The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

We want to thank our dedicated team of volunteer book reviewers! They've been doing an amazing job evaluating Jewish children's and YA books for The Sydney Taylor Shmooze throughout 2021. Read their reviews so you'll be ready to VOTE for the Mock Sydney Taylor Book Awards, starting January 3, 2022! If you're interested in joining our reviewing team, CLICK HERE .   Todah Rabah to:   Laurie Adler Sarah Aronson Dena Bach Belinda Brock Merle Carruss Leah Cypress Meira Drazin Michelle Falkoff Karin Fisher-Golton  Valerie Frankel Rachel Fremmer Beth Gallego  Jeff Gottesfeld Judith Greenblatt Bridget Hodder Ruth Horowitz  Mirele Kessous Cynthia Levinson Rebecca Levitan Ronna Mandel Stacy Mozer Stacy Nockowitz  Chava Pinchuck Stacie Ramey Heidi Rabinowitz Rachel Simon  Lisa Silverman Lila Spitz Cheryl Strausberg Shirley Vernick A.R. Vishny Sandy Wasserman Eva Weiss Meg Wiviott

Camp Mah Tovu (American Horse Tales) by Yael Mermelstein Penguin Workshop (imprint of Penguin Random House) Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Judith S. Greenblatt   Buy at Bookshop.org   Our heroine, Lila is ADHD, and even as she tried to stop herself from talking too much and exaggerating, she exaggerates to the point of lying. Soon, the other girls in the bunk dislike her so much they leave her out of the raid to the boys’ side of camp. But – that’s when she meets her horse. One of the American Horse Tales series, an important part of the story is the relationship between Lila and her horse, Lonny, who is also a loner. With the help of an understanding counselor, Lila succeeds in riding Lonny. Lonny and the rest of her pack of wild horses live at the edge of Camp Mah Tovu and are in danger from ranchers who use harsh tactics as they prepare to move the herd off the property. Lila uses her skill at reading to trade favors with struggling reader bunkmate Sarah, and together they spe

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Little People, BIG DREAMS) by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara, illustrated by Judit Orosz Frances Lincoln Children's Books (imprint of The Quarto Group) Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Jeff Gottesfeld Buy at Bookshop.org What's left to say about Ruth Bader Ginsberg that has not been said already? That's the problem that faces every picture book author contemplating a book about her, and one that Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara solves by creating this picture book biography as part of a long series about people who go on to extraordinary things in their lives. Written in British English (Vegara is Spanish), Vegara tells a straightforward tale of RBG, ending with a death that reflected a life which was all her mother dreamed of. Vegara traces RBG's feminism back to her mom, with the mother's death having a big influence on the protagonist. The text is straight-ahead, and not afraid of an exclamation point to make a point or two. The challenge in all boo

Under the Iron Bridge by Kathy Kacer Second Story Press Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Sandy Wasserman Buy at Bookshop.org In the months leading up to Kristallnacht (on Wednesday, November 9, 1938), we meet a class of German students: Jews and non-Jews, learning together at school in Dusseldorf. Boys are encouraged to join the Hitler Youth, and little by little it becomes clear to Paul what his beloved new German leadership is up to. He and his physically weaker friend, Harold, realize early on that they have to play the game as ‘good Germans’ but Paul also takes the risk of also joining a group of teenagers who meet to carry out counter tactics to sabotage Nazi efforts, under the shadows of the Iron Bridge. They are the Edelweiss Group, which after the war was honored for their efforts at Yad VaShem as Righteous Gentiles. Among their classmates is a Jewish friend, Analie, whom Paul saves by the end of the book.  Paul is the perfect example of a young person who is an upstander; he s

A Boy Is Not a Ghost by Edeet Ravel Groundwood Books Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Merle Eisman Carrus   Buy at Bookshop.org A Boy is Not a Ghost is an incredible story. Written by Edeet Ravel as a sequel to A Boy is Not a Bird , it is the story of a young boy caught up in life during the Second World War in Russia. Readers will feel like they have stepped into the shoes of Natt Silver and really understand what it was like to live through this horrific experience. Natt is twelve years old as he rides with his mother and their neighbors in the cattle car of a train headed for Siberia. He describes in perfect detail the sounds, smells and crowded conditions on the train as they slowly travel across Russia for two long months. The food is scarce and the weather gets colder as they travel north. His father is in a Gulag or prison under extreme conditions. He and his mother do not know where they are going to end up or what life will be like there. Then his mother is falsely arrested.

 Why Is Everybody Yelling? Growing Up in My Immigrant Family by Marisabina Russo Farrar, Straus & Giroux Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Sandy Wasserman Buy at Bookshop.org This graphic memoir is by author/illustrator extraordinaire of over 35 picture books and illustrated books for older readers and novels. It's classified as a Tween or YA [or JB at one branch] in my library system, and appears to me to be a YA book at least. 230 pages, it is rich with artistic panels and much dense language. Comprised of 23 chapters, it spans the time in separate chapters from 1957 to 1967, the author's childhood and teen years. There is so much in each chapter: coming of age during the 50’s and 60’s, made more complicated by an absentee father and confusion about religion… We meet Marisabina in the first panel dressed in her white Communion dress, surrounded with Catholic ritual items yet the text and following comic panel feature Yiddish family members speaking Yiddish, so we enter Mari

As If on Cue by Marisa Kanter Simon & Schuster Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Rebecca Levitan Buy at Bookshop.org [This review is adapted from AJL News & Reviews, the newsletter of the Association of Jewish Libraries]  In her sophomore novel, Marisa Kanter ( What I like About You ) brings readers an enemies-to-lovers romance with a passion for the arts. As long as Natalie can remember, it’s been Natalie vs. Reid. Even though their families are close friends, Natalie and Reid don’t get along and are often locked in prank wars. When their school cuts the arts budget so that the orchestra, where Reid plays clarinet, gets all the money, and every single other arts program is cut, Natalie decides to show the value of other programs by putting on an original play. When their prank battle gets out of hand, she and Reid are forced to be co-directors of the play, now a musical. Clearly the two of them must learn to work together, but when things seem to be going too well, can Natalie