This is not a Cholent

Amira loves cholent and is eager to share her Nana’s Iraqi recipe in the “Best Cholent Competition Down Under.” Everyone gasps when Nana takes out a needle and thread and stitches the stuffed chicken, and adds eggs to the stew. “This is not a cholent!” the crowd says. Amira holds Nana’s hand and shuts her eyes when the judges come. “This is not a cholent,” the judges say “..but it’s delicious. What is it? “This IS a cholent,” Amira says. “It’s an Iraqi stew that Nana and I make every Friday.” Everyone agrees it is the best cholent, and the winner of the contest.

Forthcoming with Kar-Ben Publishing, Spring 2024

Warmth and fam­i­ly val­ues are the hall­marks of this stun­ning pic­ture book. The most touch­ing parts cap­ture the inter­gen­er­a­tional bond between Shoham and her lov­ing grand­moth­er- Jewish Book Council
What a delight it is to be invited into Shoham’s warm, multigenerational home in Iraq via the pages of Sarah Sassoon’s Shoham’s Bangle. When the family departs for Israel, the reader, too, mourns for the home and fig tree by the Tigris River that they are leaving behind.- Sydney Taylor Schmooze
The story is told gently with its young audience in mind. The bangle jangles but does not jar. It is an ingenious metaphor for what the Jews left behind in Iraq. But it’s also a reminder that what is important are not the homes Jews leave behind but those that Jews rebuild.- Point of No Return: Jewish Refugees from Arab and Muslim Countries
Sarah Sassoon’s debut picture book draws from her Iraqi Jewish background to recount the story of young Shoham and her family in their native country, and what happens when, as Shoham’s mother says, “The time has come” for the family to leave Iraq for Israel.- Hadassah Magazine
Noa Kellner’s illustrations give us the warm colors of Iraq, the tilted perspective of a plane about to take off, and a family losing their (literal) footing. A grandparent-grandchild story, a diaspora story, a family heirloom story, and a food story, all in one.- Tablet Magazine

Reviews

I am text block. Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

Interviews

Chai FM

2022.11.28 – A conversation with Sarah Sassoon, Author – Book review – Shoham’s Bangle – about the author. Why a children’s book, It’s history and what the story is about. Click here to listen