A Book about Bupkes
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
This is a book about bupkes: nothing, zero, zilch. Sometimes, though, what looks like nothing turns out to be the most important thing of all. An empty garden seems like nothing―bupkes! But it means that Zoe and her mom have taken a big basket of fresh veggies to their neighbor. An empty bench at the playground seems like nothing—bupkes! But Zoe has made a new friend and now no one needs to sit on the bench. An empty soup bowl seems like nothing―bupkes! But Zoe takes chicken soup to her sick mom and, after eating it, her mom feels better. The funny thing is that bupkes may mean nothing, but it can feel like everything.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bupkes is a Yiddish word that usually connotes lack of value (e.g., "You know bupkes about that"). But Kimmelman (Write On, Irving Berlin!) and de Rond (Milo and Monty) start on a more expansive, neutral note. Defining the word as simply "nothing"—or, as they put it, "Zero. Zilch"—they use it as a kind of linguistic linchpin for a pale-skinned protagonist, young Zoe, to connect with and help others in a community of individuals shown with varied abilities and skin tones. In an early vignette, Zoe and her mother harvest all the vegetables from a garden, leaving behind "Bupkes!" But when they make a gift delivery of fresh-picked produce, "their neighbor is happy." Similarly, when Zoe encounters a child sitting alone on a bench filled with belongings ("There's no room for anything—or anyone—else"), she introduces herself, the two go off to play, and the bench is now "Bupkes! Empty bench. Full hearts." Slice-of-life drawings and upbeat characters, rendered in loopy ink lines with soft washes, assure readers that the world moves forward on even the smallest acts of kindness. Or, as closing lines read, "The thing is, bupkes may mean nothing... but it can feel like everything!" Ages 4–8.
