Joey and the Giant Box

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 16 MAR 2015

What kid doesn't love a ginormous appliance box and all the pretend play possibilities it offers? But the dishwasher box takes up so much room in Joey's house that his mother insists it go to recycling. Joey hits on another idea: turn the box into a collection barrel for the Star of David food bank and have all the kids at his Jewish day school contribute. It's a story in service to a worthy cause, but Lakritz's (Hello, Lily) brisk, cheery prose and Byrne's (Bunny Starts School) cartooning which features a standard-issue, wide-eyed cast with big round heads don't do much to soften the book's blunt didacticism. (As soon as the box is carted away to the pantry, Joey's teacher hands out tzedakah boxes explaining, "here is a much smaller box that can still do a big mitzvah.") Given Joey's relative maturity (he looks like an independent-minded kindergartner or first-grader), his initial cluelessness about hunger comes across as somewhat implausible. Ages 4 8.