The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R.M. Romero Peachtree Teen, 2022 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Evonne Marzouk Buy at Bookshop.org The Ghosts of Rose Hill is a beautiful and magical story, told in verse that is as entrancing as the tale itself. Ilana’s parents, immigrants from Cuba and Prague, are desperate for her to be successful in America. So when her grades slip and PSAT scores don’t meet the goal, Ilana is sent from her home in Miami to live with her aunt in Prague for the summer. Away from her violin, parties, and her friends, her parents hope she’ll be able to focus better on studying and improving her test scores. Instead, when Ilana discovers an overgrown Jewish cemetery behind her aunt’s cottage on Rose Hill, her summer becomes about clearing the cemetery… and though her aunt warns her not to speak to them, the ghosts she meets there. Benjamin, with blue eyes like the sea, befriends Ilana while she cares for the cemetery and shows her the secrets of Prague. Pearl is a young chi...

The Button Box by Bridget Hodder & Fawzia Gilani-Williams Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Rachel J. Fremmer Buy at Bookshop.org When Granny Buena shows her grandchildren (Jewish Ava and her Muslim cousin Nadeem) the family button box, they have no idea that the buttons within it are magic. After they touch a special button, they travel in time and space to 8th century Morocco, where they meet their ancestors and help a Muslim prince get to safety in Spain. As Ava and Nadeem learn about daily life in medieval Morocco, including the trade in herbal remedies and spices and the meals, the reader learns about them too. Helpful back matter includes a glossary and an authors’ note explaining who Sephardic Jews are, explaining which parts of the book are true and which merely based on fact, and encouraging children to speak up against antisemitism and Islamophobia. This reviewer found the book’s focus on commonalities in the Mu...

Sitting Shiva by Erin Silver, illustrated by Michelle Theodore Orca, 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Dena Bach Buy at Bookshop.org Talking about death and grief with the youngest of children is a tough task. When it is a parent who dies, it is all the more difficult. In the first-person narrative of a young girl named Jenny who is dealing with the loss of her mother, Sitting Shiva presents a way to begin the conversation. By tackling this topic through the lens of Jewish mourning rituals, Erin Silver’s sensitive, age appropriate book can be helpful even to those outside the Jewish world in its emphasis on the importance of community. The narrative begins as Jenny describes how she and her father cover mirrors, tear garments, sit on low chairs, and light a yahrzeit candle. She explains how each action serves to express and symbolize their grief. But Jenny is not interested in the shiva ritual of people coming to their home sit with them. She wants to be alone with her memories o...

Mrs. Noah's Doves by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Alida Massari Kar-Ben Publishing, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group, 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Linda Elovitz Marshall Buy at Bookshop.org In harmonious, poetic language, author Jane Yolen engages readers with kindly Mrs. Noah who cares for injured birds – “ravens and robins, eagles and eiders, cockatoos and crows” and her favorite, the doves – in much the same way a loving grandmother might care for her grandchildren. And when, as we knew would happen, the rains come, Mrs. Noah moves the bird cages higher and higher, caring for the birds, keeping them dry. Still, the waters rise. Mrs. Noah asks Mr. Noah for help. With assurances from Mr. Noah that God has told him what to do, Noah’s family builds a boat – “a floating zoo” – to keep themselves, the birds, and the animals (which arrive two-by-two) safe from flooding waters. At last, the rains cease. Mrs. Noah releases her birds to search for dry land. But, the ravens do...

Wishing Upon the Same Stars by Jacquetta Nammar Feldman HarperCollins, 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Merle Eisman Carrus Buy at Bookshop.org Wishing Upon the Same Stars is the first novel written by author Jacquetta Nammar Feldman. When twelve-year-old Yasmeen’s father gets a new job, her family picks up their lives from a predominantly Arab Detroit neighborhood and moves to San Antonio, Texas. In their new neighborhood and middle school they are the only Arab American family. To Yasmeen they stick out like a sore thumb, from the way they decorate their home to the foods they eat. Yasmeen is self-conscious about how different she looks from the other girls in her new school. If you have ever felt alone or invisible in a social situation you will relate to Yasmeen. Yasmeen meets Waverly, a friendly girl whose father works in the same office as Yasmeen’s father. She invites her to join the popular girls at lunch. But soon the leader of the group begins to tease Yasmeen and s...

Grape, Again! by Gabriel Arquilevich Regal House Publishing, 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Heather J. Matthews Buy at Bookshop.org Grape Borokovich is fresh off of a suspension for accidentally punching a teacher in the arm. During his suspension, Grape has wrestled with the “spiders in his brain,” or his impulses which drive many of his thoughts and actions. Grape, Again! picks up where Arquilevich’s Grape! , the first book of this series, ended. Set in 1976 in California, and styled as an epistolary novel, each chapter is a diary entry addressed to Grape’s friend Lou (who, in Grape! , moved to New York). In the same vein as the Joey Pigza series, Grape, Again! explores a young man’s life as he moves through school and adolescence, all while balancing his impulses towards undesirable behavior. With new friends, old friends, and bullies turned friends, Grape, Again! covers six months of Grape’s life, including the first three months of Grape’s first year in junior high school...

Snail's Ark by Irene Latham, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini G.P. Putnam's Sons (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Arlene Schenker Buy at Bookshop.org A beautifully lyrical take on Noah’s ark, though Noah is not heard from at all and the ark is only a minor player. Little snail Esther knows that a big storm—the biggest in the history of the world--is coming. She trails off with all the other creatures towards the water, praying and persevering through her fear. But when she remembers her snail friend, Solomon, she retraces her steps to warn him of the impending danger and usher him along. Esther’s loyalty and bravery, along with a miraculous gust of wind at the right moment, land them on the “giant something” that is the ark. The illustrations of the animals, who take center stage, are stunning with intensely saturated colors. The book has definite literary merit, and children and adults will want to return to this book again and again, bo...