Drop by Drop: A Story of Rabbi Akiva
Akiva is just a poor shepherd living an ordinary life, until he falls in love with Rachel. Rachel thinks her husband could become a great man of learning—but Akiva can't even read! Is he too old to be a scholar or can he follow the example of the water in the nearby brook? Water is soft, yet drop by drop, it can soften the hardest stone.
2018 Sydney Taylor Honor Book for Younger Readers.
AJL Love Your Neighbor Book List #2: Synagogues, Clergy & Jewish Ritual
Kar-Ben Blog: "A Model of Learning"
Reviews
"Despite his prominence and importance in Jewish history, this is the first picture book to introduce Rabbi Akiva to young readers and teachers in Jewish settings will welcome it wholeheartedly. VERDICT This engaging read-aloud can serve as an inspiration to all readers." -- School Library Journal, October 4, 2017.
"This is a Talmudic story of ideas, rather than action, which Jules (an honor winner of both the Sydney Taylor and National Jewish Book awards) retells with short sentences and careful phrases. She omits unnecessary detail and softens the harshness of Rachel’s father, keeping the focus on Rachel’s determination to inspire Akiva and their love for each other." -- Jewish Book Council Paper Brigade, 2017 Edition.
"Jules has based her warmly told narrative on legends of the sage and his wife. Nayberg’s richly textured illustrations are stately and sculptural, depicting Rachel and Akiva with pale skin and red hair." -- Kirkus Reviews, June 5, 2017.
"Nayberg (The Wren and the Sparrow) makes this old story feel fresh and immediate through her angular drawings, which are inventively composed and rendered in radiant, translucent colors reminiscent of stained glass." -- Publishers Weekly, August 2017.
