The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Hallelujah! The Story of Leonard Cohen by Alicia Jo Rabins, illustrated by Gene Pendon Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House), 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Belinda Brock   Buy at Bookshop.org Hallelujah! takes the reader along on the life journey of talented singer-songwriter-poet Leonard Cohen. In particular, the book highlights Leonard’s tenacity in writing his masterpiece "Hallelujah" and his efforts to get the song released and recognized. And eventually, “the song that was inside Leonard’s heart is inside hearts all over the world.” We are introduced to Leonard as a young boy growing up in Montreal in an observant Jewish family. Music is very much a part of his life at home and at synagogue, where his grandfather is the Rabbi. Leonard is open and observant and sees both the heartbreaking beauty and pain in the world. Soon after he learns to play the guitar, he writes his first song. Writing and performing gives him the creative outlet to express h...

ABCs of Judaism by Rachel Tichauer, illustrated by Isabel Foo Grosset & Dunlap, 2025 Category: Board Books Reviewer: Ann Koffsky   Buy at Bookshop.org   The ABC’s of Judaism is cheerful board book that uses the structure of an alphabet book to introduce the youngest readers to basic concepts in Judaism. A is for Afikoman, B is for Bar Mitzvah, C is for Challah, and so on. Each item also gets a brief, two sentence explanation. (I suspect many families will find these explanations useful to grown-up readers too.) The choices of which concepts should illustrate each letter are sometimes lovely and obvious (I knew before turning the page that S would be for Shabbat! ). The surprises are also just lovely: Z is for Zachor, V is for V’ahavta, and Q is for questioning: because, “Judaism is more about the questioning than it is about the answers.” The illustrations are authentic, bright and charming. They add additional Jewish content that is not overtly mentioned in the text as we...

Kai and the Golem by Carol Matas, illustrated by Elisa Vavouri Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner), 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Susan Tarcov   Buy at Bookshop.org In this clever twist on the golem story, a boy lives with his father and his grandmother, but his grandmother is in the hospital, and without her nothing goes right, not even the weather. Then the boy remembers stories about a golem that his grandmother told him. He becomes convinced that his troubles are all due to a golem. After talking to his grandma on the phone he realizes things aren’t so bad after all. Even the golem isn’t so bad. The boy is able to make friends with him. Particularly clever is how the size of the golem in the illustrations varies according to the boy’s emotions, from monster to pet. This golem doesn’t help the Jewish people in need, he helps one little boy whose religion is unspecified. This story introduces the golem into ordinary contemporary life. Thus the golem story becomes re...

So THAT Happened... But Maybe You Already Knew That by Tami Sussman Walker Books, 2025 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Rochelle Newman-Carrasco   Buy at Bookshop.org   So That Happened…But Maybe You Already Knew That? is more than a title. It’s the inner voice of the delightfully unsure protagonist Natalie Sellek, known as Nutty to her family and friends because of a love for Nutella. She is constantly coming up against intense or puzzling things that would make a person want to say “so that happened.” But, because Natalie is aware that what might be a novel observation or idea for her may or may not be commonplace to you, the reader, she's quick to add the disclaimer: "but maybe you already knew that?" Natalie is also a lover of new words, and cultural exchange – which also prompts a “maybe you already knew that?” as she brings in Hebrew words, Yiddish words, and other cultural ideas from her homeland Australia and more. In other words, she is a curious, empathetic youn...

Claudia Said Sí!: The Story of México’s First Woman President by Deborah Bodin Cohen and Kerry Olitzky, illustrated by Carlos Velez Aguilera Apples & Honey Press Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Lauren Kasiarz   Buy at Bookshop.org This biography of the current president of Mexico starts with Claudia Sheinbaum as a young girl living in Mexico City. The winter butterfly migration occurs, signaling to Sheinbaum that it is almost time for Hanukkah. From there, the book follows Sheinbaum’s progression, or “metamorphosis”, from schoolgirl to scientist to politician. Readers follow her environmental contributions as a scientist, as the Secretary of the Environment, then as the Mayor of Mexico City. The story concludes with Claudia Sheinbaum  becoming President - the first woman, Jewish person, and scientist to lead the country of Mexico. This picture book biography captures a tremendous amount of information about Mexico’s President in chronological order, with a reading level...

Elsa's Chessboard by Jenny Andrus, illustrated by Julie Downing Neal Porter Books (imprint of Holiday House), 2025 Category: Picture Books      Reviewer: Linda Elovitz Marshall   Buy at Bookshop.org Inspired by a true-life experience, Elsa's Chessboard is the heartwarming story of Elsa, a young girl in Vienna who dreams of playing chess and, for her tenth birthday, receives a boxed chessboard with carved pieces from her family. Growing up, she meets someone who shares her love of chess. Edward and Elsa marry, have a baby, and continue to play chess. But trouble is brewing in Europe and, as Jews, they must flee. They begin a new life in San Francisco where playing chess helps them make new friends because they share a common language: the language of chess. But time passes, Edward dies and Elsa moves. In the move, the beloved chessboard somehow disappears. Elsa, now a grandmother, plays games with her grandchildren. Lots of games, but never chess. A new chessboard is...

The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2025 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Michelle Falkoff   Buy at Bookshop.org Amy Alterman expected she’d have to do some apologizing after getting drunk at the big pre-senior-year party at her boarding school and fighting with Sarah, her best friend and roommate. Instead, she woke up to find their shared dorm room covered in blood. Sarah and her boyfriend had been murdered, and the knife Amy had borrowed from her townie boyfriend was missing. Liz Charles had never fit in at Meadowbrook, and the only way she’d be able to afford college would be if she won a big newspaper scholarship. But nothing ever happened at boarding school that was worth writing about, at least not until the murders. Now she had a story to report on, a story big enough for a win, if only the school would let her write about it. Neither Amy nor Liz would ever have imagined they’d become friends, but as suspicion for the murders increasingly began to ...

Sweet Babe! A Jewish Grandma Kvells written and illustrated by Robin Rosenthal Tundra Books, 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Arlene Schenker   Buy at Bookshop.org This grandma is over the top in kvelling. She is the biggest kveller ever! With illustrations that jump off the page and Yiddishisms sprinkled liberally throughout, Robin Rosenthal has captured the joys of Jewish grandmahood in words and pictures. There can’t be enough smooching, cheeks-squishing, or feet-nibbling to satisfy this Bubbe.   This is a funny book and a fun read-aloud, as long as the reader is energetic and animated! I loved seeing the baby’s—and the puppy’s—reactions mirroring Bubbie’s outbursts. I applaud Robin Rosenthal for integrating so much Yiddish into the story. While not as many Bubbies use the colorful language as this Bubbe, Yiddish is having a renaissance in university language departments and elsewhere.  The story is followed by a Yiddish glossary. But Yiddish aside, I think ...

Neshama by Marcella Pixley Candlewick (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2025 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Heather Matthews   Buy at Bookshop.org Sixth grader Anna Fleischman has a "Shayna Neshama," a beautiful soul, according to her Bubbe Esther. Anna, however, is more focused on the souls of those around her – more specifically, the ghosts that she can see and hear. As she interacts with these spirits, her classmates deem Anna as scary, leading to social isolation and bullying. Anna’s home life isn’t much better, with an emotionally distant and cruel father. Anna finds solace spending Shabbat and the weekends with Bubbe, learning about her aunt Ruthie. Ruthie, who died at eleven years old, appears to Anna and requests to enter her niece’s body to “finish what [she] started,” in exchange for giving Anna “the strength [she] need[s] to stand up to [her] father, to the horrible girls and shortsighted teachers,” so that both girls can “find some peace.” Upon striking the de...

I Wish I Didn't Have to Tell You This: A Graphic Memoir written & illustrated by Eugene Yelchin Candlewick Press, 2025 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Rebecca Klempner   Buy at Bookshop.org   In this graphic memoir follow up to The Genius Under the Table , Eugene Yelchin is a 23 year old Jewish boy living in the USSR in 1980. He studies set and costume design at Leningrad’s Academy of Theater Arts, painting in his spare time. His family fears he’ll be sent to Siberia for participating in illegal exhibitions organized by Mark Baskin, who impresses Yelchin by openly displaying his Judaism. At Mark’s home, Yelchin attracts the attention of an American student named Libby, and a forbidden romance blossoms between them. When Libby encourages refuseniks to protest their plight, she gets in trouble and is sent back to the US.   We follow Yelchin through the harrowing dysfunctions of life in the USSR - working in Siberia to avoid being conscripted into the army, ending up in ...

Rembrandt's Blessing by Tami Lehman-Wilzig, illustrated by Anita Barghigiani Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner), 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Sarah Clarke   Buy at Bookshop.org Rembrandt's Blessing is a historical nonfiction picture book that explores Rembrandt’s friendship with Rabbi Menashe Ben Israel during their overlapping time in Amsterdam. After making some money with his art, Rembrandt bought a home in the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam. He learned that many of the Jews who lived here had come from Portugal and Spain, and they looked like People of the Book to Rembrandt! When the neighborhood children caught wind of Rembrandt’s biblical costumes, they begged to come over and play with them. One youngster brought along his uncle, who turned out to be Rabbi Menashe Ben Israel! While Ben Israel offered to help Rembrandt get the small details correct in his biblical paintings, he asked for a favor to be repaid in the future. That favor turned out to be illustra...

The Girl with the Secret Name: The Incredible Life of Doña Gracia Mendes Nasi by Yael Zoldan Green Bean Books, 2025 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Freidele Galya Soban Biniashvili   Buy at Bookshop.org   Although The Girl with the Secret Name refers to a girl in the title, this inspiring book is about the life of Dona Gracia Nasi well beyond her youth. It is the year 1522 in Lisbon, Portugal and the night before Beatriz (Gracia) de Luna's twelfth birthday. Like most girls her age, she is excited about her party the next day, as well as the new dress she has been waiting to wear. Her whole world shifts, however, when her parents reveal to her that their family are secret Jews. This is shocking and terrifying news to Beatriz who is told that the punishment will be death if the truth is discovered. Drawing on the strength of her parents and grandmother, however, she bravely faces her new reality. By age 18, Gracia has married and soon suspects that her husband's business is not...