A Gefilte Fishy Tale​

This book is hysterical! Having a Bubbe myself, and having eaten Gefilte fish this book really brought back memories. The rhyming was great and added a lot. Illustrations were very cute and matched the text perfectly. Having the yiddish dictionary in the front was great for people not familiar with the terminology and adding recipes and songs to the end was a delightful addition! Mazel tov for a great book!

A Gefilte Fishy Tale


The book has some wonderful illustrations, along with a glossary of Hebrew/Yiddish words for anyone who is unfamiliar with the terms in this book!
Gefilte fish for the uninitiated is: "Gefilte Fish ~ a dish made from whitefish, carp, and pike, often enjoyed on Shabbat and the Jewish holidays —with a dollop of horseradish on the side (guhFILLtuh)"
What a fun tale, an inventor, karate kicker, and plumber all try to pry open a jar of delicious Gefilte fish...... But who finally does - you'll have to read the book to find out!

Everyone can relate to trying to open a jar and being unsuccessful. Loved it!

Grandmother Judy tries her best to prepare the traditional meal for the whole family for friday evening.
For her young grandson she has a special surprise, a giant jar of gefilte fish and she's really looking forward to offer him his favourite dish.
But try as she might, the jar’s lid is stuck and now everybody tries their luck to assist Judy in her plight to reach the delicious food.
There’s a friend who’s a famous inventor, a doctor, a plumber, the dentist (I loved, how he tries to open the jar with a loud “open wide”) and many more who offer their help.
As the lid still won’t budge when it’s time for the relatives to arrive, the whole rest of the family has now also a go and all the things they try are a lot of fun. Karate, hairdryer, hypnosis, and still no positive result.

Finally it’s the grandson’s turn and his idea is to try and just say “please”. Will it work?
Is saying “please” the right magic word to open firmly stuck lids?

The lovely picture book really took me by surprise, as it offers quite a few things at the same time.
First there’s a cheerful rhyming story with splendid illustrations, which children will love and the book introduces cleverly a few Yiddish words to young kids. (At the start of the book, there’s a helpful Yiddish-English glossary, where all the words which appear in the text are translated and explained.)
Then there’s a recipe for delicious mini muffins (of course, with gefilte fish), followed by the lyrics for a song, which can be listened to on YouTube.
Finally we learn quite a bit about Jewish traditions/festivities and the mouthwatering food that goes with them and not to forget, the really good moral of the story, the magic of the word “Please”.

Definitely recommended.

An adorable book for young children everywhere, Jewish or not. Yes, it deals with a dish the grandmother is trying to prepare for the Shabbot and yes, there are yiddish words included (and a glossary at the beginning) but besides that, it does not prostheletize. This is a great book with brightly colored pages and a rhyming story about trying to get the lid off the jar of gefilte fish. The whole family and community try to solve the problem and get the lid off to no avail.

Bubbe (Grandmother) Judy is preparing the Shabbos meal. Jake, her grandson loves gefilte fish, it is his favourite so Bubbe must prepare it. When she can not get the lid off the jar, she needs help. Antics ensue as Bubbe and Zayde (Grandfather) work together to try and remove the lid. When they can not get it off, they seek help from others in the community. The plumber, the dentist, the doctor and even their friend a wacky inventor can not get the lid off. When the family comes over for dinner and the lid still isn't off, so they all try. It is not until Jake says, "Please" does the lid pop off on its own.

As was mentioned by a previous reviewer, it is nice to see the grandparents are not old and grey-haired. There are many young grandparents (I am one of them) and this is more in keeping with what many children will be familiar with. The illustrations are great in this story. They are bright, colourful and fun to look at. It will be fun for the children reading/listening to this story to find Jake and his dog on each page. They are always there fooling around and having fun. Another way to get children talking about what they read.

I wold recommend this book to school and public libraries. It could be used to teach about rhyme, holidays, communities etc.

A charming rhyming story that teaches children some basic Yiddish.

This book has a good story to it, I really enjoyed the different Yiddish words that were added in to the text too, I knew a couple but learnt quite a few more. The layout and colours are bright and attractive, a good and fun, quick read.

I was not sure what to expect when I opened this book. My first impressions was not the best because of the two page glossary at the beginning. But I was greatly surprised by the fun, rhyming story about trying to get a jar open. Man was that thing stuck. The words in the glossary make an appearance and could have been explained at the end, except that there was music at the end. Over all this is a fun book.

This might sound weird (then anyone who knows me will know this is par for the course), but a couple of days ago the term 'gefilte fish' was going through my brain. I know not from whence it came. Not on that day, but a few years back, I saw a greeting card in a store that featured 'gefilte fish' as part of a nonsense good wishes recital and I blame that for originally fixating it in my brain where it's been lodged comfortably ever since.

I know at some point - and assuming I live long enough - that it's going to come out in a story. All this, anyway, to indicate why I thought it was a good idea to read this young children's book beautifully illustrated by Renée Andriani, and rhymed to perfection by the Marks brothers, er, husband wife team! Although frankly, it might have been written by the Marx Brothers.

Bubba Judy buys a jar of gefilte fish, and all is well until they get it home and find they cannot get it open. This also turns out to be jar for the course as they resort to an assortment of friends to help undo it, and all of them fail. What's to become of it? Well you'll have an interesting time finding out. In addition to the story, you get recipe for gefilte fish mini muffins, which frankly sounds disgusting to me, but maybe they're nice. There's also an original song by Wayne Marks, Margie Blumberg, and Gavin Whelehan, and a very welcome glossary for the Yiddish-challenged, which includes me most of the time, although fans of Mel Brooks movies might recognize some of these words. I recommend this one for a fun read for kids and an educational experience!

A great tale for celebrating a day of rest (Shabbat) A grandmother preparing a meal for the grandchild - with some yiddish words and a glossary of their meaning. This book is perfect for young readers or as a read-aloud at story time with rhyming story pattern and well illustrated. Can open up a lot a conversational topics.

Not just a children's book. Youngsters will enjoy this humorous story in rhyme (the rhymes are quite good and do not seem forced). But the clever tale is sure to evoke smiles and laughter from adults, especially bubbies and zaydes. Engaging illustrations of a plethora of characters attempting to open an obstinate jar of gefilte fish using creative means capture the zaniness. You'll want to give this one to all of your friends and family. Bravo, five stars!

Oy Gevalt! (Oh No!) It's Friday and shabbos (sabbath) is only hours away! Bubbe Judy (grandmother) wants to serve gefilte fish to the family at dinner, but she cannot open the jar! Zayde (grandfather) tries, and it still won't open. So Zayde, Bubbe Judy, grandson Jack, (a boychik (a sweet boy)), and his little dog take the jar to a mechanic, a dentist, a doctor, an inventor, and to everybody they know! But still the jar won't open and it is giving them tsuris (woe).

Authors Allison and Wayne Marks use simple rhyme sprinkled with Yiddish to tell their story, which makes it easier for children to remember the words after reading it, or hearing it read out loud. Renee Andriani's illustrations are cozy, modern and relatable. For example, if a child does not understand the description of the inventor who could not open the jar with his machine (called "Old Gus"), then he or she may grasp the story through the illustration of the disheveled, very alarmed cat and dog sitting near the soot-covered inventor.

This book is a wonderful introduction to Yiddish and the comforting way it is used and spoken in many Jewish families around the world. It is also a beautiful reminder for Jewish and non-Jewish children that Jewish culture and tradition are very much a part of American culture and will remain so. A Gefite Fishy Tale deserves a place in every school library.

Jack's family is going to have gefilte fish for their shabbos meal, but the jar refuses to open! The family doctor to the car mechanic, and everyone in between, takes their shot at opening this jar. The illustrations add to the humor. I highly recommend this children's book. I read it via NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher.

I loved this children's book, the rhyming, dilemma, and way it was solved. I loved getting a glimpse of words used within a different religion and teaching my son in a fun way. It has all the necesssary parts of a children's story, in my honest opinion. A quick, fun read; but also a book that teaches and helps children learn new words meaning and foods they might not learn otherwise! Highly recommend parents buying a copy and reading it and teaching their children what this book offers! Love that it only took the magic word, we always preach, to end the dilemma that many stronger, bigger, and smarter could not fix!

I loved this book and hope that many people can come to appreciate the Yiddish appearing throughout.