A boy takes his Bubbe Rosa around Brooklyn and Manhattan as they shop for ingredients for dinner. She struggles with seeing new things in the place of old and her memories flood their conversation. It’s a short read about a Jewish woman in the city, and I love the glimpses of her when she is young and her interactions with an old baker she’s known for years. ( )

Gr 6 Up—When Benji and Bubbe Rosa set out on a day of errands, Bubbe's old memories resurface, underscoring
their generational divide. With spare text leaving ample space for watercolor-and-ink images, this poignant and
ultimately hopeful graphic novel invites readers to reflect on the lives of others, in all their complexity.

A beautifully illustrated and presented intergenerational graphic novel that follows 11-year-old Benji and his elderly grandmother, Bubbe Rosa, as they traverse Brooklyn and Manhattan, gathering the ingredients for a Friday night dinner. Bubbe’s relationship with the city is complex & nothing is quite as she remembered it and she feels alienated and angry at the world around her. Benji, on the other hand, looks at the world, and his grandmother, with clear-eyed acceptance. As they wander the city, we catch glimpses of Bubbe’s childhood in Germany, her young adulthood in 1950s Brooklyn, and her relationships; first with a baker called Gershon, and later with successful Joe, Benji’s grandfather. Gradually we piece together snippets of Bubbe’s life, gaining an insight to some of the things that have formed her cantankerous personality. The journey culminates on the Lower East Side in a moving reunion between Rosa and Gershon, her first love. As the sun sets, Benji and his Bubbe walk home over the Williamsburg Bridge to make dinner.

I went into this thinking it was a picture book and it’s not. It’s a short graphic novel about a boy and his grandmother. His grandmother is a Jew who immigrated from America and her memory isn’t always what it should be. These two spend the day going around New York City collecting things they will need for dinner, but a lot of the stores and things have disappeared. The reader sees many flashbacks of grandmother’s life and her adventures and her not liking modern things. This was a lovely day in the life, and while I may not understand all the Jewish elements, I understand the grandmother and the grandchild. The story was lovely, and the illustrations are quite bleak, which I think fits the story. It makes one feel that time is passing and how the illustrator has done the modern times, and all these grays in browns in the past and bright vivid colors really works and helps set the story off. While I have no idea who I would recommend this book to. I am glad that I have read it and I think it has helped me grow more as a person. ( )

I found Alte Zachen to be a beautiful read.

Bubbe, aging, is confused and angry, and speaks her mind often insultingly. Frustrated with an immensely changed world she misses the comfort and familiarity of her youth, with her husband, their friends, and the old ways.

Benji, her grandson calmly helps her shop and navigate the city. He clearly loves and cares for his Bubbe. He tempers her fears, and outrageous statements, and apologizes to folks she's insulted.

Both sad and hopeful, Alte Zachen's ending is awesome.

Not much of a graphic novel reader, I find the many drawings distracting. In Alte Zachen the graphics added to the context of the story.