Ziggy’s Big Idea by Ilana Long (review)

Young Ziggy is full of original concepts and inventions, and he frequently shares these ideas with his father as they sell baked goods on the streets of their small shtetl. When Ziggy learns that Moise the baker is struggling to rework his recipe for boiled buns, which often remain undercooked on the inside, Ziggy comes up with the novel idea of shaping the buns into rings before boiling and baking them … and thus invents the first bagel. This is an amusing pourquoi tale, and bagel-familiar kids may figure out where the story is heading along the way and enjoy the journey. The storyline itself is slim, though, and the punchline involving a connection with the Yiddish word for bracelet (“It’s a bracelet; a bagel … a perfect name”) falls flat because the connection is only made explicit in the author’s note. The artwork, a mixed-media hybrid of carefully outlined, comic-like pen and ink illustrations, touches of fabric collage, and digital paint, is uneven, with faces somewhat strained but backgrounds offering interesting textures and compositions. This is a clever spin on necessity being the mother of invention, and young bagel lovers may warm to Ziggy’s enthusiastic problem-solving approach. A recipe for bagels is included for those who may want to give it a go in their own kitchen.