King Solomon and His Magic Ring
By Elie Wiesel
Solomon and the Trees
By Matt Biers-Ariel
Solomon was a young prince who lived next to a large forest where he spent every spare moment because he preferred peaceful trees to rancorous humans, and was taught to speak their language by the animals who lived there. When Solomon grew up and became the king, he found himself so busy that he forgot about the forests and his animal friends. Eventually Solomon came to understand the price that must be paid when people don't take proper care of the earth and its blessings. Highly recommended for young readers grades 1-3, and based on a Midrash folktale and Judaic teachings about the earth and the festival cycle, Solomon And The Trees is an outstanding and superbly presented collaboration between author Matt Biers-Airel and illustrator Esti Silverberg-Kiss.
A long time ago, in the Land of Israel, a young prince named Solomon lived next to a large forest. Solomon spent every spare moment in the forest because he preferred the company of the peaceful trees to his busy city life. Solomon made friends with the animals living there and learned to speak their language. They taught him secrets no human had ever learned, like how spiders keep from getting caught by their own webs and the reason bats sleep upside down. Solomon loved the forest, and the forest loved him.
But all too soon Solomon grows up and becomes a king. He becomes very busy and forgets about the forest and his friends the animals. In this lushly illustrated environmental midrash, Solomon comes to understand the price that must be paid when we don’t take care of the earth and its blessings.
King Solomon & the Queen of Sheba
By Blu Greenberg and Linda Tarry
This version of the story has exciting original materialfresh new tales and riddles, an equal relationship, and a naturally multicultural, as well as slightly feminist, bias. Beginning like a fairy tale, it introduces the precocious African princess Makeda of Sheba, a child whose wisdom, fame as a riddler, and kindness prompts her elderly father to name her, rather than either of her brothers, his heir. And she becomes Queen. (This is the first time that the Queen of Sheba has been given a history, a family, and aggada [legends] of her own, or that she has been shown to be of the African race.) Meanwhile, "In a land far away" lives a wise Jewish King, named Solomon, who had also manifested great wisdom as a child. Inevitably, traders bring news of the other to their rulers. Queen Makeda accepts King Solomon's invitation to visit. The two quietly earn each other's respect and love while also discussing the other's country and religious beliefs. They marry; she conceives his child and returns to Sheba. When their son reaches the age of 13, he returns to his father. There the story ends, but the legend continues in an afterword that explains the prevailing desire of today's Ethiopian Jews to return to Jerusalem. While the writing is graceful and dignified, the art accomplished and charming with valid ethnic representation, and the book design elegant, the real importance of this title is its more accurate portrayal of the Queen of Sheba.
The Wisdom Bird :
A Tale of Solomon and Sheba
By Sheldon Oberman
Oberman draws on biblical and traditional Jewish and African tales for this clever and affecting story. When the Queen of Sheba hears that King Solomon is the wisest of all men, she journeys with her entourage to Jerusalem to meet him. After a grand reception, she requests that he teach her what he can do with his knowledge. He promises to perform whatever task she sets, and the queen asks him to build a palace out of bird beaks. As Solomon summons all the birds to take their beaks, the hoopoe bird tempts Solomon with three riddles, "three things you do not know." The riddles lead Solomon to realize the irreparable harm he is contemplating and he tells the hoopoe, "I will not hurt you or any creature just to show my power." He then apologizes to the queen. She responds, "I wanted you to teach me something important, and you did. You taught me it is better to break a promise than do something that is wrong." Waldman (previously paired with Oberman for By the Hanukkah Light) captures the thoughtfulness of the two main characters and subtly plays up the differences between them. His Sheba is a poised, dark-skinned woman in royal African attire, replete with magnificent headdress; his Solomon, dressed simply with tallis and kippah, has a flowing red beard and long hair. The full-spread illustrations, which combine compositions in Waldman's impressionistic style with geometric patterned frames, suggest the multiple origins of the story.
The Flower of Sheba
(Bank Street Ready-To-Read Books)
By Doris Orgel
Spurred by tales of the wisdom of King Solomon, the wise Queen of Sheba visits him in order to test his knowledge and increase her own. First she asks him riddles, then she challenges him to find the one real flower among a thousand blooms made of silk, paper, and glass. Confounded by the scented, artificial garden, Solomon opens a window and lets in a bee, which leads him to the real white rose growing amid the "permanent flowers." The African queen leaves Solomon enriched by the knowledge that "to the wise, even small creatures can be great teachers." Colorful illustrations add to the book's appeal. While the tale is charming, well told, and evidently traditional, the story demands source notes and the book does not supply them. Still, this Bank Street Ready-to-Read book is an unusual and worthwhile choice for young readers.
Noah, Moses, King Solomon and Me
(Book & CD-ROM)
Whitney Solves a Dilemna With Solomon And Learns the Importance of Honesty
By Therese Johnson Borchard
King Solomon Figures It Out
By Sari Steinberg
King Solomon and the Bee
By Dalia Hardof Renberg
The Wonder Worm
By Ruth Zakutinsky