The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

The See-You-Soon Spice Box by Pamela Ehrenberg, illustrated by Gabby Grant Kar-Ben (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Lauren Kasiarz   Buy at Bookshop.org In this intergenerational story, Silas video calls with Great-Grandma Faye and they use sweet rhyming phrases like “See you soon, Macaroon!” to say goodbye to one another. On one such call, Great-Grandma Faye introduces Silas to Havdalah, the Jewish ceremony that concludes Shabbat on Saturday evening. She shows him a spice box that his Great-Grandpa made many years prior, and with help from his dad, Silas makes his own spice box. They celebrate Havdalah together virtually, and the story concludes with Great-Grandma Faye flying to visit Silas where they perform the Havdalah rituals together in person. The pacing is well done, switching deftly between dialogue and Silas’ inner thoughts, which brings the reader along as Silas decides to create his own spice box. Gabby Grant’s colorful pen-a...

The Secret Recipe by Ilan Stavans, illustrated by Taia Morley Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Lauren Kasiarz   Buy at Bookshop.org A young boy in Mexico visits his grandmother, Abuela, to make bourekas. When she speaks to him in a language he doesn’t understand, she calls it their “secret language.” He learns that this language is Ladino, the language spoken by Jews long ago in Spain and Portugal. As he and Abuela make bourekas, she teaches him the Ladino words for the foods they are cooking. As the story progresses, the young boy resolves to learn to speak the "secret language" with his grandmother.  This quiet story brings a vibrancy to the love between an abuela and her grandchild, and the history of this endangered language, though there are a few confusing elements. The text transitions from past (“it is a language once spoken by Jews”) to present (“they cook, sing, and even dream in Ladino”) when describin...

The Trouble with Secrets by Naomi Milliner Quill Tree Books (imprint of HarperCollins), 2025 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Jacqueline Jules   Buy at Bookshop.org   The Trouble With Secrets begins with a short chapter called NOW. Becky, the twelve-year-old narrator, is looking for a dress to wear to a funeral, so the reader knows from the first page that someone who appears to be a family member has died. The following section begins a series of chapters from BEFORE. In this part, we meet Becky’s family, especially her older sister Sara, who Becky describes as someone “who would be there for me, no matter what.”    Sara is a vivacious high school senior looking forward to studying musical theater in college. When Sara obtains a lead role in her high school production of Les Misérables, Becky is thrilled. In turn, Sara is delighted when Becky is offered a chance to try out for the All-County Honors Band as a flutist. Unfortunately, Becky’s father objects to an extra...

More Than Enough by Richard Michelson, illustrated by Joe Cepeda Peachtree Publishing (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Judy Ehrenstein   Buy at Bookshop.org   Moses’s neighborhood is filled with a rainbow of brown faces, including his own, where poverty, unemployment, and homelessness are not unknown. Even Moses’s own family counts its pennies; getting brand new high tops for his birthday is a rare treat. Yet Mom says there is always enough to share with others who have even less, and months later, the man they helped is now working at the barber shop with a new lease on life. As the seasons pass, more help is extended through the neighborhood and more lives are changed. By story’s end, Moses passes on the lesson to his friend Noah: “it feels better to help than to need help. And little enough is more than enough to share.” Accessible and not preachy, this book will be of value to many, Jewish and not. Cepeda’s illustrations employ deep...

The Peddler and the President by Ann Diament Koffsky, illustrated by Pedro Rodriguez Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House), 2025 Category: Early Chapter Books Reviewer: Doreen Klein Robinson   Buy at Bookshop.org May is Jewish American History Month (JAHM). I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing a nonfiction chapter book that shines a light on a friendship between two very different American people: Eddie Jacobson and Harry Truman. The Peddler and the President is an extremely important and well crafted book. It’s a solid piece of Jewish American history, with themes of friendship, using your voice, and making a choice. It’s 1903. Eddie Jacobson is a young Jewish man who left school to work in a store to support his struggling family. Harry, a Christian, grew up on a farm and also left school to support his family. He worked at bank - the very same bank that Eddie would go to each day to deposit the store’s money. The two become unlikely friends - but life get...

The Mitzvah Fairy by Danielle Joseph, illustrated by Christine Battuz Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner), 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Claire Freeland   Buy at Bookshop.org Known only as the Mitzvah Fairy, a young boy dons his wings and crown and grabs his wand ready to perform good deeds in this sweet, concept picture book. His mom has a small role, but it is his dad who looks after the Mitzvah Fairy on this particular day, making for a lovely father-son duo who perform acts of kindness. The Mitzvah Fairy brings chicken soup to his Bubbe, assists his infirm neighbor with chores, picks up recyclables at the park, finds coins on the ground and donates them to the family tzedakah box, and rescues a ladybug from getting squashed. Finally, to end their busy day of giving and kindness, the Mitzvah Fairy hugs his dad. The illustrations add to the sweet flavor of this book. There are candy striped backgrounds and a pastel color palate. The parents and child appear to be whi...

Song of a Blackbird by Maria Van Lieshout First Second, 2025 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Emily Roth   Buy at Bookshop.org   Told through two distinct storylines, Song of a Blackbird proves that there are endless unique stories to tell about the Holocaust. In 1943, a young student named Emma agrees to join the Dutch resistance movement to help save Jewish children, and soon discovers that her artistic abilities could be key to saving numerous lives – despite endangering her own. Meanwhile, in 2011, Annick’s determination to help her beloved grandmother find a bone marrow donor leads her to discover a startling family secret, and join an artistic revolution of her own. A blackbird symbolizing hope and strength in difficult circumstances soars back and forth between the two stories, connecting them in an unexpected way. Although the stories here are fiction, they are inspired by real people and events. The art in this graphic novel is striking and unique. The illustrations, ...