  | Big dreams, small fish Author: Cohen, Paula | |
| Price: $22.58 | ||
Summary:
When the opportunity arises, Shirley, the daughter of immigrants who live above their corner grocery store, turns some overlooked gefilte fish into a marketing strategy that changes the flavor of the neighborhood.
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (05/15/22)
Booklist (03/15/22)
The Hornbook (00/03/22)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 03/15/2022 Shirley’s extended, immigrant family runs a small grocery store where they sell canned goods, produce, and homemade specialty items such as gefilte fish. Unfortunately, none of their customers are familiar with this delicacy, so they aren’t buying. One day all the grownups are called away from the shop, leaving Shirley and a snoring Mrs. Gottlieb in charge. Shirley is quick to implement several of her new business ideas, which include gifting every shopper with a free sample of fish. Cohen’s slyly comical tale drives home the point that even small people can have good ideas. The digitally enhanced pencil drawings suggest a big city and Depression-era setting and feature blues, grays, and browns prominently. Small details enhance the story: black-and-white photos of relatives from the old country; Shirley’s modern marketing ideas (which include a rotating conveyor belt); a Time magazine cover from 1932; and the ever-present family cat, who inserts himself into every activity. Heartwarming but never sappy, this pairs nicely with Barbara Cohen and Joan Halpern’s classic, The Carp in the Bathtub. Recipe appended. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.
