The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

The Keeper of Stories by Caroline Kusin Pritchard, illustrated by Selina Alko Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Stacy Nockowitz   Buy at Bookshop.org The Keeper of Stories recalls the 1966 fire at New York’s Jewish Theological Seminary library. After the fire was extinguished, the entire community, Jews and gentiles, came together in Operation Booklift to try to save the swollen, waterlogged books. After a number of failed attempts to dry the books, a volunteer proposed the method that worked: layering paper towels between the soaked pages. But this extraordinary book is about more than that incident. It’s about how libraries and people both function as guardians of our stories. Pritchard uses poetic language and lovely, metaphorical imagery to emphasize the idea that while the library and the community’s many hands saved the books, it is the Jewish people who keep our stories alive. Though many books were “consumed” by the fire, ...

  Shabbat Shalom, Let's Rest and Reset written and illustrated by Suzy Ultman Rise x Penguin Workshop, 2025 Category: Board Books Reviewer: Ann Koffsky   Buy at Bookshop.org In Shabbat Shalom, Let’s Rest and Reset, author and illustrator Suzy Ultman speaks directly to the youngest readers and distills the concept of Shabbat for them. Using kid friendly language, she helps them to connect to the idea of a Sabbath rest in ways that they can understand. This is a challenge, as Shabbat is usually described as a day that we refrain from work. But…three-year-olds don’t usually have 9-5 to five jobs! So how to put it in terms that connect to them and their lives? Ultman brilliantly does so by saying that Shabbat is different. All the others day of the week are for DOING, while Shabbat is for BEING. She also recognizes how different personalities will best each enjoy the Shabbat their own way—some will enjoy with family, while others will enjoy just being alone. But at its core, Shab...

Yes, We'll Do It! by Dafna Strum, illustrated by Shahar Kober, translated by Ilana Kurshan Kalaniot Books (imprint of Endless Mountains Publishing), 2025 Category: Picture Books  Reviewer: Julie Ditton   Buy at Bookshop.org Dafna Strum's amusing story follows a parade of people who each step in to help the other, resulting in some silly situations. When people help friends who find themselves short-handed, they need to rely on someone else to take over their own job. Although the replacements will cause the readers to laugh, the story demonstrates how important it is to lend a helping hand. Translator Ilana Kurshan has brought this cute story to English speaking readers using clever rhymes. Shahar Kober's colorful illustrations with predominant shades of pink and olive set a whimsical tone. In the afterward, the author states "According to ancient Jewish teachings, 'All the people of Israel are responsible for one another'” (Sifra, Bechukotai 7:5). And of cou...

  Same Page by Elly Swartz Delacorte Press, 2025 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Stacy Mozer   Buy at Bookshop.org When Bess Stein is elected class president, she is determined to make a positive impact on her school. Her first initiative is to install a book vending machine filled with diverse stories that reflect all the students in her community. However, the machine quickly sparks controversy when some parents label certain books as "dangerous." Leading the charge against it is the mother of a girl Bess once considered a friend. As Bess fights to keep the books accessible, she realizes that changing minds is far more challenging than she expected. Elly Swartz powerfully captures the harsh reality of book bans happening in schools across the country. The most heartbreaking part of reading this novel is knowing that, in many places, a story like this one could be banned itself. Like many other Jewish kids, being Jewish is infused in Bess's character. She wears a Jewi...

The Truth About the Tooth Fairy (Miriam's Magical Creature Files series) by Leah Cypess, illustrated by Sarah Lynne Reul Amulet Books (imprint of Harry N. Abrams), 2025 Category: Early Chapter Book Reviewer: Dena Bach   Buy at Bookshop.org Six-year-old Miriam, the youngest in her family, thinks that her older siblings and her parents are telling her the most ridiculous things. The most ridiculous of all is about the tooth fairy. Funny, clever, irreverent Miriam does not believe that the tooth fairy is real, and she’s determined to prove it. Once her first loose tooth begins to wiggle, Miriam makes a plan. She will stay up all night and catch the tooth fairy in action. But when her tooth finally falls out on Shabbat, Miriam must put her plan on hold. She wonders what the tooth fairy will do, especially, if as she suspects, it’s really her father. He can’t put money under her pillow on Shabbat. After Shabbat is over, Miriam continues her quest. Yet at the end of the narrative, both t...

Shabbat Shalom, the Trucks Come Home by Sherri Mandell, illustrated by Viviana Garofoli Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House), 2025 Category: Board Books Reviewer: Julie Ditton   Buy at Bookshop.org   Welcome Shabbat with your little one with this adorable picture book. Lots of little kids love their toy trucks and Sherri Mandell has created a cute story with construction trucks celebrating the sabbath. Mandell lists several different trucks along with Shabbat elements. Each truck contributes to the celebration and soon we have a Shabbat dinner complete with grape juice, candles, chicken, challah, soup, and dessert. Her catchy rhymes are brought to life with cute colorful illustrations. This book is perfect for a Jewish child's home library. As the author's note points out, Shabbat is that much more special when everyone helps out. As a bonus the book even has a "Meet the Trucks" section in the back. Although it is aimed specifically at Jewish children, ...

Zayde Babysits Before Passover by Jane Sutton, illustrated by Kate Chappell Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner), 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Amy Brook Cohen   Buy at Bookshop.org This delightful story celebrating a granddaughter's relationship with her grandfather is an absolute pleasure from beginning to end. When Zayde is tasked with babysitting Ruthie so that her mother and father can go to Zayde and Bubbe’s house to help them prepare for hosting Passover, shenanigans of all kinds ensue. I can’t imagine anyone reading this book without smiling; it made me laugh out loud several times. Even though Ruthie’s mother leaves Zayde a list of sensible activities that he should do with Ruthie while he babysits, the way the items on the list are executed by the two protagonists is pure comedy, and certainly not as Mommy had intended. When shopping for Passover items, for example, Ruthie pushes Zayde around the supermarket while he sits in the shopping cart wearing a party h...

The Secret of the Scent Map (A Saralee Siegel Book) by Elana Rubinstein, illustrated by Jennifer Naalchigar Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House), 2025 Category: Early Chapter Books Reviewer: Rochelle Newman-Carrasco   Buy at Bookshop.org   The Secret of the Scent Map is narrated by protagonist Saralee Siegel, a girl with an “amazing, incredible, totally awesome ability”—a super-nose! Her extraordinary sense of smell helps her create innovative recipes for her family’s restaurant, especially during Passover. Saralee loves working alongside her beloved Zaide, but tensions rise when her Aunt Lotte refuses to help, complains about having to polish silverware, and even sneaks bites of food meant for customers. Saralee, a natural helper, is frustrated by her aunt’s laziness—especially when Lotte knocks over a bowl of painstakingly prepared horseradish, an essential ingredient for maror. Furious, Saralee has an outburst, yelling, “YOU’RE RUINING EVERYTHING!” The next ...

One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe by Dara Horn, illustrated by Theo Ellsworth Norton Young Readers, 2025 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Merle Carrus   Buy at Bookshop.org   In Dara Horn’s new graphic novel, she brings her memories of family seders to middle grade and teen readers. They will definitely be able to relate to the angst of being caught at the dinner table for many hours with elderly relatives and younger cousins and siblings. Horn creates a witty, funny story about what can happen if you never find the afikoman, the dessert without which a seder cannot end.    Bringing to life the goat from Chad Gadya, the song sung at the end of the seder about a father buying a goat for two zuzim, our protagonist is able to be the hero and find the missing matzah after six months of being stuck at the seder. The goat takes this “wise child” on a journey, meeting characters from many seders throughout history, from the recent past (the USSR in the 1980s, the Wars...

Roadside Seder by Anna Levine, illustrated by Naama Lahav Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House), 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Arlene Schenker   Buy at Bookshop.org   Roadside Seder is a lively, joyful story about improvising a seder and making it meaningful for all different kinds of Jewish celebrants. Benjy and his family are on the way to their seder in Jerusalem, but they soon realize the traffic jam they’re in is no ordinary one. A giant palm tree has fallen and blocked the road. Benjy’s family is not alone in having their seder plans upended. After all the stopped cars pour out their many kids and adults, the throng tries to move the immovable tree. Even Benjy’s dog, Matzah, pitches in--but to no avail. As the sun is setting, the families wonder how they can celebrate the holiday. Benjy, outfitted as Moses, raises his cane, and announces his grand idea: use the tree trunk as a table, and have everyone contribute whatever seder ritual objects and fo...

A Purr-fect Passover by Jenna Waldman, illustrated by Erica J. Chen Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House), 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Susan Tarcov   Buy at Bookshop.org Three kittens—each different, each adorable—prepare for and host a Passover seder. They go through all the steps, from searching the house for leavened foods at the beginning of the book to cleaning up after the meal at the end. The story is told with wit (the Four Questions begin with “Meow-nishtanah”) and in impressively “purr-fect” rhythm and rhyme: It's afikoman searching time, where can that matzah be? High and low, the kitties go, but who will find it? “Me!” Although all the seder guests are cats, at the end even the mouse in the house gets a taste of matzah. The illustrations have clever little touches: each flower painted by the kittens is clearly a single pawprint. The kitties are of various breeds - tabby, Siamese, and tortoiseshell. They wear no markers of Judaism (no kippot or ...

Passover on Everest by Rachelle Burk, illustrated by Craig Orback Intergalactic Afikoman, 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Jeff Gottesfeld   Buy at Bookshop.org This nonfiction picture book introduces us to Nikki Bart, a young Jewish climber. Together with her mother, she scaled mountains of all sizes, beginning with Masada in Israel when Nikki was just a girl. When Nikki moved into teen-hood, she and her mother set an ambitious goal: to climb the highest mountains on each continent, beginning with their native Australia. They carried out this plan, from Denali to Kilimanjaro. The only one remaining was Everest.  Nikki and her family were also Jews who observed Passover, with a beloved seder where Nikki would share her adventures with those in attendance. It turned out that Nikki and her mother's trip to Mount Everest would coincide with Passover. They formed a relationship with their Buddhist sherpa, who was intrigued by the holiday. To their shock, the sherpas arrange...

Next Year in the White House: Barack Obama's First Presidential Seder by Richard Michelson, illustrated by E.B. Lewis Crown Books for Young Readers in partnership with PJ Library, 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Belinda Brock   Buy at Bookshop.org   Next Year in the White House starts off by telling the reader that while Christmas and Easter had long been observed at the White House, 2009 marked the first time that Passover was celebrated. This book recounts the interesting, true story of how that came to be. The first scene opens with Malia, Sasha, and their dog Bo in the formal dining room as the staff prepares a traditional Passover dinner. The table is set beautifully with a Seder plate at the center. At this point, we reach the title page. Aha! So this is where the real story starts. Flashback to a year earlier when three young staffers—Eric, Arun, and Herbie—were on the presidential campaign trail with then-Senator Barack Obama. They believe deeply in their candi...