The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

The Three Latkes by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Feronia Parker-Thomas Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group) Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Lisa Silverman   Buy at KarBen.com Jewish holiday books that riff off of a known folk tale can be fun, such as The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah , or The Runaway Latke . Here well-known author Eric Kimmel is lightly mimicking the part of the Gingerbread Man story where the fox outwits the Gingerbread Man and gobbles him up.  Latkes made from red, yellow, and gold potatoes argue about which of them is the best, and invite the cat to judge the contest by eating them up. The cat devours them after topping them with applesauce, sour cream, and jam. The winner of the contest remains forever unknown because the latkes are no longer there to hear the answer. As an adult reader, I notice a number of logical inconsistencies. The most noticeable of these is the fact that the sentient latkes wish to be eaten, although they know

Pumpkin Pie for Sigd by Jennifer Tzivia MacLeod, illustrated by Denise Damanti Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House) Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Chava Pinchuck Buy at Bookshop.org The focus of this story is on Maddie, a white American girl who has made aliyah with her family from the United States, and who misses Thanksgiving and its traditional foods. She is welcomed by her black friend Orly's family to join their celebration of Sigd, the Ethiopian holiday that celebrates the acceptance of the Torah. The story highlights diversity with the girls prevailing on neighbors for ingredients for a pumpkin pie. The illustrations are colorful, with the Sigd celebration scenes full of happy people and lively interaction. Readers learn about traditional Ethiopian foods - misir wat (spicy lentil stew), injera (sour bread), and dabo (holiday bread). An author's note explains how immigrants to Israel acclimate and a little about Sigd, which falls on the 29th of Cheshvan

A Bear for Bimi by Jane Breskin Zalben, illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group) Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Rachel Simon Buy at Bookshop.org A Bear for Bimi , written by Jane Breskin Zalben and illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg, is an accessible and important picture book. It follows the story of Evie (white and presumably Jewish), who lives in America, and her new friend, Bimi (brown, and presumably Muslim), who has immigrated with his family to Evie’s neighborhood. Bimi and his family are greeted by diverse neighbors who welcome them and of course some who don’t, like Mrs. Monroe. Throughout the story, neighbors help Bimi and his parents, and Evie even gives him her teddy bear. Their neighbor Mrs. Monroe is the only one who does not take to their family, though ultimately she comes around when the children help her with her fallen groceries. The illustrations are simple, but delightful. The colors are vibrant and I particularly love

Bluebird by Sharon Cameron Scholastic Press Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Meg Wiviott Buy at Bookshop.org Sharon Cameron’s BLUEBIRD begins in August 1946 with Eva arriving in New York City from war-torn Berlin. Chapter Two begins in February 1945, where sixteen-year-old Inge steals her father’s car to go on a joy ride and giggles with her friend Annemarie about kissing her mother’s chauffeur, even though she’s all but engaged to Rolf, a friend of Papa’s. In America, Eva is on a mission—not the one the US government assigned to her—to mete out justice for the innocent. In Germany, Inge’s world falls apart with the Führer’s death and her discovery of the truth of her father’s work in his camp. These seemingly separate stories are soon braided together into one cohesive storyline.  An idea for a story often begin with the question, “What if?” What if a German girl, an active member in the League of German Girls, though she never seems to measure up to pure Nazi standards, discovers the

The Boy Who Failed Show and Tell by Jordan Sonnenblick, illustrated by Marta Kissi Scholastic Press Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Beth L. Gallego Buy at Bookshop.org Jordan Sonnenblick takes us back to his childhood with this lightly-fictionalized account of his own fourth-grade year. It gets off to a rough start. He doesn’t get past the first day before breaking one of Mrs. Fisher’s Rules for Successful and Mature Fourth Graders. He has always had trouble sitting still and paying attention, and his new asthma medication has made it worse. His pet garter snake, Hector, unexpectedly gives birth to a whole bunch of baby snakes that need new homes. And his parents sign him up for drum lessons, but he doesn’t have a drum at home - he has to practice on a large dictionary.   Jordan faces indignities and setbacks with determination and wry humor. He is a good-natured, likable tween boy trying to figure out the sometimes baffling world around him. Marta Kissi’s black-and-white d

Sorry for Your Loss by Joanne Levy Orca Book Publishers Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Heidi Rabinowitz Buy at Bookshop.org   Evie Waldman's family runs a Jewish funeral home, and Evie is eager to help in the family business. When a car accident kills both of Oren's parents, Evie is given the assignment of keeping the boy company during the summer. Still pained by the earlier loss of a friend, Evie has sworn off friendship to avoid the hurt, but mourning, injured, silent Oren turns out to be good company. Evie learns that everyone grieves at their own pace, and finally accepts that loss and life are inextricably intertwined.    Jewish funeral and mourning customs are demystified in a matter-of-fact, respectful manner, as Evie learns new information or shares her knowledge with Oren. Other Jewish practices, such as Shabbat observance, are woven naturally into the narrative. Evie attends a Jewish day school, and it is clear that the Waldman family is active within the Jew

Last Witnesses (Adapted for Young Adults) by Svetlana Alexievich, Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky Delacorte Press (imprint of Penguin Random House) Category: Young Adults Reviewer: Meg Wiviott Buy at Bookshop.org In August 1939, Nazi Germany and the USSR signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, an unofficial agreement in which the two countries agreed to stipulations of non-aggression against one another and to partition and divide Poland. Despite this agreement, German invaded the Soviet Union in June of 1941. Last Witnesses (Adapted for Young Adults) presents an oral history of the children of the Great Patriotic War (what we in the West know as either Operation Barbarossa or the Eastern Front of WWII). Originally published for adults in Russian in 1985 as Last Witnesses: An Oral History of the Children of World War II , Penguin Random House has now made both adult and a young adult adaptation available in English.   Nobel Prize winning author Alexievich’s i