The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Festival of Lights: 16 Hanukkah Stories Edited by Henry Herz Albert Whitman, 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Rebecca Greer Buy at Bookshop.org The short stories in this anthology cover Hanukkah traditions, both Ashkenazi and Sephardic, along with newcomers to the holiday and the creation of new traditions. In the first story, “Ewa and the Five Sites” by R.M. Romero, Ewa Nowak finds her grandmother’s house spirit after she passes away. The spirit leads her on a journey throughout Krakow, Poland where she uncovers her Jewish roots, taking her to a Jewish Community Center for her first Hanukkah. Similarly, in “The Luck of the Irish” the discovery of distant relatives has a family find out they are part Jewish. Bridget Hodder’s “The Thing about Stars,” depicts the misadventures of eighth grader Coco Hanan and South Korean Shin Kim as they get into repeated misunderstandings. When she sees him wearing a six-sided star necklace she presumes he’s Jewish and invites him to celebrate Han...

Coming of Age: 13 B'nai Mitzvah Stories edited by Jonathan Rosen and Henry Herz Albert Whitman & Company, 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Beth L. Gallego Buy at Bookshop.org “Sure, even though one by one we were being called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah, none of us had miraculously become a grown-up. But we were getting there,” reflects the narrator of Nancy Krulik’s “The Contest” in this anthology. Krulik is one of thirteen authors presenting tales of young people preparing for B’nai Mitzvah celebrations large and small, ceremonies and parties they look forward to or dread. The characters struggle with self-confidence and religious identity as well as the challenges of school bullies, a global pandemic, and various manifestations of antisemitism. The thread that runs through the anthology is what it means to become an adult. Some characters struggle with shyness, particularly when it comes to approaching a romantic interest, whether they happen to be in suburban Connect...