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The Peddler and the Baker (Paperback)

Children's Books

By Yael Molchadsky, Illustrations by Liora Grossman
Imprint: Green Bean Books
Pages: 32
Illustrations: 30 colour
ISBN: 9781784384814
Published: 30th April 2020

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‘Hallelujah for a brand new day and the wondrous smell that floats my way.’

A poor but happy peddler lives in the attic of a bakery. Whilst he does not have much, he is content with his life. Every morning, he wakes up to the wonderful smell of freshly-baked bread and loudly exclaims his joy through the open window.

The baker, however, grows ever more irate that the peddler should enjoy the smell of his bread without ever paying for it. He asks the Rabbi for help.

The Rabbi summons the peddler and instructs him to return in one week with enough money to pay the baker back for all the times he has enjoyed the smell of his challah. The peddler works harder than ever that week. On Friday morning, when he returns with as much money as he can scrape together, the rabbi takes his coin-pouch and shakes it for the baker to hear. The sound of the coins is payment, the Rabbi says, for the smell of the bread. Sound and smell, just like Shabbat, are free for everyone in the world to enjoy.

A delightful retelling of an inspiring folktale, The Peddler and the Baker teaches the importance of sharing and inclusivity, the beauty of Shabbat and the idea that anyone, regardless of their circumstances, has the right to find joy in the world.

A recipe for challah follows the story.

Featured in Children’s Books list

Jewish Chronicle, 8th May 2020

The illus­tra­tion is just as spec­tac­u­lar as the witty text, using appeal­ing mut­ed tones, facial expres­sion, and body lan­guage. The artist's rendition of a bustling, pro­duc­tive, yet gen­er­al­ly serene town is superb.

Michal Hoschan­der Malen, edi­tor of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This is a gorgeous book, the illustrations are just stunning! The story is a good one, with an easily understandable lesson, that covers both a lesson about selfishness and a lesson about the best things in life being free, with a big dash of being happy with what you have. It's a great morality tale, but the star here is the art- so soft, so luminescent, so lovely! Buy this, read it over and over, look at the illustrations for hours, it's that kind of book. Obviously highly recommended!

NetGalley, April Gray

I love retellings of fables that have long been forgotten, it is a great way to continue a cultures history and stories alive in a digital age.
This was a beautiful retelling of story from the Middle East, like all fables there is a moral and it is wonderfully told.

The illustrations were gorgeous, and they fit in so well with the story, it was a true pleasure to see the story unfold within the pictures and words.

Definitely recommended - with a bonus Challah recipe at the back :)

NetGalley, Serena Bourke

A great book to teach others not to be selfish, and let others enjoy things. The illustrations were nice as well.

NetGalley, Meena Naik

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Enjoy being transported back in time to a city with an entirely different physical structure in the desert hues and arching hills of color pencil drawings in Yael Molchadsky’s The Peddler and the Baker. The combination of theme with-a-moral and the color pencil drawings from The Peddler and the Baker created a humble retelling of a classic tale that can be easily interpreted for many an age.

NetGalley, Ess Aytch

This is a lovely children's book which had been translated into English about a peddler who opens up his window to smell what the baker is baking. 4 stars

NetGalley, Millie Scott-Allen

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I do love books like this and I have to say that I thought that the images in the book were absolutely perfect for the book!

The story was great and even though I knew how it would all end it was still a pleasure to read.

It is easy to follow and understand and I really liked the touch to add the recipe for Challah at the end of the book too.

It is 5 stars from me for his one, it is a great retelling of a lovely folktale - very highly recommended!!

NetGalley, Donna Maguire

Great story with an interesting message in it... I did enjoy the original and pretty artwork in it. And the recipes at the end was a nice bonus. A good book overall!

NetGalley, Etienne Breton

A simple, but perfectly put, fable from the middle East, as a peddler who cries his appreciation for the smell of the bakers' below his home each morning gets complained about. You just know there will be a pleasant twist, and of course there is. In one fell swoop the book can show the benefits of hard work, the pleasure in letting everyone live their own life – and the mindful kind of sitting back and benefiting from smells, birdsong and everything else pleasurable that we can find for free if we have the mind to. What was equally pleasurable was the artwork – all pastel colours, and richly detailed line work. The community here really comes to life – but the message of the book is still allowed to be universal. A strong four stars, if not more.

NetGalley, John Lloyd

About Yael Molchadsky

Yael Molchadsky is the director of the Children's and YA department at Israel's Kinneret-Zmora-Dvir publishing house. She has translated picture books from English and German and is a sought-after speaker on Children's and YA literature. The Chameleon that Saved Noah's Ark, her first book for children, was translated into five languages.


About Liora Grossman

Liora Grossman was born in Lithuania during the Soviet regime and immigrated to Israel when she was 5 years old. She graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and has illustrated more than 100 children books in Israel and Europe. She has illustrated food columns in some of Israel’s leading newspapers and teaches Illustration at Holon Institute of Technology.

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