This cumulataive story has lots of repetition and brightly colored illustrations. The "About the Story" at the beginning of the book explains that this is a Jewish folktale from Eastern Europe in which the wise person is usually the village rabbi. The author has changed this in honor of her Aunty Bella, the wise woman of her Ukrainian village. Not until the final scene in Joseph's home do we see Joseph celebrating Shabbat with his family at a table set with two challot, two candles, and Kiddish cups.

Aunty Bella tells Joseph to bring into his house: six chickens, a red rooster, a cow, and a goat before telling him to send them out. Joseph then sits down with his family to a Shabbos dinner and realizes that his house is not as little as he thought. Like Marilyn Hirsh's Could Anything Be Worse? the story makes the connection between Joseph's perception of his condition and the concept of Shabbat, which is a different way of perceiving what would otherwise be an ordinary day. ( )

A nice retelling of the famous Jewish folktale. It teaches you to appreciate what you have instead of always wanting more. The illustrations are not great, but the story is nicely retold.

Joseph can no longer tolerate being “jammed and crammed, so squashed and squeezed,” so he goes to Aunty Bella, who
suggests he brings the chickens, rooster, cow and goat into the house. When she finally tells him to put the animals back in the yard, Joseph and his family enjoy the quiet and spaciousness of their house at a Shabbat meal. ( )