from the heart." Brief explanatory material and a recipe conclude. Ages 3-5. Author's agent: Nicole Geiger, Full Circle Literary. Illustrator's agent: Teresa Kietlinski, Bookmark Literary. (Aug.)