Why read The Hardest Word?

Book cover of The Hardest Word: A Yom Kippur Story

Book description

Loosely based on the Hasidic legend "The Tear of Repentance", The Hardest Word is a story about forgiveness.

The Ziz, a wonderful bird who lived long ago, is so big and clumsy that he can't keep from bumping into things. When a tree he knocks over destroys the children's garden,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Hardest Word as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Kerry M. Olitzky

Author

Yom Kippur is a difficult holiday for adults. It is even more difficult and exceptionally abstract for kids.

Words like atonement and forgiveness are particularly hard to grasp. This book focuses on one idea: saying I’m sorry. As a result, it takes an idea that is taught by parents, educators, and caregivers and places it in a Jewish holiday story context that is both playful and profound. I like this book, because it takes a complicated idea and distills it in a very manageable way.

From Kerry's list on kids reads that simplify complicated Jewish ideas.