The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Fish Out of Water by Joanne Levy Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Meg Wiviott Buy at Bookshop.org Fishel “Fish” Rosen is not a typical twelve-year-old boy. He does not like “typical” boy activities like sports—playing or even watching with his zaida. He doesn’t want to take the water polo class his mom and stepfather sign him up for and really doesn’t want to help his best friend collect used hockey equipment for his mitzvah project. Instead, Fish comes up with his own plan for his mitzvah project. But for his project, Fish must learn how to knit and his bubby won’t teach him, saying “knitting isn’t for boys.” After he joins the school’s Knitting Club, Fish’s friends shut him out and his best friend calls him “weird” and “girly.” After he sneaks into the Seniors' Zumba class at the JCC rather than going to water polo, his stepfather yells at him and then informs him, “Boys don’t cry.” With support from his rabbi and knitting teacher, Fish learns to stand up for himself. Fish’s refu...

Reeni's Turn by Carol Coven Grannick Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Stacy Mozer Buy at Bookshop.org Reeni's Turn is a disturbing but important look at an eleven-year-old dancer's spiral into self-doubt and body shaming, which leads to a crippling eating disorder. Told in verse, readers enter Reeni's mind as she deals with important issues faced by pre-teens. Thanks to a good friend and her family, Reeni gets the help she needs to be able to see herself and her relationship with food differently in order to become the healthy, confident dancer she needs to be to get on stage and perform. The Jewish content in Reeni's Turn is woven into the story as part of Reeni's experience. So much of Judaism's celebration focuses on food so Shabbat dinners and Passover Seders are part of the backdrop of Reeni's thoughts about food and her own body. The book has literary merit and is appropriate for the intended grade level in style, vocabulary, format, and illustra...

What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter Category: Young Adult Reviewer: A.R. Vishny Buy at Bookshop.org Marisa Kanter’s What I Like About You follows seventeen-year-old Halle, who runs a popular book blog under the pseudonym “Kels” that combines her two loves: young adult literature and cupcakes. Her ability to keep her real life and her online identity separate is put to the test when she starts at a new high school attended by one of her closest online friends: Nash. Nash doesn’t know much about Halle, but he is in love with Kels. At first, Halle decides to hide the truth about her online life from Nash. But as the blog takes off, that secret becomes harder and harder to keep. Kanter excels at depicting book blogger culture and YA Twitter. The book clearly reads from the perspective of someone who is immersed in and truly understands it. That being said, the book missed a few opportunities to dig deeper. Not exploring how Halle’s privileges and personal connections lend to her succes...

Judy Led the Way by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, illustrated by Margeaux Lucas Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Belinda Brock Buy at Bookshop.org Judy Led the Way tells the story of twelve-year-old Judith Kaplan, the first American girl to publicly become a bat mitzvah. Judy is depicted as intellectually curious—questioning and challenging ideas and practices around her that don’t make sense. One of things she questioned was the marginalized role that women played in the synagogue. Fortunately, her father, Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, was forward-thinking and offered Judy the opportunity to chant a Torah portion and lead the congregation. But he only gave her a day to prepare. Although Judy was intelligent and talented, she struggled with fears and insecurities surrounding her risky undertaking. Even though the rituals of bar and bat mitzvot are commonplace now, today’s children will be able to relate to her fears; in fact, anyone challenging the status quo will find a realistic and worthy role ...

Going Rogue (at Hebrew School) by Casey Breton Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Stacy Mozer Buy at Bookshop.org Going Rogue (at Hebrew School) is a heartfelt look at the age old question asked by many modern Jewish children, "Why do I have to go to Hebrew school?" Ten-year-old Avery has spent years wondering why he has to skip out on "fun" things, like football league, in order to be one of the few kids he knows who has to spend his Sunday and weekday afternoons at his synagogue learning about being Jewish. When a new interim Rabbi uses the ways of the force and a love of Star Wars to connect with Avery, he begins to learn that Hebrew School is not just about learning old traditions, it's also about learning how to be a good person and a better friend to those around you. The book meets the Sydney Taylor Book Award criteria because it has positive and authentic Jewish religious or cultural content and is appropriate for the intended grade level in style, vocabu...

Shimmy Shambone Will Not Share His Toys by Yael Zoldan, illustrated by Robert Salanitro Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Leah Cypess Buy at Feldheim Shimmy Shambone Will Not Share His Toys is the third in a series of picture books about Shimmy. This book stands alone. In it, Shimmy won't share his toys with anyone, and ends up with a heap of toys but no friends to play with. With the help of a kind adult, Shimmy comes to realize both that sharing is the right thing to do, and that it ends up being a lot more fun for him. This is a fun, child-friendly book. Shimmy is marvelously drawn, through both text and illustrations, as a character most children will easily identify with. The easy, playful rhyme is a great counterweight to the moral of the story. The characters in the book are clearly Orthodox, but the book is easily relatable to all children. Sharing is described as a "mitzvah," and God is referred to as "Hashem." The thrust of the message is the importan...

The Extraordinary Life of Anne Frank by Kate Scott, illustrated by Anka Rega Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Stacy Nockowitz Buy at Penguin Countless books have been written about Anne Frank, each vying for a different angle on the life of World War II’s most famous diarist. It’s difficult for any text to compare to Anne’s own words about her life as a teenager hiding from the Nazis. But not all children are old enough or mature enough to wrestle with the original text. With The Extraordinary Life of Anne Frank , author Kate Scott and illustrator Anka Rega offer a graphic biography of Frank for middle grade readers. The Extraordinary Life of Anne Frank attempts to cover a lot of previously trodden ground in its 66 pages, with mixed results. The Extraordinary Life of Anne Frank portions out its text in short, digestible blocks. Each page contains a brief paragraph, often presented in multiple fonts. The format is visually pleasing and will be comfortable for middle grade readers who ...