The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Help-a-Lot Shabbat written and illustrated by Nancy Cote Kar-Ben Publishing, 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Mirele Kessous Buy at Bookshop.org It’s a fairly common occurrence to find board books that are too advanced for actual babies. Either the text is too dense or the illustrations are too complicated. This is why Help-a-lot Shabbat is so delightful; it is the perfect read-aloud for children ages 0-3. There are charming, simple rhymes with charming, simple illustrations. Readers follow along as a pair of toddlers help their parents prepare for Shabbat–from shopping and cooking to cleaning and setting the table. Adorable animal friends make appearances on most pages, adding to the playful nature of the story. The friends and neighbors who come for Shabbat dinner are an especially diverse crew, including people who appear to be of African, Asian, and Indian descent. There even appears to be (possibly) a gay couple, which is a rare for Jewish picture books. So if you’re looking

Building Bridges: Peace, Salaam, Shalom by Callie Metler, Shirin Rahman, and Melissa Stoller, illustrated by Kate Talbot Spork (imprint of Clear Fork Publishing), 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Suzanne Grossman Buy at Bookshop.org This sequel to Planting Friendship: Peace, Salaam, Shalom highlights the cooperative efforts of three girls, best friends of different faiths. In the earlier book, the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim friends planted a tree together in Peace Park. In the sequel, the bridge leading to the park has become unsafe and the children rally their community to raise money for its restoration, using brainstorming and teamwork.  The clear text is accompanied by graphic artwork that is color drenched and engaging. Jewish Hannah and Christian Molly present as white, while Muslim Savera has dark skin. Their classmates have a variety of skin tones and one child is in a wheelchair. The three authors represent the three religious backgrounds of the main characters. In

Black Bird, Blue Road by Sofiya Pasternack Versify (imprint of HarperCollins), 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Judy Greenblatt Buy at Bookshop.org Warning - difficult territory ahead. However, if you don't mind a graphic description of leprosy and how to treat it, and you are not afraid to think about death, you may well find Black Bird, Blue Road a fascinating, thought provoking book.    In this historical fantasy, 12 year old Ziva runs away with her invalid twin brother Pesah by hitching two of her family’s horses to their disused wagon, loading it with provisions for the horses, herself and her brother, including his wheelchair, and taking off into the night, in what she thinks in the direction Constantinople. They soon join forces with Almas, a half demon who has some remarkable skills. We also meet the Angel of Death – who may turn out to be a little different from what you would expect. The characters are well rounded, thoughtful, and clearly differentiated. This is

Dreaming Bigger: Jewish Leadership for Teens by Dr. Erica Brown and Rabbi Dr. Benji Levy, illustrated by Gal Weisman and Shlomo Blass Behrman House, 2022 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Evonne Marzouk Buy at Bookshop.org Today’s teens are actively involved in addressing the most important challenges of our time, and many Jewish teens are engaged in a wide variety of campaigns and causes, including social justice, the environment, supporting diversity and inclusion, combating antisemitism, supporting Israel, and much more. Therefore, Brown and Levy’s new book, Dreaming Bigger: Jewish Leadership for Teens is a welcome addition to the Jewish Young Adult non-fiction landscape.  Dreaming Bigger is structured around Hillel’s famous maxim, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?” In the "Leading Yourself" section, teens will find strategies to address practical issues such as when to say yes and when to say no, time and str

How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow HarperTeen (imprint of HarperCollins), 2022 Category: Young Adult Reviewer: Dena Bach Buy at Bookshop.org After a bad breakup with her now ex-girlfriend, all Shani wants to do is escape to Washington DC during winter break for her dream internship: studying prehistoric fish at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. As Shani heads to DC with her mother behind the wheel, things go from bad to worse. She and her mother spend the drive arguing. That is, until their argument is silenced by a terrible snowstorm. When they leave the highway in the blizzard to head to the house where Shani will be staying during her internship, they start arguing again. Distracted, Shani’s mother doesn’t see a girl crossing the road, and hits her with the car. After making sure that the girl is not hurt, Shani can’t help noticing that she’s also very cute. Literally running into May becomes Shani and May’s, “meet cute” in this Jewish, queer, YA “Hallmark Holiday Roma

Fighting for Yes! The Story of Disability Rights Activist Judith Heumann by Maryann Cocca-Leffler, illustrated by Vivien Mildenberger Abrams, 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Sarah Aronson Buy at Bookshop.org Who likes to hear no? Nobody, that’s who. And luckily for our country, Judith Heumann didn’t stop when all she heard was no. Because of her and many others, people with disabilities finally got the yes they deserved—the yes of equal rights. Since I’m a former physical therapist with a firsthand look at how people with disabilities are treated, I was already a fan of Judith Heumann, and I couldn’t wait to read Maryann Cocca-Leffler’s FIGHTING FOR YES, THE STORY OF DISABILITY RIGHTS ACTIVIST JUDITH HEUMANN, illustrated by Vivien Mildenberger. Judith’s is a story of activism. It’s a story about learning. It’s a story about the determination that people like Judith needed to fight for equality—and get it. The text begins with Judith’s Jewish upbringing and the early obstacles sh

My Name Is Hamburger by Jacqueline Jules Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2022 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Naomi Morse Buy at Bookshop.org My Name is Hamburger tells the historically accurate experiences of a lone Jewish child in a small Southern town in the 1960’s. Children were expected to be quiet about being Jewish in 1960’s, as Jews and foreigners were not welcomed in many small towns. Fourth grader Trudie Hamburger is the only Jewish child in her small town school. The class bully teases her hatefully about her foreign sounding Jewish name, while her teachers look the other way. She is quiet while her classmates sing Christmas Carols, and is sent to the library, where she helps shelve books and talks to the librarian. She doesn’t return to music class until long after the Christmas season. Trudie excels in spelling and reading, and wins a trophy with her name, Trudie Hamburger, engraved on the base. She finds a way to quiet the bully and to feel proud