A plucky girl puts grand plans into play when left to manage her family's store in the late Paula Cohen's spirited and venerating picture book Big Dreams, Small Fish.
Young Shirley has all sorts of ideas for how to improve her family's new store. Mama and Papa think she's underfoot, though, and dismiss her as "too little to help." Shirley's lucky break comes when the adults rush off and leave the store and Shirley under the inattentive care of sleepy Mrs. Gottlieb. As she runs the shop, inventive Shirley tucks a sample of her mother's delicious (but slow selling) gefilte fish into customers' shopping bags: "Later that evening, each neighbor found a surprise." Her furious family is placated when the customers return, clamoring "for the new neighborhood delicacy: gefilte fish," and earning Shirley her spot in the family business.
Cohen delivers a humorous picture book debut that celebrates an optimistic and determined immigrant family. Gefilte fish, a staple of Jewish cuisine made from ground fish and matzoh meal, is fully explained in backmatter that includes a recipe from New York City's Russ & Daughters deli. Conversational text, peppered with Yiddish, is succinct, and occasionally travels along with Shirley and her energetic movements. Cohen's spunky, rosy-cheeked protagonist and the shop are digitally rendered in a blue-toned palette with lively black lines reminiscent of the work of David Small.
This playful story delivers an important underlying message likely to resonate with spirited and resourceful young readers. Pass the horseradish! --Kit Ballenger, youth librarian, Help Your Shelf