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Leah & Harry Katz #1

The Carp in the Bathtub

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Just before Passover, Leah and Harry befriend a carp and attempt to keep their mother from turning it into her famous gefilte fish.

48 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1972

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About the author

Barbara Cohen

66 books35 followers
Barbara Cohen (1932-1992) was the author of several acclaimed picture books and novels for young readers, including The Carp in the Bathtub, Yussel's Prayer: A Yom Kippur Story, Thank You, Jackie Robinson, and King of the Seventh Grade.

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5 stars
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66 (41%)
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28 (17%)
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
Profile Image for Abigail.
7,332 reviews221 followers
March 29, 2021
Looking back from the distance of many years, Leah narrates this story of her girlhood in Flatbush, Queens, when she and her brother Harry would surreptitiously refuse to eat any gefilte fish at Rosh Hashanah and Passover. Known for cooking the best gefilte fish in all of New York City, Leah and Harry's mother would always buy a live fish, a week before the holiday, in order to have the freshest ingredients when cooking. One Passover, the siblings become particularly attached to the carp in their bathtub, and try to save him. Foiled in their attempt by their father, who is kind but firm in the matter of returning the carp, Leah and Harry are heartbroken, until they are finally given a tiny kitten, as their very first pet...

First published in 1972, The Carp in the Bathtub was the first of two stories about Leah and Harry Katz, followed by First Fast in 1987. That second story, which is set at Yom Kippur, was my introduction to these characters, and so moving and thought-provoking did I find it, that I determined to read this Passover tale, when the holiday next came around. Although less of a story about Passover itself, it was nevertheless an immensely engaging tale of family, and of the human-animal connection. So many little details stood out to me, from the way in which Papa changes his demeanor, when he sees the children waiting for him at the subway stop - he comes up the stairs stooped over with exhaustion, but immediately straightens himself up upon seeing Leah and Harry, so that they do not suspect how tired and beaten down he is - to the realistic way in which the story ends. I rather suspect that if this book were being written today, the parents would humor Leah and Harry, or they would find some way to rescue the carp. Here however, the realities of the day - this is a hard-working immigrant family in the early 20th century, with little money to spare, and a traditional view of certain animals being there to eat - drive the story. Leah's recollection, at the end of the book, that she and Harry never could bring themselves to eat gefilte fish, for the rest of their lives, provides a poignant conclusion to the tale, highlighting how formative of an experience it was, attempting to rescue that carp in the bathtub.

I found this one quite moving, and I appreciated the way in which it avoided moral judgment, or any effort to demonize Leah and Harry's parents. In addition to providing an engaging work of family fiction, it could be used with children to explore the realities of having loved ones either who do or do not eat animals. Although not divided into chapters, I would say it is on the beginning chapter-book level, suitable for readers ages seven to nine, and I would recommend it to children interested in family stories, or in historical fiction.
Profile Image for Fred.
104 reviews34 followers
April 4, 2013
Owned this as a child. I liked it. It had a carp in a bathtub. An illustration of a boy on a toilet. Nice Jewish Lower East Side story. The book is more or less a scene from the author's childhood. She recalls how her mother would buy a carp - a live carp - for the Passover gefilte fish (ochlin al shum mah?) a week or two in advance of the holiday, and it would swim in the tub until the day of the dull thud-to-the-head-with-the-club came and it was ground into the Seder appetizer.

One year she and her brother came to think of the carp as a pet and desperately wanted to save it. So they schemed. First they tried to enlist their father's sympathy, then they dragged the carp in a bucket to a sympathetic neighbor (who was going to be their Seder guest, by the way).

Short story short, it's a sweet book. This family wasn't exactly in poverty, but things were certainly tight and sparse. They could scarcely afford to buy and not eat a whole carp. The parents, of course, were immigrants from Eastern Europe. I read it to my child not so long ago and I noticed something I didn't when I was a kid - the way kids don't notice these things. In the scene where the kids approach their father to allow them to save the fish, the following is described: they wait for their father to emerge from the subway station stairs. He comes up the stairs, from his hard day at work in a factory, and the author describes him stooped and fatigued as he walks up the steps. A hard life he must have been leading - to make sure there *was* fish for Passover. A man with a heavy weight on his shoulders walks up the stairs. And as soon as he saw the kids at the top waiting for him, he immediately straightens his shoulders so that they don't see how beaten he is, and smiles at them. Poignant. Been there.
Profile Image for Susan Gottfried.
Author 20 books147 followers
January 30, 2018
This is one of my all-time favorites from my childhood. To this day, I cannot eat gefilte fish and it's all because of this book.
Author 1 book2 followers
April 26, 2013
An unusual story told by a woman of when she was a girl living with her parents and younger brother in a New York City apartment. The narrator's mother was renowned for her marvelous gefilte fish, which she made twice a year, for Rosh Hashanah and for Pesach. While the narrator and her brother loved the celebrations, they never ate any of their mother's gefilte fish, because the week before each holiday, their mother would buy a live fish and keep in the family bathtub, where the children would feed and become attached to it. The story focuses on one Passover when the fish is a particularly lovely carp that seems to have a personality all its own. The narrator and her brother hatch a plan to rescue the fish so that it can't be cooked by their mother. Their father foils their plan, the fish is cooked, and the children are heart-broken. A week later, their father brings them a cat as a sort of peace-offering and substitute pet. The narrator concludes by saying that even though she is an old lady now, she and her brother still don't eat gefilte fish. It's a gentle, matter-of-fact, slice-of-life story without any moralizing.
Profile Image for Emmaia.
4 reviews
May 8, 2012
As a parent trying to equip my kids with both a sense of European Jewish tradition and a vegetarian worldview, this book is just the ticket. It tells a nice, usual kid-friendly story about tradition, then problematizes the matter of traditionally eating animals. It goes on to say that people we love and respect eat animals in spite of the clear problems with that -- and that you, the kid, can decide what you think about that. And then you, the kid, have to decide how to proceed yourself. It's a kid-level, but not dumbed-down, discussion of a complicated topic. And we know it's a good book because the kids wanted to hear it again the next night. (They did ask to skip the page with no pictures, though.)
Profile Image for Dale.
117 reviews9 followers
August 5, 2014
One of the best family stories I have, a true sentimental favorite that reminds me of my grandmother and the huge steps we're capable of taking in just a generation or two.
Profile Image for Lorelei.
459 reviews74 followers
June 17, 2012
A delightful children's book. I think I'm glad I didn't come across it until I was older, or I might never have eaten gefilte fish again, either.
Profile Image for Susan Grodsky.
519 reviews2 followers
July 21, 2019
Charming children’s story that illustrates how children feel a connection with animals and how adults force children into giving up on that compassion.

The dad’s “reasoning” — “What God put on this earth to eat, we eat” — is actually correct. That’s why we have quinoa and rice and blueberries and kale, and a thousand other fruits and vegetables and grains. Where he goes wrong is in placing his children’s pet in that same category.
21 reviews
October 1, 2017
Just read keeping my kids company during Yom Kippur services (I had heard of this book from my childhood), and was struck by the kids' desire to save the fish but the parents' insistence on killing the various fishes in order to prepare the gefilte fish for the Jewish holiday. If this tale were told today, perhaps a different ending in support of vegetarianism or similar??
Profile Image for JS.
44 reviews
July 31, 2019
Though fun to read, this is a sad story. ;) When I was a child, I did not know Sashimi was just sliced raw fish. I thought it must have been cooked in some way because it was so delicious! You know, I had little knowledge of cooking back then. It had never occurred to me to quit eating Sashimi. I was very lucky. :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Alisa.
198 reviews13 followers
June 9, 2023
Hadn't read it since 5th grade...it's pretty dark, touching on themes of the Holocaust, animal cruelty, cycles of poverty, and the alienation of the elderly. No wonder us Gen X Jewish girls ended up with rough edges despite shiny, happy dispositions.
88 reviews2 followers
January 14, 2023
A Carp in the Bathtub is long for a book to read to kids (48 pages), but it tells such a delightful tale and the illustrations by Joan Halpern are so beautiful, definitely one they (& u) will enjoy.
Profile Image for Jessica.
391 reviews42 followers
April 21, 2008
This charmingly illustrated book concerns the efforts of Leah and her little brother to save their Mama's annual live carp purchase from its inevitable fate -- it will end up as the family's Passover gefilte fish that the children vow never to eat. Living in Brooklyn in what appears to be the 1930s, Leah's family is lucky because they and their downstairs neighbor have their own bathrooms with a tub -- everyone else has to share. Thus, the carp can live comfortably for a week in the bathtub until it is time for Mama to start cooking. When this year's carp seems particularly charming and friendly, they name it Joe and hatch a plan to hide it downstairs.

My sister and I loved this book, and my six year old son loves it too. I suppose it might be a tad upsetting for a child that doesn't know or is upset by the fact that if you eat animals they have to be killed first. The inevitable death of Joe happens offstage, but the book does frankly state that the fish is killed with a club and then skinned and filleted.
954 reviews25 followers
February 1, 2024
A week before Passover, Leah's mother buys the carp that she will make into geflite fish. She buys it early so that she can get the fattest, shiniest one. The carp lives for the next week in their bathtub, and, by the time Passover comes, Leah and her brother, Harry, have befriended it. They decide that their mother can't kill the carp which they named Joe. Two days before Passover, their mother goes shopping. Leah and Harry talk their neighbor, Mrs. Ginzburg, into hiding Joe. She tells them that she won't keep it a secret very long because their mother is her best friend. Leah and Harry, in desperation, meet their father at the subway. As they persuade him to their way of thinking, and they end up confessing everything. Papa carries Joe back upstairs and says that they are not to tell their mother. Two days later, the carp becomes gefilte fish. Leah and Harry cry themselves to sleep that night. A week later, Papa brings home a cat. The children call it Joe.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com
Profile Image for Carolyn.
39 reviews2 followers
April 1, 2013
OK so I was joking to my significant other Ofer how ALL my Goodreads friends have been reading something like 17 books a month & I am still lugging around a half dozen unread Economist issues & will lug a foot-high pile of NY Times backlog on vacation next week. So he said, "You should review that little book you got me for Passover from the Gefilteria." I belly-laughed, "GREAT - like reviewing those 'Have You Seen My Hat?' books read/bought while waiting at Newark airport. BRILLIANT!" (Both great, by the way.). But this really is a charming, touching, beautifully illustrated little book. I bought it because it reminded me of Ofer's stories about his grandmother in Tel Aviv. Written in 1972, it has a timely message about knowing where your food comes from & making choices based on that. [ADDENDUM: The Goodreads abstract on this book is completely WRONG, was no doubt meant for a short story anthology by another author, one of the stories of which has the same title.]
37 reviews
December 4, 2012
In this story, Leah and Harry develop an attachment to a fish named Joe who is going to become their dinner. Together, they try to free Joe from his temporary bathtub home. This story has a very strong plot with a clear beginning, middle, and end, as well as a solid conflict. The conflict is not resolved to create the conclusion readers may hope for, but it is realistic. Although the characters are not dynamic, they are relatable because of the emotional details that the author uses.

Young readers would enjoy this book because they can probably relate to the main characters' desires for a pet. However, I don't think they would like the illustrations because they are not colorful, and they will probably be dissapointed by the ending.
Profile Image for Phil J.
734 reviews58 followers
July 6, 2016
My kind of sweetness- the kids act adorably, but it is flavored with realism. In this short picture book, two Jewish kids feel bad for the carp that is destined for their mom's gefilte fish. The results are lightly humorous, and more realistic than most books in the "children befriend edible animal" genre. The evocative pen and ink illustrations add a lot of atmosphere to the story. I would suggest this book for grades Kindergarten and up. A gem.
Profile Image for Gretchen.
391 reviews15 followers
May 25, 2008
well written story of a brother and sister who discover the Passover fish in their bath tub and decide to save its life--really funny and gives a good insight to how children might see things.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
Author 10 books59 followers
April 20, 2010
My favorite part is when they feed the fish while toileting...
Profile Image for Isa.
174 reviews43 followers
May 1, 2017
i heard about this custom from an older woman at a chabad seder and was so charmed to find a kids' book about it, especially one this cute. as if i needed another reason to skip the gefilte fish.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews

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