Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer (1984-10-10)

If your children love either Isaac Singer or Chelm, look no further than these seven tales. They will treasure the book always, because, as Singer noted in the Foreword to this 1966 volume, In stories time does not vanish. Neither do men and animals. For the writer and his readers the creatures go on living forever. What happened a long time ago is still present. Singer dedicated the stories to children who had no chance to grow up because of stupid wars and cruel persecutions and hoped readers would grow into men and women who love not only their own children but all good children everywhere. Its hard to imagine otherwise.

Singer and Sendak are an unbeatable combination. Sendak is amazing in what he can do with pen and ink (no color). I think those who are familiar with Yiddish culture would appreciate these stories more than those who are not.

I do enjoy a good story, and Zlateh is full of them, with nice drawings by Maurice Sendek. But they do get kind of drab. These arent stories that are overly funny or have an intellectual twist at the end that I was expecting. These are stories of a culture and they capture the strengths and weaknesses of that culture and do so quite wonderfully. Just be warned, the cultural quirks and expectations of the stories in this book will receive less appreciation from our technology-loving culture than they deserve. The book itself is a quick and comfortable read and has the potential for an excellent bed-time book for 4-8 year olds.

i bought this for myself (an adult). Makes me cry for some reason.

Zlateh the Goat is the best story I have read, for both children and adults. Its message of compassion and understanding reaches the hearts of all. Diana Townsend

Good story.

Childrens book of stories.

From the Jewish culture comes folktales that are heartwarming and silly (those fools in Chelm!)

Simple stories with powerful meanings. Good for all ages. Illustrations are wonderful!

These are short stories. They bring to mind the same magical place that Chagall painted: the shtetl. Well, for me, all his stories are brilliant and engrossing. These are not like some of his other stories that have sooo much depth. Theyre more like quips, funny stories.