The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

The Two Wrong Halves of Ruby Taylor by Amanda Panitch Roaring Brook Press (imprint of Macmillan), 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Beth L. Gallego Buy at Bookshop.org Ruby Taylor’s father is Jewish, and her mother is Catholic. To her paternal grandmother, Ruby is not really a Jew. Grandma Yvette blatantly favors Ruby’s four-months-older cousin Sarah who, in addition to being the sort of tidy, polite, and helpful girl adults adore, has a Jewish mother. Afternoons at their grandmother’s house see Sarah cozy in the kitchen, learning to cook, while Ruby is banished to the living room with her homework. There is a growing distance between the once-close cousins, and Ruby might not be all that interested in closing it. Maybe it is just time for the two of them to make new friends and pursue different activities. Then Sarah starts behaving strangely, acting out in ways that are downright dangerous. Ruby thinks she knows why, and it might be a little bit her fault. Possibly, she accidenta...

The Trouble with Good Ideas  by Amanda Panitch Roaring Brook Press (imprint of Macmillan)  Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Rachel Simon Buy at Bookshop.org Leah Nevins is going through a lot of change. She and her parents have moved to a new town, where her Zaide (her great-grandfather) lives, and she has to switch from her familiar Jewish day school (Solomon Schechter) to a public school. She’s struggling to make friends. And now she’s struggling because she overhears her parents wanting to put Zaide in an assisted living home. He’s sometimes forgetful and confused, but Leah doesn’t want to lose one more thing. With the story Zaide told her of the Prague Golem during the Holocaust, she creates one of her own in Zaide’s backyard. Named Elsa (yes, like the Disney princess), she instructs it to protect Zaide. But soon, Elsa is taking over Leah’s life and Leah must figure out how to protect herself from her creation. The book offers a strong portrayal of Judaism from Leah’s fami...

It's My Party and I Don't Want To Go by Amanda Panitch Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Rachel Simon Buy at Bookshop.org Ellie Katz has a plan. Well, many plans. Her bat mitzvah is coming up and she does not want to have it. Sometimes she can’t breathe when she has to do things in front of people, like when she went up to light the candles at her sister’s bat mitzvah two years ago. She can’t imagine having to read from the Torah, say the blessings, and give a speech at her own bat mitzvah. So together with her best friend Zoe, Ellie devises ways to make sure her bat mitzvah doesn’t happen. From canceling the venue to shocking the DJ to starting a food fight to deter the caterer, Ellie’s sure her bat mitzvah won’t go through. But when her parents find out what is going on and she and Zoe get into a fight, Ellie finds a way to make sure she does her bat mitzvah...her way. This middle grade book examines the themes of the Jewish rite of passage of becoming a woman in the community...