Publishers Weekly , August 28, 2000

Oberman draws on biblical and traditional Jewish and African tales for this clever and affecting story. When the Queen of Sheba hears that King Solomon is the wisest of all men, she journeys with her entourage to Jerusalem to meet him. After a grand reception, she requests that he teach her what he can do with his knowledge. He promises to perform whatever task she sets, and the queen asks him to build a palace out of bird beaks. As Solomon summons all the birds to take their beaks, the hoopoe bird tempts Solomon with three riddles, "three things you do not know." The riddles lead Solomon to realize the irreparable harm he is contemplating and he tells the hoopoe, "I will not hurt you or any creature just to show my power." He then apologizes to the queen. She responds, "I wanted you to teach me something important, and you did. You taught me it is better to break a promise than do something that is wrong." Waldman (previously paired with Oberman for By the Hanukkah Light) captures the thoughtfulness of the two main characters and subtly plays up the differences between them. His Sheba is a poised, dark-skinned woman in royal African attire, replete with magnificent headdress; his Solomon, dressed simply with tallis and kippah, has a flowing red beard and long hair. The full-spread illustrations, which combine compositions in Waldman's impressionistic style with geometric patterned frames, suggest the multiple origins of the story.

Kirkus Reviews , September 1, 2000

In a riddle based on several African and Middle Eastern antecedents, the wisest man in the world meets the wisest woman. Hearing of Solomon's wisdom, the Queen of Sheba travels from her African home to Jerusalem to see for herself. When Solomon incautiously puts himself at her disposal, she challenges his powers by asking for a palace of birds' beaks. At his command, all the birds of the earth surrender their beaks--except for little Hoopoe, who instead asks three questions that drive home the folly of keeping promises at the expense of doing wrong. Using restrained color, Waldman (The Golden City, 1997, etc.) poses the serene king and queen, along with flocks of birds and other animals, against patterned backgrounds and within wide, also patterned borders; the effect is stately, full but not busy, formal rather than stiff. Together the now-even-wiser king and queen reward the hoopoe with a crown of golden feathers, which it bears to this day. The small bird's lesson is a salutary one for children (not to mention grownups), and so is the story's ultimate point, that "no matter who we are, we all have great things to learn. . . ."

Center for Children's Books, October 2000

The Queen of Sheba travels a great distance and brings many gifts to meet the wise King Solomon, and she makes one request of the king: that he teach her "something worth all these gifts and all my time and trouble." When he tries and fails, the queen makes another request: "Build a palace out of bird beaks." Birds flock to the palace, giving King Solomon their beaks, but the hoopoe bird is missing. When the little bird is found, it asks the king three questions; the answers to these questions point to the cruelty of taking the beaks from the birds, and King Solomon relents. Although he expects the Queen of Sheba to be displeased, she is not, instead asking him to reward the hoopoe bird for its wisdom. Framed scenes appear against backgrounds of geometric patterns in horizontal lines, reminiscent of tapestries, in a palette of cool sky blues and desert taupes. Although the figures are somewhat static, the overall formality of the illustrations works well with Oberman's retelling, which uses repeated refrains of memorable phrases to punctuate the story. A detailed source note is included. While too stately for storytime, this tale will be effective when shared one on one, and it may also find a place in religious settings and in classroom discussions of character and wisdom.

Children's Literature, October 2000
Judy Chernak

What happens when the wisest man in the world fields a question from the wisest woman in the world? King Solomon learns that wisdom and the right answers aren't always enough to keep the world in its rightful path when the Queen of Sheba (Cush in the Bible, Ethiopia today) comes to meet, to test and to learn from him. How can he keep his promise to her when it means the birds of the world will have to give up their beaks? This story has echoes of the other famous Solomonic story about dividing one living infant between two mothers who both claim it as their own and teaches a gentle and very powerful lesson. The author credits Howard Schwartz and Barbara Rush's retold tale, "A Palace of Bird Beaks" and includes his own elements of tales from Africa, ancient Israel, Yemen and Europe. He does not get into whether or not the King and the Queen were more than student and teacher for each other, as legend has it. Waldman's acrylic paintings suit the book well, with one important caveat: While the Queen is gloriously African in her appearance and costuming, this reviewer did not care for Solomon's royal clothing, which looks suspiciously like a modern kippah (head covering) and tallit (prayer shawl) rather than the royal purple and royal blue robes and golden jeweled crown which are more appropriate to Solomon's era and would surely have been worn to welcome and to dazzle a visiting head of state.
 

Globe and Mail, Saturday, November 18, 2000

Kids: Susan Perren

Sheldon Oberman cites several sources for his story. The Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon comes from the Bible, as well as Jewish European folklore and African legends. The middle part of the tale, in which Sheba commands Solomon to build a palace out of bird beaks, is from a Jewish Yemenite tale. The last section, which explains how the hoopoe bird got its crown of feathers, is based on a North African folktale. Out of these elements, Oberman has woven a seamless and moving tale, sensitively illustrated by Neil Waldman.

MultiCultural Review · December 2000

This book is a retelling of the tale “A Palace of Bird Beaks," by Howard Schwartz and Barbara Rush, in their book The Diamond Tree. King Solomon, the wisest man in the world, gets together with the Queen of Sheba, who is considered to be the wisest woman of the world. Together they learn a valuable lesson about the beauty of living creatures and their contributions to nature and the world.
When the Queen of Sheba visits King Solomon with extravagant gifts, she asks him to share his knowledge and to do things that would seem impossible to an ordinary person. When she asks him to build a palace of birds' beaks, he feels he must keep his promise and fulfill her wishes. The birds all report to him except for the hoopoe bird. The hoopoe negotiates a deal with King Solomon that if he can't answer three questions, the hoopoes will give up their beaks.
Although he answers the questions correctly, King Solomon realizes the tremendous destruction he would cause by taking an essential part of a bird's body for his own selfish needs. The Queen of Sheba agrees with him. Not only are all the birds allowed to keep their beaks, the hoopoe is also rewarded with a crown of golden feathers.
King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba learn from the hoopoe that the world and all its creatures are meant to last forever. They also learn that beaks are used for both feeding a baby and for fighting off enemies and that tears are drops of water that don't rise from the ground or fall from the sky.
Through vivid and colorful illustrations and enlightening text, this story demonstrates that living things and nature arc special gifts. If we learn to appreciate all living creatures, we will live in a better world. The ideas of caring for living creatures and respecting wise people are emphasized. This book is an enriching addition to any personal or professional library collection.

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