The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R.M. Romero Peachtree Teen, 2022 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Evonne Marzouk Buy at Bookshop.org The Ghosts of Rose Hill is a beautiful and magical story, told in verse that is as entrancing as the tale itself. Ilana’s parents, immigrants from Cuba and Prague, are desperate for her to be successful in America. So when her grades slip and PSAT scores don’t meet the goal, Ilana is sent from her home in Miami to live with her aunt in Prague for the summer. Away from her violin, parties, and her friends, her parents hope she’ll be able to focus better on studying and improving her test scores. Instead, when Ilana discovers an overgrown Jewish cemetery behind her aunt’s cottage on Rose Hill, her summer becomes about clearing the cemetery… and though her aunt warns her not to speak to them, the ghosts she meets there. Benjamin, with blue eyes like the sea, befriends Ilana while she cares for the cemetery and shows her the secrets of Prague. Pearl is a young chi...

The Button Box by Bridget Hodder & Fawzia Gilani-Williams Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Rachel J. Fremmer Buy at Bookshop.org When Granny Buena shows her grandchildren (Jewish Ava and her Muslim cousin Nadeem) the family button box, they have no idea that the buttons within it are magic. After they touch a special button, they travel in time and space to 8th century Morocco, where they meet their ancestors and help a Muslim prince get to safety in Spain. As Ava and Nadeem learn about daily life in medieval Morocco, including the trade in herbal remedies and spices and the meals, the reader learns about them too. Helpful back matter includes a glossary and an authors’ note explaining who Sephardic Jews are, explaining which parts of the book are true and which merely based on fact, and encouraging children to speak up against antisemitism and Islamophobia. This reviewer found the book’s focus on commonalities in the Mu...

Sitting Shiva by Erin Silver, illustrated by Michelle Theodore Orca, 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Dena Bach Buy at Bookshop.org Talking about death and grief with the youngest of children is a tough task. When it is a parent who dies, it is all the more difficult. In the first-person narrative of a young girl named Jenny who is dealing with the loss of her mother, Sitting Shiva presents a way to begin the conversation. By tackling this topic through the lens of Jewish mourning rituals, Erin Silver’s sensitive, age appropriate book can be helpful even to those outside the Jewish world in its emphasis on the importance of community. The narrative begins as Jenny describes how she and her father cover mirrors, tear garments, sit on low chairs, and light a yahrzeit candle. She explains how each action serves to express and symbolize their grief. But Jenny is not interested in the shiva ritual of people coming to their home sit with them. She wants to be alone with her memories o...

Mrs. Noah's Doves by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Alida Massari Kar-Ben Publishing, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group, 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Linda Elovitz Marshall Buy at Bookshop.org In harmonious, poetic language, author Jane Yolen engages readers with kindly Mrs. Noah who cares for injured birds – “ravens and robins, eagles and eiders, cockatoos and crows” and her favorite, the doves – in much the same way a loving grandmother might care for her grandchildren. And when, as we knew would happen, the rains come, Mrs. Noah moves the bird cages higher and higher, caring for the birds, keeping them dry. Still, the waters rise. Mrs. Noah asks Mr. Noah for help. With assurances from Mr. Noah that God has told him what to do, Noah’s family builds a boat – “a floating zoo” – to keep themselves, the birds, and the animals (which arrive two-by-two) safe from flooding waters. At last, the rains cease. Mrs. Noah releases her birds to search for dry land. But, the ravens do...

Wishing Upon the Same Stars by Jacquetta Nammar Feldman HarperCollins, 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Merle Eisman Carrus Buy at Bookshop.org Wishing Upon the Same Stars is the first novel written by author Jacquetta Nammar Feldman. When twelve-year-old Yasmeen’s father gets a new job, her family picks up their lives from a predominantly Arab Detroit neighborhood and moves to San Antonio, Texas. In their new neighborhood and middle school they are the only Arab American family. To Yasmeen they stick out like a sore thumb, from the way they decorate their home to the foods they eat. Yasmeen is self-conscious about how different she looks from the other girls in her new school. If you have ever felt alone or invisible in a social situation you will relate to Yasmeen. Yasmeen meets Waverly, a friendly girl whose father works in the same office as Yasmeen’s father. She invites her to join the popular girls at lunch. But soon the leader of the group begins to tease Yasmeen and s...

Grape, Again! by Gabriel Arquilevich Regal House Publishing, 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Heather J. Matthews Buy at Bookshop.org Grape Borokovich is fresh off of a suspension for accidentally punching a teacher in the arm. During his suspension, Grape has wrestled with the “spiders in his brain,” or his impulses which drive many of his thoughts and actions. Grape, Again! picks up where Arquilevich’s Grape! , the first book of this series, ended. Set in 1976 in California, and styled as an epistolary novel, each chapter is a diary entry addressed to Grape’s friend Lou (who, in Grape! , moved to New York). In the same vein as the Joey Pigza series, Grape, Again! explores a young man’s life as he moves through school and adolescence, all while balancing his impulses towards undesirable behavior. With new friends, old friends, and bullies turned friends, Grape, Again! covers six months of Grape’s life, including the first three months of Grape’s first year in junior high school...

Snail's Ark by Irene Latham, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini G.P. Putnam's Sons (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Arlene Schenker Buy at Bookshop.org A beautifully lyrical take on Noah’s ark, though Noah is not heard from at all and the ark is only a minor player. Little snail Esther knows that a big storm—the biggest in the history of the world--is coming. She trails off with all the other creatures towards the water, praying and persevering through her fear. But when she remembers her snail friend, Solomon, she retraces her steps to warn him of the impending danger and usher him along. Esther’s loyalty and bravery, along with a miraculous gust of wind at the right moment, land them on the “giant something” that is the ark. The illustrations of the animals, who take center stage, are stunning with intensely saturated colors. The book has definite literary merit, and children and adults will want to return to this book again and again, bo...

Signs of Survival: A Memoir of the Holocaust by Renee Hartman with Joshua M. Green Scholastic, 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Heather J. Matthews Buy at Bookshop.org Based on video testimonial recorded in 1979, Signs of Survival tells the stories of two sisters, Renee and Herta, and their experiences during the Holocaust. Renee, who is hearing, and Herta, who is deaf, recount their childhoods in Bratislava, the capital of what was once Czechoslovakia. The story begins in 1939, with the Nazi invasion of Bratislava, and the family being pushed into a ghetto. Through careful maneuvering by their parents, Renee and Herta are sent to live in the foothills or the Tarta Mountains, masquerading as Christians by 1943. However, the sisters are soon deported to Bergen-Belson concentration camp. Readers learn about Renee and Herta’s lives in Bergen-Belsen, their liberation, and their eventual lives in the United States. As this book is based on video testimonials of both Renee and Herta, th...

Albert Einstein by Button Books Button Books (Great Lives in Graphics series), 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Stacy Nockowitz Buy at Bookshop.org Great Lives in Graphics: Albert Einstein is a patchwork quilt of a book: its 32 pages attempt to cover many details of Einstein’s life, from his mother’s alarm at the size of his head when he was born to the weight of his brain upon autopsy. But the book also discusses an assortment of topics related to Einstein by only the thinnest thread, such as how a compass works and Plato’s “big ideas.” Each page is filled from corner to corner with colorful text, drawings, graphics, and charts of every shape and size. It’s possible that a middle grade reader would find this layout appealing in that it makes for an easy read– short snippets of facts and explanations displayed in a variety of fonts and connected images that mimic how kids absorb information today. It’s also possible that the book tries to squeeze so much onto the pages that a rea...

Rena Glickman, Queen of Judo by Eve Nadel Catarevas, illustrated by Martina Peluso Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Shanna Silva   Buy at Bookshop.org Rena “Rusty” Glickman was a scrappy Coney Island teenager in the 1950’s. As a young girl, Rena’s interests leaned toward conventionally male pursuits, including weight lifting and judo. There was no space for women in the world that interested her. Disguising herself as a man, she won a judo competition only to have the trophy revoked upon her gender revelation. Still, Rena refused to bend to societal norms. Her innate strong sense of self and persistence led her to become a judo master, no small feat for a woman in a men’s sport. Her trailblazing story lays out her path to what became her life’s work: creating a space for women in judo and developing it as a legitimized Olympic sport. Throughout her life, Rena was unconventional and fierce, never wavering in her mission...

Bedtime for Maziks by Yael Levy, illustrated by Nabila Adani Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Shanna Silva Buy at Bookshop.org In Bedtime for Maziks , the story opens with a definition of the Yiddish word “mazik,” to explain to readers (like me), who may be unfamiliar with the term. A mazik is a mischief maker, and in this book’s context, a rambunctious child, who is “rumbly tumbly” and causes a “ruckus.” Told in gentle rhyme, it takes the reader through the day and nighttime routine of adorable sibling maziks. The illustrations are done in a colorful, playful palette, and the book features a number of wordless spreads where the art speaks for itself. The maziks are portrayed with fangs, animal ears and paws, yet they are endearing and friendly. Their messy playfulness will be a familiar sight to parents and kids alike. Subtle Judaic elements are woven into the art: Stars of David, Hebrew letters, a Jewish folklore book and...

Just a Girl: A True Story of World War II by Lia Levi, translated by Sylvia Notini, illustrated by Jess Mason HarperCollins, 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Rinat Hadad Siegel Buy at Bookshop.org Just a Girl was first published in 1994 as a memoir for adults, written in Italian. It won the Elsa Morante First Novel Prize and was Lia Levi's debut novel. In its new adaptation for young readers the memoire is a remarkable read for children ages 8-12. The story is based on Lia's personal experience during World War II, and is told from the point of view of a child. Lia is a shy young girl living in Turin, Italy, when the world starts changing rapidly around her, but not in a good way. Lia’s voice throughout the story is innocent yet striking, simple yet captivating. Lia is asking the right questions, at the right time, about war, hate, discrimination and loyalty. The reader experiences the uprooting of Lia’s world while she learns to adapt to new homes, new schools, new restr...

 Mr. Mintz's Blintzes by Leslie Kimmelman, illustrated by Esther Hernando Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House) Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Linda Elovitz Marshall   Buy at Bookshop.org Cool, young Mr. Mintz is exactly the kind of neighbor anyone would want. He’s friendly, remembers birthdays, helps shovel snow, and is an amazing cook who prepares food for all the neighbors. And every Shavuot, Mr. Mintz makes the world’s best blintzes…until the day that – Oops! Mr. Mintz slips and (gasp!) is out of commission. So, guess what the neighbors do? This is a heartwarming story about a kindly neighbor who fills the world with chesed , augmented by Esther Hernando’s adorable, cartoon-like illustrations that depict a diverse group of neighbors. It's accessible and easy to read, with delightful language that begs to be read aloud over and over. It's like a mash-up of A Sick Day for Amos McGee and Grandma Rose's Magic . Many Jewish values are contained in thi...