Strudel, Strudel, Strudel

Sanfield, Steve; Lisker, Emily

ISBN 10: 0531087298 ISBN 13: 9780531087299

Publisher: Orchard Books, 1995

Synopsis

Explains why teachers living in Chelm may not live on the top of a hill, own a trunk with wheels, nor eat apple strudel

About this title

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-6?Zaynul the school teacher and his wife Zeitel are poor but happy Chelmites?until they develop an uncontrollable craving for strudel. Asleep or awake, they dream about the sweet treat until Zeitel comes up with a plan. If they each save just one zloty a week, hiding the coins in an old trunk with wheels, they will be able to afford the ingredients. After the first week, both husband and wife secretly decide to let their spouse do the saving. The trunk is finally opened in the spring, revealing only the two original coins. In the argument that follows, they fall into the trunk, which rolls down the street and wreaks havoc in the marketplace. In response, the town leaders use their best Chelm logic to make some new rules: teachers may not live on a hill, own a trunk with wheels, or eat strudel. Another version of this tale appears in Solomon Simon's More Wise Men of Helm and Their Merry Tales (Behrman, 1965; o.p.). While Sanfield's retelling reads smoothly and has some funny moments, the language lacks the rich flavor of the earlier story. Lisker's oil paintings are colorful and full of motion. The characters have stylized features, objects seem to be slightly out of perspective, children look like miniature adults, and animals seem too large or too small?visual elements that all reflect the unusualness of life in Chelm. However, for a tale from such a solid tradition, both text and illustrations lack a strong sense of time or place.?Joy Fleishhacker, New York Public Library
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly

Inspired by Jewish folklore, Sanfield's (The Feather Merchants) delightfully silly caper takes place in Chelm, whose inhabitants-"fools and simpletons"-believe they are the wisest people in the world. Posted in front of the House of Study is a strange sign: "A Teacher May Not Live on Top of a Hill/ A Teacher May Not Own a Trunk with Wheels/ A Teacher May Not Eat Apple Strudel." The laws date back to an incident involving a schoolteacher who shares with his wife an insatiable love for apple strudel. Each pledges to place a coin every week in their trunk (on wheels), so that by spring they can afford to make lots of strudel. Alas, husband and wife each renege, confident the other is virtuously feeding the trunk with coins. The inevitable squabble ends with the two locked in the trunk, which rolls out of their house and smack into the town marketplace. The Council of Seven Sages resolves the couple's quandary, but erects the aforesaid sign to prevent a recurrence. Contributing to both the old-world charm and the humor of Sanfield's jaunty story are debut illustrator Lisker's whimsical, primitive oil paintings. Flattened perspectives and skewed lines hint at Chagall, but the comic sensibility is all her own. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Orchard Books
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0531087298
• ISBN 13: 9780531087299
• Binding: Library Binding
• Illustrator: Lisker Emily