The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Max and Emma Discover the Meaning of Manna by Carl Harris Shuman, illustrated by Leo Trinidad Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House), 2025 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Merle Carrus   Buy at Bookshop.org   Max and Emma are back for another adventure. Traveling back in time, they visit historical characters who help them understand a Jewish holiday or concept. It is the holiday of Sukkot, and the Rabbi is teaching Max and Emma’s class about the lulav and etrog. They discuss the Israelites traveling in the desert. The Rabbi explains that there were not actual huts but protective clouds that hovered over and around the Israelites as they traveled across the desert. That is why today we recreate that effect by erecting a Sukkah in our yards. As the children imagine the Israelites traveling they wonder what they ate along the way. The Rabbi explains about the manna falling each day. Emma wonders what manna was and what it tasted like. Emma, Max and their friend Eita...

Shabbat Is... by A.J. Sass, illustrated by Noa Kelner Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Julie Ditton   Buy at Bookshop.org   In "Shabbat is ..." A.J. Sass shows children that there is no one right way to be Jewish. Jews come from a diverse population with many backgrounds and personalities. This book follows three very different families as they celebrate the Sabbath in their own way. Different pages alternate first person narrative about how they spend Shabbat. By telling the story in first person point of view for all three kids, any Jewish child will find a character to identify with. The text and the art pair perfectly to send the message that there are many different types of people who are Jewish and many ways to celebrate Shabbat, reinforced by the vibrant, colorful, detailed illustrations by Noa Kelner. Just as the traditions that these families choose when they celebrate Shabbat differ, the families are different in composi...

New Moon, Hiding Moon: A Playful Action Rhyme by Amy Vatner, illustrated by Patti Argoff Hachai, 2025 Category: Board Books Reviewer: Arlene Rosenfeld Schenker   This board book introduces the littlest tykes to the moon’s phases with short rhyming verses and big bold, color-saturated illustrations. Each page is a delight to look at and read. The verses begin with a dark sky and then continue with a crescent moon, a half-moon, a three-quarter moon, a full moon, and then back again to a hiding moon. Each phase is associated with something familiar to very young children: smiles, pizza, the boy’s kippa, a circle. Children will be drawn into the story even more by the illustrations which prompt them to trace their own smiles and make circles in the air. The children in the story are clearly from an observant Jewish family as the two boys are wearing kippot and the older boy is wearing tzitzit. The fact of the new moon signaling a new month in the Jewish calendar is only indicated on th...

The Three Little Sheep: A Tale for Sukkot written and illustrated by Ann Diament Koffsky Green Bean Books, 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Jodie Sadowsky   Buy at Bookshop.org   Jakey, Joey, and Jennie are three not-so-little sheep who’ve outgrown their family’s sukkah. This Sukkot, it’s time for them to build their own. Like the characters in the well-known fairy tale The Three Little Pigs, each brings their own personality to the celebration. Jakey builds his sukkah with straw for a solo silo, Joey uses sticks for a hut big enough to share with a friend, and Jennie goes all out with elaborate columns and bricks to welcome a crowd. As readers may expect, a wolf shows up and ruins the more delicate sukkahs with his huffing and puffing. Readers will be surprised by what comes next — Wolfie doesn’t want to eat the three little sheep, he only wants to be included in their Sukkot festivities! The sheep welcome him in, and a funny and adorable dialogue and friendship ensues....

10 Nesting Swallows: A Biblical Counting Book by Tammar Stein, illustrated by Chloë Manasseh-Benjamin Morehouse Publishing, 2025 Category: Board Books Reviewer: Heidi Rabinowitz   Buy at Bookshop.org   On each page of this countdown board book, we find a different species of bird: 10 nesting swallows, 9 chattering cranes, and so on. The activities or characteristics of each bird correspond to a biblical quotation in small print on the same spread, all from "Old Testament" sources. The author and illustrator are both Jewish but the book is from a Christian publisher, which may explain the emphasis on quoting scripture.    Young children may enjoy counting backwards and seeing the various birds, but the biblical aspect may be lost on them. Parents who are biblical scholars may be the best audience for this book. The quotations include citations but no context, and will make little sense to the toddlers at whom a counting board book is ostensibly aimed. Older children ...

A Sukkah for Bella by Jodie Sadowsky, photos by Frannie Wilson Lovevery, 2025 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Julie Ditton   Buy at Amazon.com   This cute nonfiction early reader introduces children to the holiday of Sukkot. Bella explains to the reader that her family is Jewish and she is excited to help the family build a sukkah, and we follow along as they build it together. Bella describes the holiday, the sukkah, and a few of the customs to the readers. Her explanations are appropriate for the intended reader who would be in early elementary school. A few of the sentences are written in a simpler, bigger font allowing emergent readers who are listening to the book to read a few sentences for themselves. A few words are written in large colorful font which will appeal to these youngsters. However, there are also a few fine print insets which give parents further explanations and definitions of the few Hebrew words. Kids will identify with Bella because she wants to help,...

Days of Awe: Stories for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Sarah Green Holiday House, 2025 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Jeanette Brod   Buy at Bookshop.org   If the title Days of Awe: Stories for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and its selection of stories seem familiar, it is because they are. The book is a new edition of an old favorite with all new illustrations. The three stories included represent the important Jewish concepts of Charity, Prayer, and Repentance. The classic retellings remain the same. The fully saturated color pages and evocative new artistic motifs provide new possibilities for engagement with a High Holiday standard. The first story involves Elijah the Prophet, disguised as an officer posted to a distant province. He leaves Rivka with a very tarnished samovar she is unable to clean. Rivka discovers that the samovar brightens with each act of Charity she performs. Over the next seven years, she and her husband take only wha...