The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Live Your Dream: The Story of a Jewish Basketball All-Star by Tamir Goodman, illustrated by Jim Madsen PJ Publishing, 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Suzanne Grossman Buy at Amazon.com Written by Tamir Goodman himself, this is the story of a real Jewish basketball hero. Tamir struggled to read all the way through high school until he was finally diagnosed with dyslexia. Despite this, he was able to master basketball, understanding what was happening on the court instantly and developing expert skills. As he had more success in the game, his father constantly reminded him to stay humble. Endless practice, teamwork, and always being respectful of the referee increased his outstanding performance. He became famous worldwide, but passed up many opportunities by always putting Shabbat observance first. Choosing Team Maccabee Tel Aviv’s offer of a spot, he could live fully as a Jew and a professional basketball player.  Tamir suffered many injuries while playing and was disappoin...

Jason Belongs: The Story of Jason Schachter McKinney by Audrey Ades and Jason Schachter McKinney, illustrated by Isabel Mu ñoz Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner), 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Doreen Robinson   Buy at Bookshop.org This is a beautiful true story that expresses the universal themes of embracing one’s identity and what it means to connect to your roots, no matter what other people say or think. It is especially relevant in a world where antisemitism is increasing and diversity equity and inclusion programs are decreasing. Jason Schachter McKinney is Jewish and Black. As a young boy, Jason attends a Jewish Day School. He is proud of his identity and loves to sing, pray, and celebrate Shabbat. Later, he faces doubts when people at school question his identity: can you be both Jewish and Black? Despite the rabbi and his teachers telling him that he does in fact belong, Jason disconnects. He leaves his Jewish school, stops going to synagogue, and stops carin...

Speechless Aron Nels Steinke Graphix (imprint of Scholastic), 2025 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Kathryn Hall   Buy at Bookshop.org   This middle grade graphic novel's main character is Mira Toledano-Stone who is hoping for a better year as she starts 6th grade at a new school. Her anxiety and selective mutism prevent her from speaking in school despite her best efforts. At home she is quite able to argue with her younger sister and parents. Chloe, Mira's best friend from preschool to second grade, is now popular but Mira has no friends and blames Chloe. Mira spends all her free time alone creating short stop-motion films. Mira's busy, loving parents do not seem to understand how much her anxiety is interfering with her life until her grades are affected. Then they eliminate her film making and start taking her to a therapist. Mira's mother had invited Mira's nemesis Chloe to live with them until the end of the school year as her family, has had to move to Montan...

D.J. Rosenblum Becomes the G.O.A.T. by Abby White Levine Querido, 2025 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Jacqueline Jules   Buy at Bookshop.org D.J. Rosenblum idolizes her cousin Rachel. At her Bat Mitzvah, nine-year-old D.J. gives Rachel a necklace with a goat charm because in D.J.’s estimation, Rachel is the Greatest cousin Of All Time. Four years later, when Rachel dies by an apparent suicide, D.J. is devastated. She can’t accept that her beloved cousin would have taken her own life. D.J. is convinced, instead, that Rachel was murdered. It is a theory D.J. has the opportunity to pursue when her mom decides to relocate to Rachel's town in an effort to support her sister through the grieving process. Thus, the beginning of the novel feels like a murder mystery. D.J. and her mom move to Briar, Ohio, where Rachel’s parents and her little brother Davey still live. D.J. enrolls in middle school and begins her quest to prove that Rachel would not have harmed herself. Along the way, D.J....

Many Things at Once by Veera Hiranandani, illustrated by Nadia Alam Random House Studio (imprint of Penguin Random House), 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Linda Elovitz Marshall   Buy at Bookshop.org In poignant language, Many Things At Once is the story of a young girl whose mother is Jewish, father is Hindu, and ancestors are from India, Poland, and Russia. The main character sometimes feels that she is part of every place. She sometimes feels that she is not part of any place. But, how can that be? She watches a butterfly, recalling that her teacher taught that each butterfly is different. Like the butterfly, she, too, is different. She watches the butterfly sip nectar. The butterfly is part of the big, beautiful world. She, too, is part of the big, beautiful world. Different from everyone, yet part of the whole. Sometimes large, sometimes small, sometimes like nothing...at all. She is many things at once, as we all are. Exquisite illustrations by Nadia Alam beautifully ...

Mystery at Landscape Farm by Freidele Galya Soban Biniashvili, illustrated by Deena Weinberg Menucha Publishers, 2025 Category: Early Chapter Book Reviewer: Dena Bach   Buy at Menucha When Tova and Ari’s grandparents take the city kids out for a nice spring outing to Landscape Farm during Chol HaMoed Pesach, the intermediate days of Passover, they decide to begin their tour of the farm at the goat feeding. For Tova, Ari, Bubby, and Zeidy this turns out to be an exciting day at the farm when they learn that the farm’s prize baby goat, Gertrude, has disappeared. But after Zeidy slips and falls, he and Bubby need to sit down for a while, so the curious kids head off on their own in search of the missing goat. Ari and Tova follow clues, question the farm’s staff and visitors, and in the end, solve the mystery and find the goat. This book is the third in a series of books aimed at an Orthodox audience, that involves 9-year-old twins Tova and Ari, who solve mysteries while learning abou...

The House on the Canal: The Story of the House That Hid Anne Frank by Thomas Harding, illustrated by Britta Teckentrup Candlewick Press, 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Jeff Gottesfeld   Buy at Bookshop.org I write this review having visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam not even a month ago, for the first time since I was in my 20s. And also, as the author of a sometimes-loved, sometimes-criticized (not to worry, some of the criticizers are still good friends!) story of Anne Frank from the perspective of the horse chestnut tree in the courtyard behind the secret annex. In this beautiful volume, Thomas Harding and illustrator Britta Teckentrup show off a dazzling amount of research, deft and purposefully detached writing, and glorious artwork as they trace the course of 263 Prinsengracht (in whose Annex hid Anne Frank and others from Nazi persecutions, with a terrible outcome) from before it was built right through to today, where people "learn about the girl with the ...