Book review: "Jewish children" by Sholem Aleichem

(audiobook in English)

Sholem Aleichem is probably the most popular Jewish author of Yiddish literature, telling about the lives of Jews in Eastern Europe around the turn of the 20th century.

"Jewish Children" is not one of his most famous works, but it is what I found as a free audiobook at Librivox :-) It's a book about children, and most likely for children. A collection of short stories, it focuses mainly on early childhood in mostly-Jewish towns, relationships between children, their parents, and their teachers in the cheder. Sometimes, the author also mixes in stories about gentiles who lived among Jews.

The writing style is very simplistic and humoristic. It's this style that caused lots of people to compare Sholem Aleichem with Mark Twain. On one hand, the book can be seen as a simple children book, but when reading between the lines, there's a lot of hidden irony and other grown-up meanings.

I can't really say I liked the book. It was OK, no more than that. Sholem Aleichem may be a good author for learning about the life of Russian Jews in the end of the 19th century, but this book definitely isn't the best option to turn to for such learning.