The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

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...

The Peacock by Jennifer Tzivia MacLeod, illustrated by Jamie MacGibbon Orca Book Publishers, 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Sara Lesley Arnold Buy at Bookshop.org Through the lens of a young girl in Toronto grappling with an unwanted garden guest, The Peacock introduces young readers to the Jewish refugee crisis after World War II. Barbara’s father, a tailor, is overcome with a feeling of responsibility for displaced persons in Europe, and sets out across the sea to help Jews secure tailoring jobs to skirt around Canada’s impossibly restrictive immigration laws. Back at home, while her father is away and her brothers are at camp, the responsibility falls on Barbara herself to care for her mother, who, in addition to being grief-stricken from the news of the horrific treatment of Jews in Europe, is terrorized daily by the peacock who has mysteriously planted himself in their yard. Learning from her father’s example of taking action and keeping in mind his wise words, “It’s up to...