Shlemiel Crooks is the story of Reb Elias and the thieves who try to steal his Passover wine. Based on a true story, Shlemiel is an imaginative introduction for young children to the history of Passover, as Pharoah and a town of Jewish immigrants play tug-of-war with wine made from grapes left over from the exodus from Egypt. A modern-day parable, Shlemiel has a music all its own. In its Yiddish-inflected English, punctuated by amusing curses, young readers hear the language of a Jewish community of another time, while delighting to brilliant illustrations on every page. It was named 2006 Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Young Reader's Category from the Association of Jewish Libraries and a 2005-2006 Koret International Jewish Book Award Finalist in the BabagaNewz Children's Literature category.