The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

My Israel and Me by Alice Blumenthal McGinty, illustrated by Rotem Teplow Kalaniot Books (imprint of Endless Mountains) Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Sandy Wasserman Buy at Bookshop.org This is the perfect book for introducing the diversity that exists in Israel. In gentle rhymes and careful detailed illustrations, the young picture book reader is introduced to Israel’s bustling city life, kibbutz life, Bedouin life, Arab/Muslim life, Christian life, and Jewish life, all coexisting. Even the cats in Israel play a part in this book, along with the history of how there came to be so many cats. Theres’s the varied geography of this nation (the size of New Jersey), the Negev’s geography, and the story of Israel’s farms and fields, and animals. A double page spread for the tourist enhances the reader’s inclusion in Israel’s story. Some books have back matter for the parent or teacher; this book offers additional information in a small paragraph accompanying each double page

 One Small Hop by Madelyn Rosenberg Scholastic Press Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Stacy Nockowitz Buy at Bookshop.org One Small Hop is a surprising departure for author Madelyn Rosenberg from her other middle grade novels, This is Just a Test and Not Your All-American Girl (both co-written with Wendy Wan-Long Shang). Those books are both set in the 1980s and tell stories of young teens dealing with typical issues involving school, friendship, and family. In contrast, One Small Hop is a tale of a not-so-distant future devastated by climate change. In the small shore town of Town Harbor, Maine, Jonathan “Ahab” Goldstein and his friends come upon something rare and wondrous- a real, live bullfrog. They should turn the frog over to the Environmental Police Force. But the EPF is completely inept, and Ahab worries that the frog will die in the agency’s care. No, this might be the last bullfrog in the country, and Ahab and his friends decide they must find it a mate on the

  Natan Sharansky: Freedom Fighter for Soviet Jews by Blake Hoena, illustrated by Daniele Dickmann Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner) Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Shirley Reva Vernick Buy at Bookshop.org This graphic novel biography tells the story of Soviet “refusenik" and human rights activist Natan Sharansky. Through narration, dialogue and illustration, the book follows Sharansky’s youth in the Ukraine, his activism on behalf of Jewish refuseniks, his detention in Soviet prison/labor camps, and his ultimate immigration to Israel. In addition to portraying Sharansky as the hero among Soviet Jews, the book rightfully highlights the roles of his wife, international Jewish activists, and world leaders in paving the way for his and other Soviet Jews’ release. A short afterword summarizes Sharansky’s human rights work in Israel since his arrival in 1986.    This is a fast-paced and suspenseful story about the dangers of totalitarianism and the imperative of free sp

 The Good War by Todd Strasser Delacorte Press (imprint of Penguin Random House) Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Stacy Nockowitz Buy at Bookshop.org In 1981, Todd Strasser wrote The Wave , based on the true story of high school history teacher Ben Ross and the class experiment he carried out in 1969. By creating a stringent behavioral “system” in his classroom, Ross showed his students how easily people could be swept up in a movement like Nazism. Now, forty years later, Strasser has written an updated, middle school version of The Wave titled The Good War. Instead of a high school history class, The Good War takes place in the newly formed eSports club of a middle school. The students in the club represent a wide swath of middle school types: the goody-goody, the high achiever, the hulking athlete, the “weird” loner, the bully, the mean girls, and so on. The kids come together after school to play a video game called The Good War , a World War II simulation game that pits the Alli

 The Upside-Down Boy and the Israeli Prime Minister by Sherri Mandell, illustrated by Robert Dunn Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner) Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Sandy Wasserman Buy at Bookshop.org We meet Daniel in this book, a boy who follows his own rhythms, and does not follow rules easily; he just can't behave. So when his class in Israel is headed for a field trip to the Prime Minister's office, his teacher is a bit concerned. He tries to be on his best behavior, but his body seems to do flips and topsy turvy actions all on its own. The comes the crucial moment; the prime minister's assistant shows the young visitors a series of portraits of former prime ministers including one of David Ben Gurion doing a headstand. Uh oh! Daniel immediately imitates the pose, to everyone's dismay. BUT, the assistant says it's OK! And he joins Daniel in a headstand telling him some great news: "Headstands are good training for being prime minister." For chil

 The People's Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art by Cynthia Levinson, illustrated by Evan Turk Harry N. Abrams Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Eva Weiss Buy at Bookshop.org The People’s Painter is a picture book that steeps young readers in life and times of the iconic American Jewish artist Ben Shahn. Each artful and commanding spread by illustrator Evan Turk re-creates the landscape of the American-Jewish immigrant experience of the turn of the twentieth century. At the heart of the story is Ben Shahn’s coming of age and the passion for justice which shaped his career as an artist. Cynthia Levinson’s narrative gives center stage to the artist’s purposefulness (“What shall I paint? Stories”) and his commitment to righting wrongs (“I hate injustice.”) The large-size format and illustrations have the look of a picture book for young readers, but the reading level is clearly more suited for middle-school readers. There are moments when the text matches the quir

What We're Scared Of by Keren David Scholastic UK Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Michelle Falkoff Fraternal twins Evie and Lottie don’t think of themselves as Jewish—their father isn’t, and while their mother was born Jewish, she’s mostly put it behind her, other than occasionally making latkes and honey cake for holidays. But antisemitism is on the rise in their hometown of London, where their mother has a morning radio show, and when she uses her radio platform to denounce it, the girls find they have to learn more about their heritage. Funny, outgoing Evie discovers her secret crush is spouting antisemitic conspiracy theories, and she joins up with some new friends and becomes an underground activist. Shy, curious Lottie calls out her own friends’ racism and bigotry and befriends another Jewish girl named Hannah, who welcomes her into her synagogue. Their paths to understanding Judaism collide when violence erupts outside Hannah’s sister’s bat mitzvah, where Lottie is attending