Naomi’s Kindergarten

Naomi has run her kindergarten for almost 25 years in an old Tel Aviv neighborhood near the sea—an island of tranquility among the shiny new high-rises. And there, she heaps love on the children and teaches them to be creative, to appreciate beauty and love nature. But this routine is disrupted when an architect buys the land on which the kindergarten stands and tells Naomi to vacate it immediately—he is going to tear it down and build a luxury complex for the rich and famous.

In the dramatic year that follows, Naomi wages a desperate struggle for her world and beliefs. In her personal life, too, there are rifts and tensions as she gets closer to her artist son, an introverted young man who had grown away from her. Now he surprisingly shows an interest in the kindergarten, winning the children’s affection and even discovering love.

Naomi’s Kindergarten is the story of an ordinary woman, neither sophisticated nor cunning, who is persecuted but refuses to break or give in. A touching novel about an unforgettable heroine with a sense of humor, whose fight for simplicity faces off with trendy commercialism and ostentation.