The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

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...

Golda's Showtime Scare (Golda & Ezra series) by Hollie Michaels, illustrated by Claudio Cerri Picture Window Books (imprint of Capstone Publishing), 2025 Category: Early Chapter Book Reviewer: Katie Dawson   Buy at Bookshop.org Golda and Ezra are back, this time during the Chanukah season in Golda’s Showtime Scare . The siblings are hard at work preparing for the Chanukah play with their Tia Ilana at the community center, when the two leads playing the shamash candle and the dreidel get sick and are no longer able to participate in the play. Golda and Ezra volunteer to step in and take on the roles! But, it is not quite as easy as they anticipated. Golda and Ezra tackle their fears and practice hard for the play. Thankfully, Bubbe is also helping out, imparting lots of advice and helping to get them ready for the big day. When it is finally time to perform, Golda and Ezra take Bubbe’s advice and tell themselves what their Zeyde used to say when he was nervous for a show: ‘The...

Golda and Ezra's Dinner Dilemma (Golda & Ezra series) by Hollie Michaels, illustrated by Claudio Cerri Picture Window Books (imprint of Capstone Publishing), 2025 Category: Early Chapter Book Reviewer: Katie Dawson   Buy at Bookshop.org In this installment in the early chapter book series, Golda and Ezra take on the mitzvah of helping their neighbor distribute an enormous basket of vegetables to the local senior center. At first they aren’t sure what to make with the vegetables, but while kneading his challah dough, Ezra is inspired to make pizza. On Sunday afternoon they bring dough, sauce, and toppings to the senior center for the big pizza making event, where they work together to figure out how to keep the pizzas organized for all of the participants and enjoy their delicious mitzvah together. The book opens with a one page description of Ezra and Golda’s diverse blended family, so that we learn who they are, their backgrounds, and what they love to do. This introductory p...