The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

A Party for Florine: Florine Stettheimer and Me written and illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg Neal Porter Books (imprint of Holiday House), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Karin Fisher-Golton Buy at Bookshop.org In author-illustrator Yevgenia Nayberg’s A Party for Florine , a young artist visits a museum and sees something of herself in a self-portrait of Jewish-American painter Florine Stettheimer (1871–1944). The girl narrator is inspired to learn more, which makes for a natural flow into an overview of Stettheimer’s life as an artist. The story returns to the child’s world with her bountiful, imaginative ideas for the party she would like to throw for Florine. The resulting book is both a brief biography and an exuberant look into the mind of a creative child. As the child narrator concludes, “the world around me is full of color and full of surprise.” These qualities are depicted throughout the story, with goodies like “the famous artist Marcel Duchamp, so limber and elegant i...

A Visit to Moscow Adapted by Anna Olswanger from a story by Rabbi Rafael Grossman, illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg West Margin Press, 2022 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Jeanette Brod Buy at Bookshop.org In the summer of 1965, a group of American rabbis visit the Soviet Union to meet with Soviet Jews. Rabbi Rafael Grossman, a member of the delegation, goes in search of the brother of one of his congregants. He finds a hidden child. Zev is a beautiful and fragile four-year-old boy who peeks out from behind a curtain. He has never been outside. He has never met a stranger. His parents believe that the only way the boy can stay safe and remain Jewish is to avoid the prejudice on the streets and the ostracism in the schools, where Shabbat observance would be impossible and unkosher food would be served. The Rabbi helps the boy and his family emigrate to Israel. That is the central story of this hauntingly illustrated graphic novel for older readers. The story begins and ends with Zev seem...

I Hate Borsch! written and illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Mirele Kessous Buy at Bookshop.org I Hate Borsch! by Yevgenia Nayberg is an intriguing mix of things: part- memoir, part tribute to her Ukrainian heritage, part amusing children’s book. In it, Nayberg laments growing up surrounded by borsch and being forced to eat the red stew with the “slippery, slimy tomato and the bushy green dill.” The author immigrated to America, where she drifted towards American foods such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and the “mysterious” Pumpkin Spice latte. Yet, she feels that something is missing. That’s when she pulls out her grandmother’s borsch recipes and gets cooking, embracing the part of her heritage she had left behind. Nayberg wrote and illustrated this book, which features pictures that are vibrant and whimsical–playing up the color red whenever possible. The cartoon bubbles add to the engaging illustrations,...

A Bear for Bimi by Jane Breskin Zalben, illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group) Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Rachel Simon Buy at Bookshop.org A Bear for Bimi , written by Jane Breskin Zalben and illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg, is an accessible and important picture book. It follows the story of Evie (white and presumably Jewish), who lives in America, and her new friend, Bimi (brown, and presumably Muslim), who has immigrated with his family to Evie’s neighborhood. Bimi and his family are greeted by diverse neighbors who welcome them and of course some who don’t, like Mrs. Monroe. Throughout the story, neighbors help Bimi and his parents, and Evie even gives him her teddy bear. Their neighbor Mrs. Monroe is the only one who does not take to their family, though ultimately she comes around when the children help her with her fallen groceries. The illustrations are simple, but delightful. The colors are vibrant and I particularly love...