The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

  Rachel Friedman and Eight Not-Perfect Nights of Hanukkah by Sarah Kapit, illustrated by Genevieve Kote Henry Holt & Co. (imprint of Macmillan), 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Julie Ditton Buy at Bookshop.org The irrepressible Rachel Friedman is back. When a classmate says that Christmas is better than Hanukkah, Rachel feels the drive to make this year the best Hanukkah ever. But then her best friend gets sick, her brother thinks that he is too old for Hanukkah and worst of all, Dad forgets to buy potatoes for the latkes. Sarah Kapit has written a plot that will keep young readers engaged and has developed characters that they can relate to. Rachel is smart and energetic and knows how to take action. Her brother just had his Bar Mitzvah and has the typical attitude of not wanting to do things that seem babyish. The sibling interaction is realistic. Just when Rachel is most fed up with him, he does something nice. The fantastic grey-tone illustrations by Genevieve Kote h...

Rachel Friedman Breaks the Rules by Sarah Kapit, illustrated by Genevieve Kote Henry Holt & Co., 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Sara Lesley Arnold Buy at Bookshop.org Rachel Friedman does not follow rules, especially when she’s expected to sit through the lengthy services at her synagogue without a cartwheel break. As much as she tries, she just can’t. But when faced with a challenge from her father that would let her meet her gymnast idol, she must decide if this is motivation enough to betray her every instinct and follow every single rule for an entire week. Author Sarah Kapit thoroughly integrates Rachel’s relationship with Judaism into this first novel of the middle grade Rachel Friedman series, centering many turning points around the setting of the synagogue and interactions with Rachel’s rabbi. Paired with frequent, adorable illustrations by Genevieve Kote, the story is accessible to elementary and young middle school readers who are drawn to visual elements, but the...

Second Chance Summer by Sarah Kapit Henry Holt Books, 2023 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Karen Shakman Buy at Bookshop.org Second Chance Summer tells the story of two former best friends, Chloe and Maddie, and the summer they spend orbiting one another at a sleep-away performing arts camp. The two middle schoolers were friends back home, until an unfortunate incident involving a performance of The Music Man goes viral and heralds the end of the girls’ friendship. Maddie resents Chloe for the part she played in Maddie’s very public embarrassment and, while Chloe is sorry, she doesn’t quite understand what she did that was so wrong. Where Maddie is slightly awkward and a little insecure, Chloe is at home in the spotlight. Maddie has always been in her shadow, a shadow that she admits is exciting and fun, but a shadow all the same, and she has grown tired of it. At the sleep-away camp, neither girl is happy to be there with the other, and they end up in a battle of revenge that ultima...