The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

White Bird: A Novel by R.J. Palacio with Erica Perl, illustrated by R.J. Palacio Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2023 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Jacqueline Jules   Buy at Bookshop.org Some readers prefer prose. For this reason, R.J Palacio’s editor suggested a novelization of Palacio’s acclaimed graphic novel, White Bird. Palacio agreed but felt that the story needed new energy for a new approach. Co-author Erica Perl has done an excellent job of offering readers an opportunity to experience this compelling story in prose format.  The novel begins with Julian from Palacio’s book, Wonder , FaceTiming his grandmother in Paris to gather information for a school project. In a refreshing change, technology connects rather than separates the generations, allowing Julian to learn Grandmére’s painful past.  Grandmére begins her story in the 1930’s when she was known as Sara Blum. Adored by two loving parents, Sara acknowledges th...

The Ninth Night of Hanukkah by Erica S. Perl, illustrated by Shahar Kober Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Rachel J. Fremmer   Buy at Bookshop.org The Ninth Night of Hanukkah by Erica Perl celebrates not just Hanukkah, but neighborliness and the importance of traditions both old and new. A family has just moved into their new home and can’t find the box with their Judaica items. As the nights pass without the box turning up, siblings Max and Rachel ask an array of neighbors from different backgrounds for help, borrowing candles, eating French fries instead of latkes, making do with chocolate chips instead of chocolate gelt, and so on. Each night ends with the child-pleasing refrain, “It was nice… but it didn’t feel quite like Hanukkah.” The final night of Hanukkah passes without the box, but the children decide to invite the neighbors over for a ninth night of Hanukkah, representing the shamash, the helper candle. Perl explicitly makes the connection between the shamash helping t...