The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Repairing the World by Linda Epstein Aladdin (imprint of Simon & Schuster), 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Bridget Hodder Buy at Bookshop.org ...maybe there really was magic here, things that were beyond what she thought, beyond what she already knew about the world. Daisy and Ruby are such close friends, they might as well be sisters. And like the best of sisters, they give and take from each other's strengths. Ruby's daring spirit and magical way of seeing the world give Daisy courage and inspiration. But when Ruby is suddenly torn from Daisy's life by a car accident, Daisy loses that courage and inspiration just when she needs it the most.   All the magic seems to have gone out of the world. Daisy will never regain what she has lost. But in the spirit of tikkun olam, she discovers that healing can spring from finding community in the wider world. Working together with new friends, she rekindles the magic for others that Ruby was so good at discovering for hers

 When the World Was Ours  by Liz Kessler Aladdin (imprint of Simon & Schuster) Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Meg Wiviott Buy at Bookshop.org When the World Was Ours follows the lives of Leo, Elsa, and Max from 1936 to 1945. Opening on Leo’s ninth birthday, the three best friends ride Vienna’s giant ferris wheel. When Leo accidentally collides with an English couple, a friendship blooms. The joy of that day does not last long, however. Despite the rising tide of Nazism, Leo’s family remains in Vienna. His father is arrested and sent to Dachau and then to Auschwitz. Leo and his mother scramble to get visas out of Austria, but to no avail. Finally, the couple Leo bumped into on the ferris wheel three years ago agree to sponsor them. Elsa, who is also Jewish, and her family escape to Czechoslovakia, but are eventually sent to Theresienstadt and then to Auschwitz. Max’s father, an ardent Nazi, moves to Munich to work at Dachau. To please his father, Max joins the Hitler Youth. Suppr