The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Finn and Ezra's Bar Mitzvah Time Loop by Joshua S. Levy Katherine Tegan Books (imprint of HarperCollins), 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Leah Cypess Buy at Bookshop.org Two very different boys. One (literally) never-ending bar mitzvah weekend. Finn and Ezra seem to have nothing in common, except that both boys are inexplicably trapped in a time loop that has them living their bar mitzvah weekends over and over and over and… Ezra is the middle child in a large Orthodox family, feeling like an afterthought even at his own bar mitzvah. Finn is the suffocatingly adored only child of secular Jewish parents. Ezra is laid back, avoidant, and hasn’t done much to end his time loop… until he meets Finn, who is competitive, likes to be in charge, and is determined to get to the bottom of the problem. Even if some of Finn’s ideas for how to escape the time loop strike Ezra as a little dubious, it doesn’t really matter, does it? No matter what they do, time will always re-set. Or will it...

What Rosa Brought by Jacob Sager Weinstein, illustrated by Eliza Wheeler Katherine Tegen Books (imprint of HarperCollins Publishers), 2023 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Jeanette Brod Buy at Bookshop.org What Rosa Brought shares a message of universal relevance: you carry love with you wherever you go. This Holocaust story speaks across generations about choices and responses to persecution, fear and an uncertain future. It is a gentle picture book told from a child’s point of view about the misfortunes of one Jewish family as they face the hatred that accompanies the Nazi rise to power and the frustrations of the search for visas and escape. The setting is Vienna, Austria, at the time of the Anschluss. Young Rosa asks the naive questions that juxtapose the fate of her cat with the fate of her family. The wisdom of her grandmother exists in loving counterpoint. Rosa’s parents struggle with diminishing options during Nazi boycotts of Jewish stores, food shortages, long lines at the ...

Absolutely, Positively Natty by Lisa Greenwald Katherine Tegen Books (imprint of HarperCollins Publishers), 2023 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Beth L. Gallego Buy at Bookshop.org "Good vibes only!" Natty Blanken lives by the words on the patch on her backpack. What's the point of focusing on the negative? So, last year she was part of the popular group at her Long Island middle school, and her parents were together, and now she lives with her dad at his parents’ house in a small Pennsylvania town where she doesn’t know any of the other junior high students? That’s all fine. It’s an opportunity to make new friends and try new things. Her parents won’t really get divorced; her mom will join them in Miller Creek eventually. Everything will be just fine. Better than fine. Natty just has to put that good energy out into the universe, and ignore that weird twisted-up feeling she keeps getting in her gut, right? When it seems like everyone around her can only talk about how b...

The Jake Show by Joshua S. Levy Katherine Tegan Books, 2023 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Merle Eisman Carrus Buy at Bookshop.org Starting at a new school is always difficult and switching to a new school mid-year is even harder. Jake knows because he has changed schools five times since his parent’s divorce.  Jake imagines he is living in a television sitcom and enjoying the current episode until the show is canceled. Jake explains his life like a television show spin off. In the original series he and his parents celebrated Jewish holidays and enjoyed Shabbat dinners but also watched TV together after dinner. Then his parents divorced and now life is like a TV spin off. This show has two different families with different religious observance. At Imma’s house he answers to Yaakov, wearing a suit with a velvet yarmulke under a fedora. At his father’s secular home he wears jeans and T-shirts and is called Jacob. Things get more complicated when he meets Caleb and Tehilla at his n...

Chunky Goes to Camp by Yehudi Mercado Katherine Tegan Books (imprint of HarperCollins), 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Rebecca Klempner Buy at Bookshop.org In Chunky Goes to Camp , a semi-autobiographical graphic novel, we follow Hudi, the protagonist of 2021’s Chunky . Hudi is a junior high student with a flair for comedy. Unfortunately, Vice Principal Hyatt doesn't share Hudi's sense of humor. Hyatt decides that since Hudi is Mexican and doesn't "follow the rules," Hudi must be a hoodlum. He accuses Hudi of one “offense” after another and sends Hudi to detention over and over. While we laugh at the absurdity, we also feel outrage against the punitive school discipline depicted. When the school year ends, Hudi’s parents send him to Camp Green, a Jewish sleepaway camp, to prevent more trouble (although they agree that the administration treated him unfairly). Before Hudi even reaches camp, things get Jewy. There are four friends all named Josh. Camp events ...

 Chunky written & illustrated by Yehudi Mercado Katherine Tegan Books (imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Beth L. Gallego   Buy at Bookshop.org Meet Chunky: a hot pink, big-eyed, blue-tongued drawing come to life, courtesy of Yehudi Mercado’s vibrant imagination.    In this fictionalized version of his childhood, after a doctor recommends Hudi lose weight, his parents decide he should find a sport. Hudi would much rather develop his comedy or art skills, and it doesn’t help that he is remarkably accident-prone. He gets hit with the ball twice when he tries baseball, sprains his ankle off the field during a soccer game, and has to quit swimming when a hand injury must be kept dry.   At home, Hudi’s family is struggling financially and trying to prepare for his sister’s Bat Mitzvah. Hudi is supposed to memorize a reading for the service, but he is much more concerned with how he can make people laugh.   As Hudi’...

 The (Un)Popular Vote by Jasper Sanchez Katherine Tegan Books (imprint of HarperCollins) Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Valerie Estelle Frankel Buy at Bookshop.org Mark Adams is a born politician. The son of a California congressman near San Francisco, he runs for student body president when a gay kid is bullied, and he wants to change the system. That’s the big story arc—his campaign, supported by his friends. The complication is that Mark is in hiding. His father’s constituents think he’s still Madison, and his father has threatened to disown him if he tells his story to anyone. Thus the tension with his father, his religion, and his self-doubt are personal, adding to the struggle of keeping this secret from all his friends and his new Jewish love interest.    It’s a charming book—Mark is endearing and very honest. He’s committed to his politics—even over-committed as he refuses to compromise on perfection. This of course can become a fatal flaw as he pushes ...