Maxie is in love with K’tonton, a vintage Jewish children’s book character. I wrote about K’tonton’s history for Tablet magazine this week.
I too loved the K’tonton books as a kid. Sadly, unlike Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books, they don’t hold up all that well — in this adult’s opinion, anyway. I’ll be doing an All-of-a-Kind family story soon — I still loved those stories upon rereading them with Josie. (Chocolate babies! “Borrowing” and staining your sister’s dress! Tea-dyeing! Getting lost at Coney Island! Accepting the Christmas charity doll! Going to the settlement library! Finding the pennies Mama hid to encourage thorough cleaning!) So yay.
CanNOT wait for the AOAKF review. Love, love, LOVE those books. Even more now than as a kid. Which is saying a considerable amount.
Began reading AOAKF to my almost 6yo son during Sukkot (perfect for the sukkos chapter)! Each page was a trip back to my childhood, and each description (the pinafores! the chickpeas! the pushcarts!) makes me wish that they weren’t mostly out of print. Looking forward to the review as well. And yes, I too found that Ktonton didn’t stand up so well to the test of time, but our kids’ appetites for good holiday stories has been dulled by Sammy the Spider.