The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

The Jake Show by Joshua S. Levy Katherine Tegan Books, 2023 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Merle Eisman Carrus Buy at Bookshop.org Starting at a new school is always difficult and switching to a new school mid-year is even harder. Jake knows because he has changed schools five times since his parent’s divorce.  Jake imagines he is living in a television sitcom and enjoying the current episode until the show is canceled. Jake explains his life like a television show spin off. In the original series he and his parents celebrated Jewish holidays and enjoyed Shabbat dinners but also watched TV together after dinner. Then his parents divorced and now life is like a TV spin off. This show has two different families with different religious observance. At Imma’s house he answers to Yaakov, wearing a suit with a velvet yarmulke under a fedora. At his father’s secular home he wears jeans and T-shirts and is called Jacob. Things get more complicated when he meets Caleb and Tehilla at his newes

The Puttermans Are in the House by Jacquetta Nammar Feldman Harper (imprint of HarperCollins), 2023 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Lisa Trank Buy at Bookshop.org Seventh grade fraternal twins Sammy and Matty are unbeatable on the baseball field. Sammy, the only girl in the league, is fierce at first base and behind the bat. Matty, a southpaw powerhouse, is compared to a young Sandy Koufax. But in the middle of the game before the playoffs, Matty walks off the mound and the field, sending a text to his parents that he's done with the game of baseball forever, and stops talking to Sammy, breaking their lifelong streak of twin telepathy. Matty has a secret that he is not ready to acknowledge, to himself, or to his twin sister: he kissed his best friend Ethan and is realizing that he is gay. In the Putterman family, baseball is sacred and close to being the most important thing in the world, except to Matty and Sammy's cousin, Becky, who is a year older and filled with jealousy a

There's a Goblin on the Ark! by Susan Tarcov, illustrated by Mackinzie Rekers Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House), 2023 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Shanna Silva   Buy at Bookshop.org There’s A Goblin on the Ark! is a new picture book twist on the Noah’s Ark biblical story. Told from the animals’ point of view, it’s the first night on the ark and the animals are settling in. Strange noises keep them awake. As they try to identify the source through a pleasing rhyming of animal sounds, it becomes clear that the sound is coming from a lone goblin. Although initially afraid, the animals realize the goblin is just another passenger looking for its mate. A search ensues to help the goblin. By the end, everyone is comfortable on the ark as the rain pelts outside. An author’s note explains that a traditional interpretation of the text surmises that goblins were indeed on the ark. Tarcov has fun exploring this story’s possibilities.   The art by Rekers features expre

Mazal Bueno! by Sarah Aroeste, illustrated by Taia Morley Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2023 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Bridget Hodder Buy at Bookshop.org This lively board book introduces little ones to a Sephardic family and their special way of celebrating blessings in their everyday lives. The more common Jewish phrase "Mazal Tov" becomes the Sephardic Ladino "Mazal Bueno!" in this appealing tiny tale. As a Sephardic author, Aroeste is able to incorporate a casual, genuine Sephardic perspective into this sweet and postitive slice of life. The book focuses on the small achievements of a small person-- a baby learning (among other things) to walk and speak, in the loving setting of parents who rejoice in every little milestone of baby's life. The Jewish representation in MAZAL BUENO is implicit rather than explicit, with an aptly brief note on the back cover of the book explaining context. The warm brown skin tones and curly h

Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport  by Caren Stelson, illustrated by Selina Alko Carolrhoda (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2023 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Heather J. Matthews Buy at Bookshop.org Opening with the Talmud quote “save one life, save the world,” Stars of the Night tells the nonfiction story of a group of children. With narration in the third person plural, the reader is transported to Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1939. With a group of Jewish children ages from 7 to 10, we are shown scenes of sunny afternoon picnicking with mothers and hot chocolate-filled café nights with fathers. However, by November 1938, “something happened,” and the city of Prague is surrounded by tent camps filled with war refugees. Soon, the children begin to experience threats from local children, and the parents of Prague beginning making “arrangements” with a mysterious and unnamed man. These nebulous arrangements, we find out later, come to fruitio

The Babka Sisters by Lesléa Newman, illustrated by Tika and Tata Bobokhidze Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2023 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Suzanne Grossman Buy at Bookshop.org The great Babka Bake Off is on when loving sisters Esther and Hester compete to create the best babka for their new neighbor, Sylvester. The girls' relationship is challenged by the contest until Sylvester points out that each babka is the best! Esther has made the best cinnamon babka and Hester has made the best chocolate babka. But whose kugel will be the best, next Shabbat? Sibling illustrators Tika and Tata Bobokhidze’s vibrant, cheery digital art with hand-drawn textures invites readers into the playful setting while occasional spotlighting brings details into focus. However, children might find the ages of the sisters confusing. They are presented as little girls, but each lives alone and performs adult activities such as baking, handling knives and enjoying wine. Thi