The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

An Etrog From Across the Sea by Deborah Bodin Cohen and Kerry Olitzky, illustrated by Stacey Dressen McQueen Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Suzanne Grossman Buy at Bookshop.org Two children and their mother anxiously await their father’s return from his perilous journey on business from New York to Corsica in the 1700’s. Will he be home in time for Sukkot, bringing the special etrog as promised? Or will he be shipwrecked, lost at sea, or attacked by pirates? While he’s delayed, his family travels from their northern homestead amidst the Native American tribes to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur with their grandfather in the city. When they must head home without their father, their grandfather gifts them a valuable etrog holder along with the gift of faith that their father will return safely in time. With a smattering of sibling rivalry and moments of worry and fear, the love of the family always shines through. As...

Heroes with Chutzpah: 101 True Tales of Jewish Trailblazers, Changemakers, and Rebels by Kerry Olitzky and Deborah Bodin Cohen Ben Yehuda Press, 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Amy Blaine Buy at Bookshop.org Collected biographies for young people are hot right now, and Heroes with Chutzpah is a unique and timely addition to options for middle grade and young adult readers. The biographies, covering people who have lived within the last 125 years, are not organized alphabetically or chronologically; instead, they cleverly lead into one another with a short sentence linking one personality to the next. From the book’s first profile of comedian Sarah Silverman to a later look at student activist for gun control Naomi Wadler, this collection contains a great mix of knowns and unknowns and includes Jews of differing practices, ages, races, genders, abilities, and identities. The digital illustrations, manipulations of the subject’s image, provide a clean, bold, colorful, and engaging...

An Invitation to Passover by Rabbi Kerry Olitzky & Rabbi Deborah Bodin Cohen, illustrated by Mariia Kolker Kalaniot Books (imprint of Endless Mountains Publishing), 2023 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Rachel J. Fremmer Buy at Bookshop.org In An Invitation to Passover , Hannah’s family invites a diverse array of friends - and the reader! - to their seder when their relatives cannot, for unspecified reasons, attend. As Hannah and her family teach their guests about Passover, the reader learns along with them. But the teaching and learning are not one-way. Each guest brings a contribution to the seder which responds to a prompt in Hannah’s invitation and which shows how their culture celebrates the different aspects of the seder, like springtime and freedom. Backmatter includes more details about Passover and a glossary, although it would have been helpful if the glossary had included a pronunciation guide. The illustrations convey how warm and welcoming Hannah’s family is. An Invi...