The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Don't Forget to Breathe by Brianna R. Shrum & Sara Waxelbaum Harper, 2025 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Kathryn Hall   Buy at Bookshop.org   Brianna R. Shrum and Sara Waxelbaum, authors of Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl , have written another young adult romance. Hanna has lived on army bases all her life until her parents move to Fayetteville, North Carolina, where she convinces them to live off base for her senior year of high school. Despite her ADHD, Hanna, a pianist, is able to make friends who are comfortable with her identity as a lesbian. Zoe, also a senior at her school, is a ballet dancer on the autism spectrum with a boyfriend struggling with her plans for the future. When the two girls meet there is instant sexual tension. There is more intensity and less comic relief than in Shrum’s previous YA rom-coms. Sexual feelings are described in more detail than sexual acts. The book is well-written and realistic, with suspense as to the ending. The reader will be roo...

Don't Feed the Lion by Bianna Golodryga and Yonit Levi Arcadia Publishing, 2025 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Judy Ehrenstein   Buy at Bookshop.org When bad boy soccer star Wes Mitchell gets traded, he blames the team’s Jewish manager, and the hashtag Never Trust a Jew goes viral. A few boys on Theo’s middle school soccer team bring it hyperlocal by painting the phrase as well as a swastika on his gym locker, something Theo tries to wipe off and forget. He doesn’t want to deal with the situation, he doesn’t want to take a stand, he just wants to play soccer, get his bar mitzvah over with, and not make a fuss. Fortunately, other viewpoints are heard in this multivoiced novel which deals with hero worship, speaking up, and how microaggressions and prejudice are often swept aside in an effort to not have to address them and their true meaning: ignorance and latent hate and blame. His younger sister, Annie, takes the approach of creating a fake online identity in order to engage in...

All-Nighter by Cecilia Vinesse Quill Tree (imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books), 2025 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Emily Roth   Buy at Bookshop.org   Valedictorian Autumn and rule-breaking Tara have been sworn enemies since Tara’s first day at Autumn’s all-girls school. On prom night, Autumn needs a fake ID to flirt with her crush at a college poetry reading, and Tara needs to finish writing a paper on Mrs. Dalloway – one of Autumn’s favorite books – and turn it in by 7:00am in order to graduate. The girls agree to help each other, and over the course of a single night, their chaotic, whirlwind adventure leads to unexpected feelings.  Despite the silliness of the situations the girls find themselves in, each protagonist is a fully realized character with realistic fears about the impending conclusion of high school, and the way they bond over this feels authentic. Autumn is still traumatized from a near-fatal accident years earlier and worries about feeling dist...

The Devash Jr. Book of Shemot by Chana Kupetz and Efrayim Unterman, illustrated by Rivka Tsinman Dvash Jr (imprint of Hadar), 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Eva Weiss   Buy at Hadar.org   This pleasingly illustrated book presents the text of the biblical book of Exodus in chapters which follow the weekly portions. Narratives, laws, and traditional interpretations of heritage are made relevant to the daily lives and routines of children. The aim is to engage the imagination and convey the substance and ethics of scripture in a relatable way. For instance, the biblical law of safeguarding the property of another person is illustrated by interactions among children in a bowling alley. Corners of the pages are dedicated to original Hebrew verses with English translations. Each biblical portion concludes with a summary, lessons to consider, and suggestions for ways to bring biblical lessons to life ("Try it out!"), which encourages children to initiate practical good deeds...

Memory Stones by Kathy Kacer, illustrated by Hayley Lowe Second Story Press, 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Claire Freeland   Buy at Bookshop.org Sophie adores her modern and fun granny, so when she dies, Sophie is bereft. Her mother takes her to the cemetery to visit Granny’s grave where she leaves Granny’s favorite flowers. Upon a return visit, though, Sophie is upset to see the wilted remains of her remembrance. Her mother suggests she participate in the tradition of bringing a stone instead, but Sophie doesn’t think a stone could be as lovely as flowers, even if it lasts forever. Her mama tells her the story of angels watching over graves at night. When they see a stone, they know that someone on earth is caring for that grave, so the angels don’t need to watch that one. At home, Sophie ponders angels, stones, and flowers until she has an idea. She asks her parents to take her to all the favorite places that she and Granny had frequented. Gathering a stone from each sp...

A Storm Unleashed by Carol Matas Scholastic Canada, 2025 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Merle Eisman Carrus   Buy at Scholastic   Carol Matas has given a wonderful gift to middle grade readers and anyone else who is interested in the history of Germany leading up to the Holocaust. Her book, The Storm Unleashed , shows how one man with a small group of followers can gather momentum and create a community of hate toward another group of the society. Mia and her father live in an apartment building in Berlin with their Jewish neighbors. Her friend Frieda also lives with her family in the building. They have grown up here with the freedom to walk to the park and to school. Her father is a veterinarian and Mia has a beautiful German shepherd named Max. Freida attends a Jewish school, Mia goes to the local public school. Now as Hitler comes to power, Mia is aware of her life changing as the country moves from a democracy to fascist regime, antisemitism is rising as the Jews become...