The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

  Rachel Friedman and Eight Not-Perfect Nights of Hanukkah by Sarah Kapit, illustrated by Genevieve Kote Henry Holt & Co. (imprint of Macmillan), 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Julie Ditton Buy at Bookshop.org The irrepressible Rachel Friedman is back. When a classmate says that Christmas is better than Hanukkah, Rachel feels the drive to make this year the best Hanukkah ever. But then her best friend gets sick, her brother thinks that he is too old for Hanukkah and worst of all, Dad forgets to buy potatoes for the latkes. Sarah Kapit has written a plot that will keep young readers engaged and has developed characters that they can relate to. Rachel is smart and energetic and knows how to take action. Her brother just had his Bar Mitzvah and has the typical attitude of not wanting to do things that seem babyish. The sibling interaction is realistic. Just when Rachel is most fed up with him, he does something nice. The fantastic grey-tone illustrations by Genevieve Kote h...

Don't Invite a Bear Inside for Hanukkah by Karen Rostoker-Gruber, illustrated by Carles Arbat Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Melissa Lasher Buy at Bookshop.org Illustrated in cheerful blues, golds and browns, Don’t Invite A Bear Inside For Hanukkah depicts the worst playdate ever—and how a boy turns the debacle into a treasured holiday memory. Set in a snowy mountain town, a narrator tells the story in a style akin to If You Give A Mouse a Cookie. Despite the narrator’s warning, a generous boy invites a massive, blundering, hungry bear into his home to celebrate Hanukkah. What could possibly go wrong? Only everything. The bear sends dreidels and candles flying. He eats all the gelt and latkes. Then, unbearably, he rips apart the presents. Oy! The boy banishes the bear. When guilt sends the boy out after the bear, through the forest, he sees a tree-branch menorah in the bear’s den window. The boy finds himself in a pickl...

Hiding from the Nazis in Plain Sight: A Graphic Novel Biography of Zhanna and Frina Arshanskaya by Lydia Lukidis, illustrated by Aleksandar Sotirovski Capstone Press, 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Jeanette Brod   Buy at Bookshop.org There are as many Holocaust stories of survival as there are survivors. We tell stories of the camps, the Holocaust, by bullets, hidden children, and now Hiding from the Nazis in Plain Sight . This true story is told in a very concise graphic novel. There are two sisters who are musical prodigies and somehow escape the 1941 roundup of Jews in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Taken in by the families of schoolmates, the sisters assume false identities as orphans. In the orphanage, they find refuge in their music. Their piano playing wafts through open windows and despite their efforts to keep a low profile, their artistry propels them into the spotlight. They are offered musical scholarships and invited to perform for the occupying German soldiers. In 1945, wh...

The Things We Miss by Leah Stecher Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Judy Ehrenstein Buy at Bookshop.org Seventh grade is NOT a good time for J.P. (Joan Phyllis). Her father has recently died, her beloved grandfather, Pop Pop, has a recurrence of cancer, and mean girl Miranda is determined to body shame her at school whenever the chance arises, be it in PE, the cafeteria, and even at the mall. Only her best friend Kevin, with whom she shares a passion for the sci-fi comic book and tv show “Admiral K” can bring her some semblance of happiness, especially when planning for the opening of an “Admiral K” movie. In an attempt at an escape from her unhappiness, J.P. climbs up to a neighbor’s old treehouse and discovers a secret: it is a portal through time, roughly allowing her to “skip” 3 days. Her body is present but her memories of those days are gone! What a perfect way to get through the school year! Or is it? Sure, the tedium and torture are avoided...

Safiyyah's War by Hiba Noor Khan Alida (imprint of HarperCollins), 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer:  Stacey Rattner Buy at Bookshop.org War has come to Paris and 11 year old Safiyyah is navigating her life now that her best friend has fled to the country, her older cousin has joined the army, and Nazi soldiers are roaming the streets. When Safiyyah and her little cousin wonder if they will leave too, her father tells her that they will remain in Paris, living at their mosque. “It is our responsibility to our community. The congregation, as well as our neighbors of all faiths, need us, and in difficult times it’s more important than ever that we stick together.” And that is exactly what they do–stick together for each other, all faiths, including Jewish. Safiyyah’s family become critical players in the Resistance. Her father explains why. “How could we hope to sleep at night if we sat back and allowed the oppression of our neighbors, our brothers and sisters in humanity…?” This...

Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield Bloomsbury, 2024 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Sylvie Shaffer Buy at Bookshop.org Phoebe Mendel has been living August 6th over and over again. Some days it’s not THAT bad, but when her IBS is flaring, it’s terrible. Still, she’s sort of settled into a routine and accepted her Groundhogs’ Day fate, despite it meaning she’s no closer to the appointment she has scheduled with a gastroenterologist she hopes will take her seriously instead of blaming her tummy troubles on her weight or her anxiety. It’s not that she isn’t also fat and anxious, but she knows neither of those is the reason she’s often doubled over on the toilet or curled up with a heating pad. So she’s just living August 6th over and over, trying to avoid IBS triggers, and spending time between her mom’s place and her dad’s.  But all that changes when her childhood bff/crush, Jess, a nonbinary lesbian with autoimmune arthritis, enters her time loop too. Over a matter of days (t...

A Dragon for Hanukkah by Sarah Mlynowski, illustrated by Ariel Landy Orchard Books (imprint of Scholastic), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Freidele Galya Soban Biniashvili   Buy at Bookshop.org   A Dragon for Hanukkah follows Hannah as she receives a gift on each successive night of the holiday. Or does she? Does she really receive gifts of a dragon, a rainbow, a treasure chest and the like? No . . . Yes? With her signature flair for fantasy, author Mlynowski spins an imaginative story in which children will recognize all the elements of Hanukkah, including the menorah, latkes, the Maccabees, and dreidels. Well incorporated is also the idea of tzedakah when children (and adults) may get too focused on gift-giving. Illustrator Landy's vibrant and whimsical expressive artwork add to the magical feel of the tale, while the rich purple and blue palette bring the reader right into the feel of the wintertime setting. Back matter is presented in a fun manner with a Q and A...