Yiddish with Dick and Jane

Rating:
Summary: Funny for Yiddish Speakers
Review: Dick and Jane are back in another parody. Now they are adults and speaking Yiddish.

There are plenty of simple Yiddish jokes here but they are far more effective if you already know the Yiddish terms. The dialogue is similar to the originals but not really true to form. Unlike the original Dick and Jane tales the definitions are not readily obvious. There is a glossary at the back but once you get back and forth, the joke may not be so funny.

Loaded with more adult terms and situations this is not a book for children (as we found out when my five-year-old received a copy).

If you already have a handle on some common Yiddish, you might get a chuckle out of this one.

Rating:
Summary: Such naches I'm getting from this book- I'm on shpilkes!
Review: I discovered this book through the on-line flash page mentioned by another reviewer, and if anything, the book is much funnier than the web page. A nice parody of the Dick-and-Jane parody for all of the mishpoche who wondered, through the first grade, why we were spending so much time reading about goyim?

And if you don't understand naches, shpilkes, mishpoche, and goyim- then you need this book!

Rating:
Summary: some flash from the past!!
Review: my twin brother don, a pal of author.davilman's mom,sent me this book and we shared flashes from the past both from grade school and at home, where our grandma spoke yiddish to our dog dutchie!!!! Adorable take on an absolute classic!!
And can you help me get my little book about a Yorkshire Terrier published?????
best of luck and hellos to Judy.
Rona Silver Rutchik,Norwich, CT

Rating:
Summary: Funny, but not for kids
Review: There is (as one reviewer noted) a reference to taking a "toke" as a nice experience. So, unless you want to promote drug use among children, you might avoid reading this to your youngsters.
But for an updating of the very goyish Dick and Jane with a nice Jewish twist, this is fun, fun, fun! Sure to tickle the funny bone of anyone who grew up reading these books and felt a little outside of things. Here is a book for them.

Rating:
Summary: Oy vey!! How could they leave out some very important words
Review: This is a cute book - very funny and creative. Even the definitions in the back are a hoot. But alas - they left out some very important and basic words, such as Schmuck, schvitz and the very un-pc but often used schvartze. Maybe they just had problems in the "S" section.

Rating:
Summary: I give it a 5, kina-hora
Review: Who knew Dick and Jane were Jewish? This little book is a good introduction to all those words we've heard on TV or in movies and wondered what they meant. Easy to read format helps too--"Schmooze, Dick, schmooze. Schmooze, schmooze, schmooze." I liked it, the illustrations look like they came from an old Dick and Jane reader, with a few variations. Recommended for gentiles everywhere.

Rating:
Summary: Contemporary Retelling of a Timeless Classic
Review: Who knew that Dick and Jane had achieved the status of cultural myth in the shared sub-consciousness of several generations? Yiddish with Dick and Jane is a reader for the 21st century, a contemporary updating of a timeless classic. More than just a Spot-on parody (and I'm not Puff-ing here), Weiner and Davilman have warped the primer we both loved and hated into a post-modern morality tale. Most satisfying for me is Sally's emergence from decades of hapless foil to family mensch (with a little help from Priscilla, the newest addition to the cast of the Dick and Jane family).

I liked the book so much I sent a copy to MY first grade teacher. Now I'm holding my breath, waiting for her to post HER review! Until then, I will eagerly await the sequeal, Dick and Jane in Hotzeplotz.

Rating:
Summary: Dick and Jane do Yiddish
Review: Who would have thought that the non-Jewish stars of the old-time elementary school reading primers would now be speaking Yiddish? In this parody, Dick and Jane have grown up and they now face a raft of real-world problems. Jane is a real estate agent with a mensch of a husband and Dick is a businessman who golfs and schmoozes with his business associates. Their sister Sally is a zaftig ceramics instructor living in Berkeley. Their mother has a stroke and becomes a bit farblondget. Then throw in the cheating wife of Dick's switch-hitting golfing buddy and a goniff of a handbag salesman, and... feh! Sally kvetches that this is no longer the idealized and innocent world that she grew up in, where women were dress-wearing housewives, men always wore suits, and everything was politically correct.

The story has 40 old-fashioned watercolor illustrations that recall the style of the original readers but with content that reflects the realities of 21st century life. The text includes such dialog as "See Jane schlep. Schlep Jane schlep." There is a glossary containing over eighty Yiddish words and phrases and one in Chinese (yes, Chinese!) that can be found in the story. Some of the funniest things in the book can be found in this glossary, where the authors explain the origins and usage of the words. An example definition is "Mechuleh - bankrupt, kaput... See how the letters for 'kaput' are in the word 'bankrupt'? Isn't language great?" You might not learn more than a smattering of Yiddish phrases from this book, but you will have some laughs over the parody and take a nostalgic trip back to the primers that taught you to read. So nu? Why not share this book with the whole mishpocha!

Eileen Rieback

Rating:
Summary: Also has a great online promo
Review: You can get a great feel for the book's content by watching this clever flash book review. http://www.vidlit.com/yidlit/yidlit.html

Rating:
Summary: This book is Schlock!
Review: [...]

Dear Mr. Weiner and Ms. Davilman,

I eagerly purchased your book "Yiddish with Dick and Jane", knowing it was a parody / humor piece. And yes, parts of it were humorous, if not very funny. But, I'm honeslty angered about your glorification of drug use and especially "Sally takes a toke of the spliff. It's a Mechayeh." (page 74). I intended to purhcase copies of this book for my Nephew, Mother and In-Laws. What a shanda, that the way you describe a mechayeh, to possibly even suggest that the use of drugs is a great "Pleasure". Is this what you perscribe to your children? Your Parents? Your Neices and Nephews?

Honestly, I'm disgusted with your book and am returning it today. It ruined my evening! Yes, your "mechayeh" description, by two obvious shmegegges, took what was a very positive excitement about this book, and turned it into serious dissapointment. That two "Jews" would discrace themselves like this. Your drug glorification is in extreme distaste.

Your book is nisht gut! And a Zetz to your publisher for publishing this schlock.

It's been a mechayeh,