Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is an award-wining children's book author and a rabbi. This delightful book with vibrant and dramatic illustrations by Joani Keller Rothenberg is based on a Jewish folktale. In Fresh Bread, Catholic writer and retreat leader Joyce Rupp salutes the special place in our lives of rainbow callers — individuals who announce hope to others in special and often unspectacular ways. Sasso is an inveterate rainbow caller, and she introduces another one in Butterflies Under Our Hats — a mysterious woman with green eyes and a purple hat.

The people who live in the town of Chelm are convinced that it is an unlucky place. Everything that could go wrong, does go wrong. There are leaks in the roofs of houses, and the sidewalks are cracked. Even the natural world conspires against them: no flowers, only weeds. The good citizens of Chelm decide that the deck is stacked against them so they stop building houses, repairing the streets, and planting gardens.

Then one day "a strange and beautiful woman" comes to town and tells the citizens that there is something better than luck. What could that be? It is hope, and she says that when some butterflies of hope descend on the town square, everyone should cover them with their hats. Following her instructions, the people of Chelm find something they desperately need that was there all the time.

This is a dandy book to read aloud to children ages 5 and up. Kids need to learn about the lift that hope provides and the miracles that can come through the efforts of rainbow callers.