The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Across So Many Seas by Ruth Behar Nancy Paulsen Books (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Heather J. Matthews Buy at Bookshop.org Following four girls in the same family line, Across So Many Seas explores important Jewish moments in history. Characters Benvenida, Reina, Alega, and Paloma bear witness to such events as the Expulsion of Jews from Spain following Alhambra Decree of 1492, the Cuban literacy campaign in 1961, and the flight of Cuban children to the United States via Operation Pedro Pan in 1962. Each girl, seemingly isolated within her timeline, is never truly alone. Throughout the novel there are the ever-present connections of music, heritage foods, and the use of Ladino words and phrases which help bridge gaps between each generation of the Sephardic family. Ultimately, the interconnectedness between each character in the book is brought to a head when Reina, Alega and Paloma all travel to Spain together in a final crossing of the sea...

Max in the House of Spies: A Tale of World War II (Operation Kinderspion series) by Adam Gidwitz Dutton Books for Young Readers (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Rachel Aronowitz Buy at Bookshop.org Twelve year old Max is sent away from his loving parents and his home in Germany to England, along with thousands of other Jewish children, as part of the kindertransport, but he doesn't want to go. Max is a brilliant and resilient child and he will do whatever it takes to get back to his parents. As a kindertransport refugee, he is placed with a wealthy Jewish foster family in London who happen to have connections to British Naval Intelligence. Right away, Max has the idea that if he can somehow become a spy for the British, he can be reunited with his parents in Germany. It's also worth noting that Max is walking around with two supernatural creatures; a dybbuk named Stein and a kobold named Berg, living on his shoulders, who act as a bit of ...

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...

Rebbe Nachman's The Lost Princess retold and illustrated by Jessica Tamar Deutsch Somewhere (imprint of Ayin Press), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Marcia Rosenthal Buy at Bookshop.org The Lost Princess is an imaginative tale by Rebbe Nachman, retold and illustrated by Jessica Tamar Deutsch. In a moment of fury, a king exiles his only daughter. The following morning, he is consumed with regret, only to discover the princess is nowhere to be found. The viceroy steps up to help the distraught king and embarks on a long journey to find the princess. The viceroy comes upon a castle, where he discovers the princess is captive in the Kingdom of Evil. She can only be freed if he successfully fulfills a year-long test of solitude. He fails. The princess is moved to another castle, and the viceroy resumes his quest. He encounters friendly bear giants and wind-keepers and asks for their help. Ultimately, the viceroy rescues the princess, but how that occurs is not revealed in the s...

The Night Before Passover (The Night Before series) by Natasha Wing, illustrated by Nathalie Beauvois Grosset & Dunlap (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Heidi Rabinowitz Buy at Bookshop.org Author Natasha Wing has parodied The Night Before Christmas with 40+ titles in her "The Night Before" series. The Night Before Passover is her second Jewish entry, following The Night Before Hanukkah (2014). Some Jewish readers may find the juxtaposition of Passover with a famous Christmas poem amusing, while others may find it discomfiting. That said, it's always appreciated to find Jewish titles incorporated into a non-Jewish book series. The text follows the pattern of couplets from Clement Clark Moore's original poem, but unfortunately, the meter is uneven and awkward. Forced into the rhyme scheme, concepts lose their meaning, as in this passage: "We sing psalms, recite blessings, / I sip grape juice from my cup. / I already fi...

Where Is Poppy? by Caroline Kusin Pritchard, illustrated by Dana Wulfkotte Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Jeff Gottesfeld Buy at Bookshop.org A young girl attends the first Passover seder after the death of her beloved Poppy. So much is familiar -- "the same chasing cousins, the same squishy seats" -- but her Poppy has clearly passed away. It's hard for the young heroine emotionally, not to have this man leading the seder and influencing her life, with everything from his secret ingredient for pumping up the chicken soup to his pithy life advice when the girl would sit on his lap. Finally, though, as the adults tell her that Poppy is here, the heroine understands that Poppy lives in in their singing, Passover traditions like an orange on the seder plate, and the over-enthusiastic singing of Dayenu. Pritchard has crafted a touching story, with simple, appropriate, and equally touching art from Wulfkotte. I especially like...

Sophie's Monster Goes to Shul by Sandy Asher, illustrated by Alexandra Colombo Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Rebecca Klempner Buy at Bookshop.org One morning, Sophie discovers that the imaginary monster in her closet has collapsed in tears. It turns out that the monster misses the times when Sophie was actually scared of him. Also, he's lonely, since no one else can see him or talk to him. Sophie attempts to find the monster a new job, but fails until she takes him to the synagogue for religious school. There he enjoys listening to stories, singing, and dancing. Finally, Sophie writes about her monster. “You have a new job,” she said. “Now you’re the monster in my story.” From then on, other people can see and hear her monster…by reading Sophie’s story. Alexandra Colombo’s artwork supports the text well. The colorful and almost windswept appearance of the monster captures the strangeness of the creature without f...